Classical Pacific

A theme is a convention that allows me to play you a range of music from various periods, genres, composers, etc. Today's theme is The Letter H, chosen randomly from the alphabet. Once I make a choice, I work to curate a listening experience for you that's interesting, balanced musically, and possibly educational in a small way.

I envision Classical Pacific to be a program that approaches classical music from a Pacific perspective, and that perspective affects the way I curate each show. Today, every work I am playing has a literal connection to the Pacific Rim, whether through the orchestra, the composer, the performers or the subject matter of the work. You'll be hearing performances by the San Diego Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, Kiri Te Kanawa, Esa-Pekka Salonen, John Luther Adams, and the Knights (including local boy Shawn Conley).

Today I've again chosen great performances for your listening pleasure, including a theme and variations for one piano, a sonata for two pianos, a concerto for three pianos, a quartet by Prokofiev, an early performance by Itzhak Perlman, a great recording of Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, and a Vivaldi sonata for cello. I also just received a new recording of the Fauré Requiem that is marvelous.

Today I'll be sharing music by men and women, many of whom are related to each other in some way. You'll be hearing compositions by Thecla Badarszewska, Felix Mendelsson, Fanny Hensel (née Mendelssohn-Bartoldy), Hector Berlioz, Gustav Mahler, Alma Mahler, Clara Wieck Schumann, Robert Schumann, and Amy Beach. Makan will be joining us live on air in the four o'clock hour, to talk about his upcoming concert with the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra of love songs from around the world. He may also play some music for us live in the studio. 

Today the new  program is filled with great performances. Please join me to hear works by Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Elgar, Hindemith and Fauré performed by some of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Performers include Jean-Pierre Rampal, Isaac Stern, Salvatore Accardo, Mstislav Rostropovich, the Juilliard String Quartet, the NBC Orchestra with Arturo Toscanini, Jacqueline du Pré, Daniel Barenboim, the Guarneri Quartet, the Philadelphia Orchestra with Euguene Ormandy, Victoria de los Angeles, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and André Cluytens. 

Through the centuries, Classical composers have integrated folk song and dance into their music. Today, we'll look at a range of works by composers referencing folk music and dance in their music, including Georg Friedrich Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach, Frédéric Chopin, Johannes Brahms, Bedrich Smetana, Marie-Joseph Canteloube de Malaret, Bright Sheng, Aaron Copland and George Gershwin. Join me.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me.

Upcoming Concerts: 

Today we will look at chamber music with a somewhat historical eye and ear.  During the Renaissance, most intimate music was written for voice and accompaniment. By the Baroque era, music was often written in a way that allowed various instrumental combinations, depending on what was available. Eventually, the Trio Sonata was popular. Keyboard players were trained in performing from a figured bass, adding the chord tones and ornamentations. 

Today I've split the three hour program into three distinct sections. In the first hour, I'll focus on piano music - solo and ensemble. In the second hour, I'll talk about new music with visiting artists Mike Truesdell and Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti, and about their upcoming concert at Orvis Auditorium on Friday. You'll have a chance to hear new music with informed commentary. In the third hour, music of Brahms and Bach. It should be a lively and interesting day, with some lessons on opening your ears to new sounds.

The Pullitzer Prize for Music is given annually to a composer, since 1943, and is designated "for a distinguished musical composition of significant dimension by an American that has had its first performance in the United States during the year." Today, I'm going to share some of the composers with you. Some, like Gian Carlo Menotti and Samuel Barber, received the prize more than once.  

HPR receives new CDs regularly, and I've recently had the time to pick through them and choose music from the 17th through the 21st century to sample for you. Join me for music of Rameau, Saint-Saëns, Ung, Copland, Pandolfi, Kang, Osborne, Bach, Britten and the prolific Anonymous. Perhaps you'll like one of the pieces enough to get one of the CDs yourself. 

Questions? Comments? Email me

Upcoming Concerts: 

Paul Barrett passed away last weekend. He was the principal bassoonist of the Honolulu/Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra for many years, and taught generations of students at the University of Hawai‘i beginning in 1978. Paul was instrumental in getting my non-profit El Sistema-inspired music program Kalikolehua started, and he and his bassoon were a big hit with the students. Paul was a gifted musician and a wonderful friend to many people. He will be greatly missed. In his memory, I'm focusing this program mostly on the bassoon today.

Today - Song and Dance. You'll be hearing arias, ballet suites and Broadway music. Join me to sing and dance with Puccini, Pellini, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Prokofiev, Beethoven, Dvorák, Sondheim, Bernstein, Gershwin, Harold Arlen and MORE!  

Questions? Comments? Email me.

Last week I featured the cello in the first hour of a program, and a listener asked if I might do the same for the viola. So here we are. Today, music of stringed instruments, beginning with the viola. You'll also hear lots of piano music, and some chamber ensembles. Join me to hear some great performers, including William Primrose, Kim Kashkashian, Nobuko Imai and Yuri Bashmet - viola; Vladimir Ashkenazy, Rosalyn Tureck, Martha Argerich, Mitsuko Uchida and Murray Perahia - piano; and excellent chamber music.  

Music today from composers living and dead. Some you will know, some you may not. I look forward to sharing Richard Harvey, Charles Ives, Mozart, Dvorák, Andrew Norman, Handel, Piazzola, and a Bach-inspired salsa band. You may find some new composers to add to your list of favorites. 

Questions? Concerns? Email me.

Today in the first hour, music involving birds (the cuckoo, the hen, the lark) by Frederick Delius, Joseph Haydn, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Siamak Aghaei; in the second hour, music involving beasts and other creatures (a witch, a gryphon, a wood-nymph, a banshee, and Frankenstein!) by Hector Berlioz, Mason Bates, Jean Sibelius, Henry Cowell and Patrick Doyle; in the third hour, music involving people related to each other by Clara Wieck Schumann, Richard Schumann and Scott Wollschleger. 

Comments? Questions? Email me.