French Connections…

Your friends are the literary glitterati of Paris and you know the piano and little else - so what do you do? Self improvement is an important part of becoming a well rounded individual and if you were Franz Liszt in the 1820's he started a massive campaign of self education, reading every book he could find and it worked too, not only in educating a young man, but providing a wealth of new vistas for musical exploration.

On the Piano this Sunday a look at Liszt in those important years in Paris where as a young man he strived to complete himself and by doing so provided himself with projects for decades to come.

Find out about the Literary Liszt this Sunday afternoon at 5 on KPAC and KTXI.

host, Randy Anderson

Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, One From the Heart

Musicologist point out that the works of Beethoven's last period are a final reckoning in the aftermath of a time of crisis. Besides dealing with the question of supporting his nephew there was the reality of his increasing deafness. This meant he could neither competently conduct nor play the piano, in fact he was now a page turner at many of his own concerts; associates informed musicians to ignore his time keeping as he could hear neither the performance nor the applause.The lucrative days of the performer were now a thing of the past.He was getting older and he was suffering from diminished capacities of performance but greater competency of composition. These tensions reach a peak in the final phase that begins with the late sonatas and the Diabelli Variations,then comes the Missa Solemnis.

Beethoven had asked friends and associates to rummage through their great libraries for works of the choral past,especially the music of Palestrina. He had an opportunity and a great occasion in the elevation of his friend, pupil and patron Archduke Rudolph to archbishop of Olmutz.The work took much longer than Beethoven ever intended and like many compositions of this period grew to gigantic proportions, negotiations with multiple publishers were ongoing over the four years of composition. Beethoven was pressed for cash and seriously in debt,but did not allow this to alter his rigorous and time consuming compositional method.Finally,so anxious were friends and patrons to hear this new work that they sent him an open letter in the winter of 1823-24, literally begging him for a public performance of the new sacred work.By spring of 1824 it was completed bearing the inscription " From the heart- may it return to the heart."

Please tune in to this season's final broadcast of Saturday Afternoon at the Opera as we head into the Met opera season on Dec 3 with this special holiday feature of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with Leonard Bernstein conducting and the heaven storming soprano of Edda Moser.That's this Saturday at noon on KPAC and KTXI and Happy Holidays.

host, Ron Moore

Daniel Catan's Il Postino on Great Performances

It was early 2011 when John Clare first asked me about contact information for the Mexican born composer Daniel Catan. John wanted to approach Daniel about writing a short piece for San Antonio based Soli Chamber Ensemble. Fast forward a few months, to April, and I saw the opportunity to introduce John to Daniel, face to face. Daniel had been in Austin on a special project at UT, doing some teaching while working on a commission from the UT Opera Theatre. At this same time, the University of Houston Opera was mounting a performance of Daniel's adaptation of the film Il Postino. Postino had premiered in Los Angeles in September of 2010 to rave reviews.

I had known Daniel Catan for a number of years, but had only recently met him in person for an interview. We hit it off immediately, "like old friends" as Daniel said. Thus I was not surprised that Daniel was eager to get me tickets for the Houston performance of Il Postino. I picked up John the afternoon of April 8 for the drive over to Houston. As we entered the foyer to Moores Opera House, on the campus of the University of Houston, I half expected to see Daniel. He wasn't there, but the tickets were. As John and I entered the theater, I continued to scan the crowd for the familiar faces of Daniel and his wife, harpist Adriana Puente. No luck, nor was Daniel present at the post-performance reception. I supposed he had been detained in Austin for one reason or another, that his busy schedule had kept him from Houston on that Friday evening.

"Next time," I told John. "Next time you will get to meet him." Sadly, there would be no next time. My phone rang the following day with news that Daniel was missing. The next day's news was devastating. Daniel had passed away on April 8, the same day we were to have met him in Houston.

This personal connection makes all the more poignant the broadcast this Friday evening of the Los Angeles Opera's performance of Il Postino. If you love opera in the grand tradition, with soaring melodies and lush harmonies, this is for you. Il Postino will appeal to your heart, your soul, and your intellect. Need another reason to tune in to KLRN November 25 at 8 o'clock? Here it is:

Speaking of Catán after his death, Placido Domingo (who plays the role of Pablo Neruda in the opera) remarked, “To have lost a composer of his stature at the very height of his powers is a devastating loss to the world of classical music. Daniel Catán was one of the great opera composers of our time, beloved by audiences and especially by the musicians who had the privilege of performing his incredible work.”

Top Ten Thankful Classical Songs

We love Top Ten lists just as much as the next guy, so here goes our Thanksgiving Edition! (click on the title to hear an example!)

