Musical Poetry

Despite the English horn’s misleading name—it’s neither English nor a horn—the instrument produces a famously "angelic" sound that takes center stage in Hector Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture. Berlioz originally composed the music for his opera Benvenuto Cellini. Though the opera flopped, he salvaged its best melodies to create an orchestral centerpiece. In today's episode, Andrés Orozco-Estrada leads the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in a concert performance of the Roman Carnival Overture.

Violinist James Ehnes says Dvořák's Violin Concerto can surprise listeners. Many violin concertos emphasize high, soaring notes, but Dvořák’s work highlights the rich, warm colors of the violin’s lower register. Join us today to hear Dvořák's concerto performed by James Ehnes and the Minnesota Orchestra, with Edward Gardner conducting.

Recently, composer and pianist Michael Stephen Brown found inspiration in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem "The Lotos-Eaters." He was struck by its vivid imagery and felt compelled to express it in his own way. On today's show, we'll hear Brown's "The Lotos-Eaters" performed by the composer (and others) at a concert presented by ChamberFest Cleveland.

Inspired by Goethe’s poem about a lab assistant who loses control of his magic, Paul Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is one of the most famous examples of musical storytelling. Originally a concert staple, the work became forever linked to Mickey Mouse when it was featured in the 1940 Disney film Fantasia. On today's show, Lionel Bringuier conducts the Liège Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance recorded in Belgium.

When Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate sits down to compose, he imagines his ancestral woodlands. His string quartet Abokkoli' Taloowa' (Woodland Songs)—written for the Dover Quartet—is a musical tribute to the animals revered by the Chickasaw family clans. Tate weaves traditional melodies into the score, blending his heritage with a self-described desire to create "cool music." In today's episode, the Dover Quartet performs the work in a concert from Shriver Hall in Baltimore.

In 2015, English composer Anna Clyne wrote an orchestral piece inspired by the poetry of Juan Ramón Jiménez and Charles Baudelaire, evoking a world of "melancholy waltz and languid vertigo." Join us today for a sonic journey through Anna Clyne's powerful orchestral work, This Midnight Hour.

Pianist Imogen Cooper loves how Franz Schubert's music can shift from moment to moment. She says, “It's as if he takes you by the shoulders, swings you around, and says, 'That was then, this is now.'" Tune in today to hear Cooper's interpretation of Schubert's Impromptus at a recent concert presented by the Frederic Chopin Society in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Gabriela Ortiz's vibrant orchestral work 'Kauyumari' is named after the spiritual guide of Mexico's Huichol people. The piece uses a recurring folk melody to evoke healing and ecstasy. Today, we’ll take you to a concert in Turin, Italy, to hear how Ortiz transforms traditional sounds into a joyful journey through what she calls the "invisible realm."

Cellist Raphaela Gromes was searching for new music to play when she received an email from a stranger—completely out of the blue—asking her to consider a piece his grandmother had written around 1930, a long-forgotten concerto. We'll have the story and the Cello Concerto by Maria Herz on today's show.

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.