The Evening Concert

The "Art of the Fugue" is "an exploration in depth of the contrapuntal possibilities inherent in a single musical subject". This week we'll hear the first half of this work written in the last decade of the composer's life.

We know the exact date of completion of the "Bassoon Concerto" of Mozart: 4 Jun 1774. He was 18 years old! Hear the work tonight on the Evening Concert.

Eastern European composers are featured... dance, drama, and Gypsy flair!

Storytelling and music go together so well. Revuelatas tells the story of "Sensemaya" in music; Prokofiev's music to the film "Lieutenenat Kije" lives on in it's concert-hall form.

Pianists choose their repertoire and the order of performance. Daniil Trifonov placed his selections in chronological order on this recital from Carnegie Hall.

This week's "Evening Concert" starts with Liszt's "Transcendental" Etudes, continues with the 'transcendent' "Sensemaya" by Revueltas, and includes the 'transcendance' of dissonance by Mozart in the "Bassoon Concerto".

I love lists of 'rankings'! Dvorak's Piano Quintet is ranked 15th while Beethoven's Septet is ranked 62nd in a poll published by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2008. Are those rankings justified? Tune in tonight to hear both. Sorry, there's no ballot to vote upon!

Where did the "Don Juan" legend start?  Quick research indicates it comes from a play written in Spain in the early 1600s, the era of Cervantes and "Don Quixote", and was originally titled (in English translation) "The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest." Tonight you'll hear Richard Strauss' 'take' on the legend....

Unscientifically so, many people prefer music in minor keys because it has a stronger emotional effect on them. Tune in tonight to test the hypothesis!

In 1806 German poet Christian Schubart published a book (Ideas for an Aesthetic of Music) on the "affective" characteristics (emotional impact) of the 'keys' of music, for example, C Major, G Minor, etc. Tonight's program should be "bright", with many pieces in the key of D Major, described by Schubart as: "The key of triumph, of Hallejuahs, of war-cries, of victory-rejoicing. "