#10. Leonard Bernstein: Turkey Trot (Divertimento)

#9. Trad, arr Carmen: Turkey in the Straw

#8. The Cranberries: Zombie (performed by the Poteet Orchestra)

#7. Ludwig van Beethoven: Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart (String Quartet #15, Opus 132)

#6. Philip Glass: The American Four Seasons

#5. Aaron Copland: Simple Gifts (Old American Songs)

#4. Samuel Barber: First Essay

#3. Ralph Vaughan-Williams: March of the Kitchen Utensils (The Wasps)

#2. Ludwig van Beethoven: Shepherd's Song: Happy and thankful feelings after a storm (Symphony #6 "Pastorale")

and the Number One Classical Thanksgiving Song

Eric Whitacre: I thank you God for this Most Amazing Day

Check out Charles

You might have heard him on From the Top (or seen him on the first TV show of FTT!) or heard Charles Yang last year play the Four Seasons with the Mid Texas Symphony.

He's recently recorded a video of Queen:

and previously covered Michael Jackson:


Now see CHARLES YANG - “classical violinist with the charisma of a rock star” - playing in a unique, one-time performance, at KIDS' CLUB – New Braunfels, Tuesday, November 22, from 3:30 – 4:30.
The Kids' Club is located at 169 South Hickory in New Braunfels. Thanks to our friends at Mid Texas Symphony for making this performance possible!

Cello remains

Music is magical. Besides artists studying music, scientists actually study how music changes the world. There are accounts of it making us smarter, healing and then there are mysteries:

But when it came to playing previous concertos, and learning new pieces of music, he had such no problem leaving doctors stunned.
Discussed at the Society for Neuroscience conference for the first time this past weekend, scientists say this case study suggests memory is more complex and autonomous than previously thought and that music could be the key to helping people with memory problems learn new skills in life.

How does music affect you? Are there memories you have with musical performances or performing? What music are you looking forward to over the holidays?

What Mahler was that?

Our friends at Tone Deaf Comics have done it again, this time with a funny but accurate Mahler Map!

Éljen a Magyar!

It is hard to believe that Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, long associated with lighthearted entertainment like children's cartoons could be thought of as an act of defiance.

Franz Liszt lost touch with his homeland in his youth, but when he heard of the disastrous floods of 1838 he made sure to help as best as he could and in doing so he reestablished a connection to Hungary that would last the rest of his life.

To explore this transformation from Lion of the Parisian salons to Hungarian Hero tune in to the Piano this Sunday afternoon at 5 on KPAC and KTXI.

host, Randy Anderson

Verdi's Don Carlo , Power and Passion

There are essentially two Don Carlo's (if you'll allow me) of Giuseppe Verdi. I don't mean that one is in French and the other Italian. Historians and musicologist are manic about the fact that this is untrue, there is a work," Don Carlos " (francophone's are insistent on this) originally written in French for the Paris Opera that was so vast (5hrs and change, they say) it's richness so prodigal it obscured the works greatness. It was then" translated into Italian " and cut to various shapes and sizes, depending on opera house, singers available and appreciation of or boredom with ballet. It was a Behemoth, a lumbering monster. Variant openings, duets and trios and choruses to burn, ballet music that was insisted on at the time and now exist largely as a separate concert work and most importantly a great psychological/ musical narrative frame, the reason for all this elaboration and development. History, written very large indeed, and turned into gorgeous music. A combination of Schiller's stage drama and European history in the Spanish Golden Age. What most of us know runs between two and a half to three hours, does not have a ballet, does not start in a forest in France but a tomb in Spain. In the background to all this is a subtext at once old and new of European history, the battle of reactionary politics and the spirit of the Reformation, this background then weaves this ideological struggle into a love story of great power and the reason for the courageousness of the speeches of Posa and Carlo/Carlos.

In all the combinations that followed (between 1867 and 1884) in whatever language, what remained and the reason for the operas growing fame, long or short, was that the passion and power of the essential human drama shone through. Hypocrisy, jealousy, reaction and revolutions of thought; the inevitable wars of generations, court intrigue, threats of murder and blackmail - the human condition and music of breathtaking scale and inspiration.It is the longest and most ambitious music that Verdi would ever write.

Join us this Saturday Afternoon at the Opera presentation of a new and very special interpretation of Don Carlo, live from the Met with Franco Corelli and Leone Rysanek this Saturday at noon on KPAC and KTXI.

host, Ron Moore

Ft Worth Taxi Drivers take note!

Another Stradivari violin is in Fort Worth, to be played by the Associate Concertmaster of the Ft. Worth Symphony - read more here. Here's to it not being left in a cab, smashed by accident or left outside to be made into a cd cabinet!