The Joy of Classical Music - Ep 99 - It's All About Aotearoa - 21-04-25
I try and do an episode on the composers and musical artists Aotearoa at least once every ten or so episodes and here we are again and as usual, it’s a diverse and interesting cross-section that speaks to the deep talent that inhabits these far away lands.
Briar Prastiti - White Red Black
Briar Prastiti - Pegasus for Symphony Orchestra (available on Soundcloud)
Oscar Natzka performs Tchaikovsky’s Pilgrims Song
Igor Stravinsky conducts the National Symphony Orchestra of NZ - Finale from The Firebird Suite (1961)
Alan Starrett - In Memory of One Who Wished to Forget (from 2023 album Anamneses - available on Bandcamp)
NZ String Quartet performs Brahms String Quintet No. 2 in G Major (from the 2019 Naxos album Brahms String Quintets Numbers 1 and 2)
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The Joy of Classical Music - Ep 98 - Preludes, Overtures and Aria from Italian Opera - 14-04-25
In this episode of The Joy of Classical Music we are listening to preludes, overtures and arias from Italian Opera with a couple choruses and an intermezzo thrown in for good luck!
Giacomo Puccini - Un bel dì vedremo from Madame Butterfly
Giacomo Puccini - The Humming Chorus from Madame Butterfly
Giuseppe Verdi - La Traviata - The Opening Prelude
Giuseppe Verdi - La Traviata - Sempre libera
Giacomo Puccini - Manon Lescaut - the intermezzo between Act 2 and 3
Claudio Monteverdi - Pur ti miro from The Coronation of Poppea
Gaetano Donizetti - O my Fernand from La Favorite
Ruggero Leoncavallo - The Bell Chorus from Pagliacci
Vincenzo Bellini - Casta diva from Norma
Gioachino Rossini - The Overture from William Tell
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The Joy of Classical Music - Ep 97 - A Return to Bernard Herrmann - 07-04-25
A radio show and podcast created and first aired at Free FM 89.0, a member of the Community Access Media In Episode 87 - The Language of Film Music Part 2, I touched on the work of lauded film composer Bernard Herrmann but it hardly did him justice so in this episode I am digging a little deeper and taking in some of his non-film work with the focus on 1941’s Symphony No. 1.
Renee Fleming performs - I Have Dreamt, an aria from Bernard Herrmann’s 1951 opera Wuthering Heights
Bernard Herrmann - Berceuse from Wuthering Heights.
Bernard Herrmann - For the Fallen (1943)
Bernard Herrmann - Symphony No. 1 (1941)
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The Joy of Classical Music – Ep 96 - Nothing But Bartok - 31-03-2025
Episode 96 of The Joy of Classical Music is nothing but the legendary Hungarian composer and staunch anti-fascist Bela Bartok. While the focus is on his last great masterpiece, 1943’s Concerto for Orchestra, we have just enough time to fit in a few snippets of other works.
Béla Bartók - 4 Slovak Folksongs for Mixed Choir (1917)
Zoltán Kocsis plays Evening in Transylvania from Ten Easy Pieces.
Bella Bartók - Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta, IV. Allegro molto - The Berlin Philharmonic
Bela Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra conducted by Fritz Reiner Chicago Symphony Orchestra 1955.
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The Joy of Classical Music – Ep 95 - The Outliers - 24-03-2025
This episode features music from composers whose work isn’t easily pigeonholed. The best description might be ‘genre fluid’ or ‘boundary defying’. On the menu is music by Moondog, Frank Zappa, Meredith Monk, Harry Partch, Joan La Barbara, Blue Gene Tyranny and La Monte Young.
Moondog - High on a Rocky Ledge
Frank Zappa - I Don't Know If I Can Go Through This Again
Meredith Monk - Travel Dream Song
Harry Partch - Eight Hitchhiker Inscriptions from a Highway Railing at Barstow, California.
Joan La Barbara - Poems 43, 44, 45
Blue Gene Tyranny - 13 Detours
Moondog - Single Foot
La Monte Young - The Well Tuned Piano
Exploring classical music in all its glories and complexities. From the sweetest melodic to the cutting edge of the avant-garde... from the deep past to the freshest contemporary. All of it. The joy of classical music.
New Zealand