CLASSICAL HORIZONS

Program 03-11-09-B Listen!

To The Best of Our Knowledge
from Wisconsin Public Radio

The scene is a gritty punk club. Dark and smoky with sticky floors. A crowd shuffles and talks, waiting for the music. One man takes the stage. He sits down and plays – not rock, not techno, but the solo cello suites of J.S. Bach. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, breaking the classical mold. Cellist Matt Haimovitz is taking classical music out of the concert hall and into the casual spaces of every day life.

 

SEGMENT 1:

At age 80, Ned Rorem is among the pre-eminent American composers at work today. He tells Jim Fleming that the world of classical music is all about money today and that performers seem to matter even more than the music. Rorem complains that contemporary audiences fail to support living composers, although they do continue to admire new work in other genres. And we hear some of Rorem's music.

SEGMENT 2:

Matt Haimovitz is a classically trained cellist, but he also loves Jimmy Hendrix. He's touring the country to promote his new album "Anthem." Haimovitz tells Steve Paulson why he plays music that goes so far beyond the standard repertoire, and why he plays it in bars and coffeehouses as well as concert halls. Also, Leonard Bernstein's daughter, Jamie Bernstein Thomas recalls what it was like growing up with her famous father. She tells Anne Strainchamps that their house was always full of music and that they analyzed the popular music of the day.

SEGMENT 3:

Janice Galloway has written a novel called "Clara." It tells the life story of Clara Schumann, the gifted pianist who was the wife of composer Robert Schumann. Galloway tells Jim Fleming that Clara was totally dominated by her father who was loathe to lose the income she provided. He finally allowed her to marry, but between nursing her husband's mental illness and bearing him eight children, Clara had precious little time to develop her musical ability.

Cassette copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 03-11-09-B.

................................................................

Books:

  • Janice Galloway, Clara: a novel (Simon & Schuster)

Links:

Music:

  • -Sonnet/ Susan Graham from "Songs of Ned Rorem"/ Erato
  • -String Quartet No. 4/ Emerson String Quartet/ DG
  • -Anthem/ Matt Haimovitz from "Anthem"/ Oxingale
  • -Seventh Avenue Kaddish/ Matt Haimovitz from "Anthem"/ Oxingale
  • -Solo Cello Suite Nr. 1 in G Major/ Matt Haimovitz from "6 Suites for Solo
    Cello"/ Oxingale
  • -West Side Story, Symphonic Dances/ LA Philharmonic Orch from "Bernstein's America"/ DG
  • -Romance in b minor/ Konstanze Eickhorst from "Clara Schumann Piano Works"/CPO
  • -Piano Trio in g minor/ Dartington Piano Trio from "Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn Piano Trios"/Hyperion
  • -Victory/ Bond from "Bond"/ Decca

Distribution dates:

week of 08/29/2004 - hour 2
week of 11/09/2003 - hour 2
Listen!

................................................................

Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

our shows :: about us :: search :: home

 
 
           

Wisconsin Public Radio is a service of the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board, and University of Wisconsin - Extension.

Page Design and Management by Jim Fleming at Wisconsin Public Radio and Sarah Fleming.

© Copyright 2004 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.