When Art and Politics Collide

Composer Anna Clyne was asked to write something "exuberant" for a festival in London. She created an energetic fanfare...with an old English drinking song thrown in for good measure. On today's show, hear the BBC Symphony Orchestra play Anna Clyne's exuberant Masquerade.

Beyond his work on soundtracks like Oppenheimer and The Mandalorian, conductor and bassoonist Anthony Parnther recently reached a new level of fame: appearing as a clue on Jeopardy! for his bassoon solos in the series Only Murders in the Building. In today's episode, Parnther shifts from the screen to the concert stage, leading pianist Audrey Andrist and the ensemble ROCO in an optimistic vision of the future: Duke Ellington’s soulful and forward-looking New World a-Comin'.

In the early 1800s, clarinetist Heinrich Baermann begged Carl Maria von Weber for a new piece. Weber wrote the first movement in a single day—then procrastinated for four years. Tired of waiting, Baermann forced Weber’s hand by programming the unfinished work for a public concert. Faced with a deadline, Weber finished the score the day before the premiere! On today’s show, we’ll hear clarinetist Jörg Widmann lead a chamber orchestra arrangement of Weber’s Clarinet Quintet at a concert presented by Chamber Music Northwest.

Composer Jimmy Lopez Bellido says the pulse of techno music is instantly recognizable in any dance hall or club around the world —a steady, thumping rhythm that you feel in your body. Tune in today to hear the thrilling fusion of techno and world music: Fiesta! by Jimmy López Bellido.

In 1911, Richard Strauss premiered his opera Der Rosenkavalier, a playful story of an 18th-century love triangle involving a gracious noblewoman, a young messenger, and a silver rose. Thirty years later, Strauss agreed to have two orchestral waltz sequences (suites) arranged. On today’s program, Simone Young conducts the Orchestra of the Suisse Romande in a performance of the Waltz Sequence No. 1 from Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier.

In the early 1800s, clarinetist Heinrich Baermann begged Carl Maria von Weber for a new piece. Weber wrote the first movement in a single day—then procrastinated for four years. Tired of waiting, Baermann forced Weber’s hand by programming the unfinished work for a public concert. Faced with a deadline, Weber finished the score the day before the premiere! On today’s show, we’ll hear clarinetist Jörg Widmann lead a chamber orchestra arrangement of Weber’s Clarinet Quintet at a concert presented by Chamber Music Northwest.

A piercing high E note changed him forever. Bedrich Smetana's 'From My Life" is a musical autobiography, transformed from a string quartet into an orchestral epic by conductor George Szell. From the NOSPR hall in Katowice, Poland, Andrey Boreyko leads the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in a performance that turns personal tragedy into a symphonic triumph.

Johannes Brahms described his fourth symphony as "dark and melancholy." The powerful final movement is built on a theme from a Bach cantata, creating a massive, ebbing chaconne that balances gravity and beauty. Today, Gianandrea Noseda conducts the Zurich Philharmonia in a performance of Brahms's Symphony No. 4.

In 2019, a 17-year-old from Spain took the stage in Estonia to perform Édouard Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole. That performance captivated the classical world and quickly went viral. Today, at just 23, violinist María Dueñas has made Lalo’s concerto her definitive musical calling card. In today's episode, we'll travel to a concert in Granada, Spain, to hear Andrés Orozco-Estrada lead the Spanish National Orchestra, with soloist María Dueñas, in Édouard Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole.

French composer Louise Farrenc grew up in Paris in the early 1800s. She had a distinguished career as a pianist and composer and was hired as a professor... but at half the pay of men doing the same work. Louise Farrenc fought for equal pay and GOT it. Today’s episode features a ROCO performance of Louis Farrenc’s Symphony No. 1.