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Intermountain Classics on KKRN 88.5 FM Program Notes for May 11 & 16, 2013 Beethoven-Leonore Overture No. 2 Opus 72a! Atlanta Symphony Orchestra/Yoel Levi ! ! Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential of all composers. During the late 18th century, his hearing began to deteriorate significantly, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform after becoming completely deaf. Fidelio (Op. 72) is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The opera tells how Leonore, disguised as a prison guard named "Fidelio", rescues her husband Florestan from death in a political prison. Beethoven struggled to produce an appropriate overture for Fidelio, and ultimately went through four versions. His first attempt, for the 1805 premiere, is believed to have been the overture now known as "Leonore No. 2". Beethoven then focused this version for the performances of 1806, creating "Leonore No. 3". The latter is considered by many listeners as the greatest of the four overtures, but as an intensely dramatic, full-scale symphonic movement it had the effect of overwhelming the (rather light) initial scenes of the opera. Beethoven accordingly experimented with cutting it back somewhat, for a planned 1808 performance in Prague; this is believed to be the version now called "Leonore No. 1". Finally, for the 1814 revival Beethoven began anew, and with fresh musical material wrote what we now know as the Fidelio overture. As this somewhat lighter overture seems to work best of the four as a start to the opera, Beethoven's final intentions are generally respected in contemporary productions. from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ginastera-Variaciones Concertantes Opus 23 Israel Chamber Orchestra/Gisele Ben-Dor ! ! Alberto Evaristo Ginastera was a 20th century Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered one of the most important Latin American classical composers. Ginastera was born in Buenos Aires and studied at the conservatory there, graduating in 1938. As a young professor, he taught at the Liceo Militar General San Martín. After a visit to the United States in 1945–47, where he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood, he returned to Buenos Aires and co-founded the League of Composers. He held a number of teaching posts. Among his notable students were Ástor Piazzolla , Alcides Lanza, Waldo de los Ríos, Jacqueline Nova and Rafael AponteLedée. Ginastera grouped his music into three periods: "Objective Nationalism" (1934–1948), "Subjective Nationalism" (1948–1958), and "Neo-Expressionism" (1958–1983). Among other distinguishing features, these periods vary in their use of traditional Argentine musical elements. His Objective Nationalistic works often integrate Argentine folk Intermountain Classics on KKRN 88.5 FM Program Notes for May 11 & 16, 2013 themes in a straightforward fashion, while works in the later periods incorporate traditional elements in increasingly abstracted forms. The Variaciones concertantes were composed in 1953, during a difficult period for Ginastera, as political conflicts with the Perón government forced him to resign as director of the music conservatory at the National University of La Plata. He supported himself by scoring films, as he had been since 1942, and accepting commissions such as the Variaciones, which came to him from the Asociación Amigos de la Música in Buenos Aires, where Igor Markevitch conducted the premiere in June 1953. This was a central work of the “subjective nationalism” of Ginastera’s second stylistic period, in which folkloric and traditional materials are idealized and sublimated in a personal way. One characteristic musical symbol of this is harmony derived from the open strings of the guitar, as heard in the harp under the solo cello statement of the theme at the beginning, and again before the final variation. from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and LAPhil.com Vivaldi-Bassoon Concerto in B-flat major VIII, No. 36 The London Mozart Players/Philip Leger Robert Thompson, bassoon) Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, nicknamed "The Red Priest" because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, Catholic priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe. Vivaldi is known mainly for composing instrumental concertos, especially for the violin, as well as sacred choral works and over forty operas. His best known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons. Many of his compositions were written for the female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children where Vivaldi had been employed from 1703 to 1715 and from 1723 to 1740. Vivaldi also had some success with stagings of his operas in Venice, Mantua and Vienna. After meeting the Emperor Charles VI, Vivaldi moved to Vienna, hoping for preferment. The Emperor died soon after Vivaldi's arrival. Though Vivaldi's music was well received during his lifetime, it later declined in popularity until its vigorous revival in the first half of the 20th century. Today, Vivaldi ranks among the most popular and widely recorded of Baroque composers. from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Intermountain Classics on KKRN 88.5 FM Program Notes for May 11 & 16, 2013 Mozart-Serenade ‘Gran Partita’ K. 361 3rd movement The Linos Ensemble Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. Mozart learned voraciously from others, and developed a brilliance and maturity of style that encompassed the light and graceful along with the dark and passionate. The Serenade No. 10 for winds in B flat major, K. 361, was written for 13 wind instruments durin a happy period in Munich, and is considered to be one of Mozart’s greatest chamber works for wind instruments. The oboes come in first and the the clarinets set the tone for this most heartfelt of movements. The music seems to sigh wistfully for its entire length, like the flirting of masked revellers at the popular costume parties of the day. from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and Classical Composers Rachmaninoff-Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor Opus 18 London Symphony Orchestra/Andre Previn Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who lived from 1873 to 1943. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. Early influences of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and other Russian composers gave way to a thoroughly personal idiom that included a pronounced lyricism, expressive breadth, structural ingenuity, and a tonal palette of rich, distinctive orchestral colors. The piano is featured prominently in Rachmaninoff's compositional output. He made a point of using his own skills as a performer to explore fully the expressive possibilities of the instrument. Even in his earliest works he revealed a sure grasp of idiomatic piano writing and a striking gift for melody. In 1900, Rachmaninoff began a course of autosuggestive therapy with psychologist Nikolai Dahl, who was himself an excellent though amateur musician. Rachmaninoff began to recover his confidence and eventually he was able to overcome his writer's block. In 1901 he completed his Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18 and dedicated it to Dr. Dahl. The piece was enthusiastically received at its premiere at which Rachmaninoff was soloist and has since become one of the most popular and frequently played concertos in the repertoire. Rachmaninoff's spirits were further bolstered when, after three years of engagement, he was finally allowed to marry his beloved wife, Natalia. They were wed in a suburb of Moscow by an army priest on 29 April 1902, using the family's military background to circumvent the church. The Intermountain Classics on KKRN 88.5 FM Program Notes for May 11 & 16, 2013 marriage was a happy one, producing two daughters - Irina, later Princess Wolkonsky (1903-1969) and Tatiana Conus (1907-1961). Although Rachmaninoff had an affair with the 22-year-old singer Nina Koshetz in 1916, his and Natalia's union lasted until the composer's death. Natalia Rachmaninova died in 1951. from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Morricone-Giuseppe Tornatore Suite Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra/Ennio Morricone Yo-Yo Ma, cello and Gila Butta, piano Ennio Morricone, born November 10, 1928, is an Italian composer, orchestrator and conductor, who has written music for more than 500 motion pictures and television series, as well as contemporary and modern classical works. His scores have been included in over forty award-winning films. In a career lasting over six decades, he composed some of the most recognizable film scores in cinematic history. Morricone became known worldwide by composing the film scores for Spaghetti Westerns directed and/or produced by Sergio Leone, including A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), A Fistful of Dynamite (1971) and My Name is Nobody (1973). The film score for the Giuseppe Tornatore Suite features the following movements: the Legend of 1900-Playing Love; Cinema Paradiso-Nostaligia; Cinema Paradiso-Looking for You; Malena; and A Pure Formality. from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia