Point/counterpoint: Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg says you don't have to change the notes to improvise -- interpretation is a form of improv. Pianist Robert Levin disagrees. We'll consider the question by comparing VERY different versions of the Bach Goldberg Variations. AND... some composers have written pieces intended to sound like improv, but... you have to play the notes they wrote. Schubert "Impromptus," and Poulenc "Improvisations."
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Carl Maria von Weber: "Romanza Siciliana"
D.C. Hall's New Concert and Quadrille Band
Bela Kovacs: Homages to Bach and de Falla, from "Two Hommages"
Clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester
Occidental Community Church, Occidental, California
Arthur Honneger: Hommage a Maurice Ravel
Pianist Gilles Vonsattel
Spivey Hall, Morrow, Georgia
Carl Maria von Weber: Overture to "Der Freischutz"
The Dresden Philharmonic with conductor Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos
Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, West Palm Beach, Florida
Franz Schubert: Impromptu No. 2 in E-flat, Op. 90, D. 899
Pianist Ingrid Fliter
Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara
Francis Poulenc: Improvisations
Pianist Francis Poulenc
Johann Sebastian Bach: One movement from "The Goldberg Variations"
Pianist Glenn Gould
Johann Sebastian Bach: One movement from "Goldberg Variations"
Pianist Rosalyn Tureck
Johann Sebastian Bach: One movement from "The Goldberg Variations"
Pianist Murray Perahia
Hour 2
Steve Howe: "Aire para un Dia (Mood for a Day)"
The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Eric Ewazen: One movement from "Ballade, Pastorale and Dance for Flute, Horn and Piano"
Flutist Marya Martin, hornist Erik Ralske and pianist Benjamin Hochman
Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Bridgehampton, New York
Johann Sebastian Bach and Gustav Mahler: "Suite from the Orchestral Works of J.S. Bach"
The Festival Symphony Orchestra with conductor Richard Rosenberg
Hot Springs Music Festival, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Johann Sebastian Bach: One movement from the Brandenburg Concerto No. 6
The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Kaul Auditorium, Portland, Oregon
Francis Poulenc: Sonata for Flute and Piano
Flutist Leone Buyse and pianist Jon Kimura Parker
Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, Orcas Island, Washington
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American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at APM Distribution.
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