Composer Joel Thompson made one rule when he began work on a piece in 2019. He would go through the major news stories each day before working on his composition. Hear the results on this episode of PT: "In Response to the Madness" by Joel Thompson.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Francis Poulenc: 15 Improvisations: Nos. 11 & 15
Lucille Chung, piano
Album: Poulenc: Works for Piano Solo and Duo
Signum 455

Meira Warshauer: As the Waters Cover the Sea (A Tribute to Mozart)
Western Piedmont Symphony | John Gordon Ross, conductor
Western Piedmont Symphony, P.E. Monroe Auditorium Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory NC

Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 9 in E-flat Op. 117
Escher String Quartet
Rockport Music, Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, MA

Astor Piazzolla, arr. Alessio Bax & Lucille Chung: Milonga del Angel (encore)
Alessio Bax, piano | Lucille Chung, piano
Spivey Hall, Clayton State University, Morrow, GA

Hour 2

Joseph Canteloube: Songs of the Auvergne: Shepherd's Song
Dawn Upshaw, soprano | Lyon Opera Orchestra | Kent Nagano, conductor
Album: Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne
Erato 96559

Joel Thompson: "In Response to the Madness" for String Quartet
Rui Du, violin | Cecilia Belcher, violin | Sam Bergman, viola | Minji Choi, cello
From a concert with the Minnesota Orchestra, Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, MN

Jean Marie Leclair: Concerto for violin, strings, and continuo in B-flat major, Op. 10, No. 1
Bella Hristova, solo violin
Aaron Boyd, Sean Lee, violins | Paul Neubauer, viola | Mihai Marica, cello | Timothy Cobb, double bass | Gilles Vonsattel, harpsichord
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall, New York, NY

Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 3 in D, D. 200
German Symphony Orchestra | Kent Nagano, conductor
Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany