Hosts
Michael Stern
Dan Margolies
Program
Sinfonia In G Minor, Op. 6, No. 6
by Johann Christian Bach
Bernard Labadie, guest conductor
Live performance, May 2012
The youngest of Johann Sebastian Bach’s 11 sons, Johann Christian Bach was greatly admired in his day and was a big influence on the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He composed operas and longer works but 'he had a lot of success writing these symphonies which are really very short," Michael Stern says. "They're kind of miniatures inspired by Italian overtures, but there's a lot of energy and propulsion in this music."
Concerto in A Minor for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 129
by Robert Schumann
Narek Hakhnazaryan, cello
Live performance, January 2013
Schumann tried to calm the auditory hallucinations that led to his eventual mental breakdown and his placement in an asylum shortly afterword by proof-reading this concerto. Six days later, he hurled himself into the Rhine River. This emotional work has "so much variety of mood and shifting passion and virtuosity and extraordinary songfulness," says Michael Stern.
Bacchanale
by Charles Tomlinson Griffes
Live performance, September 2014
The White Peacock
by Charles Tomlinson Griffes
Live performance, January 2019
Like a lot of American composers of his day, Griffes went to study in Germany and came under the spell of Wagner. Ultimately, though, he gravitated to the music of Debussy and Ravel, influences that are apparent in his vividly chromatic writing. "He was to American music what Debussy and Ravel would be to French music," Michael Stern explains, adding that "he never got there because it's a tragedy that he died so young. He would've changed American music for sure."
The Planets
by Gustav Holst
Bramwell Tovey, guest conductor
The Kansas City Symphony Chorus - Charles Bruffy, director
Live performance, November 2014
Clifford Bax, the brother of the British composer Arnold Bax, introduced Holst to astrology, which Holst referred to as his "pet vice." The spectacular international success of "The Planets" catapulted Holst to fame, although, Holst, a shy man, preferred to be left in peace to compose and teach. While "The Planets" is often thought of as a programmatic work, Michael Stern clarifies that "there is no narrative. It's the feeling of Holst pondering the idea behind what the astrological significance of each planet is."
