The Joy of Classical Music

The Brass Band is a British innovation that dates from the early 19th century when brass instrumentation was undergoing a profound series of changes thanks to a slew of new innovations. This new generation of brass instruments caught on and by 1860 there were 750 brass bands in England alone and most were affiliated with the companies the players worked for. Factory and mine owners encouraged bands as a way to keep employees distracted from political issues like rights, terms, conditions and wages. Episode 84 of The Joy of Classical Music features a range of brass music, everything from the traditional to the cutting edge. Charles Ives - The Circus Band Arthur Bliss - Call to Adventure Imogen Holst - The Unfortunate Traveller Jack Bewley - Overture Jan Van der Roost - Fantasia Helvetica John Philip Sousa -The Stars and Stripes Forever William Byrd - Earl of Oxford's March Ralph Vaughan Williams - English Folk Song Suite: III. March Folk Songs from Somerset Charles Ives - Variations on "America" Peter York -The Shipbuilders (Suite for brass band)

Episode 83 of The Joy of Classical Music picks up where we left off with episode 82 - the English Pastoralists, except this time WW1 is in the mix. Seeking to create a uniquely English sound, the English Pastoralists were most active through the first four decades of the 20th century and many of these composers were inextricably caught in the disaster of the first world war. Some died, others were broken and those that survived often struggled with PTSD, using their music to examine the experience. Ralph Vaughn Williams - In Dreams George Butterworth - The Banks of Green Willow Arthur Bliss - Morning Heroes Frederick Septimus Kelly – Elegy (In memoriam Rupert Brooke) Michael Head - Over the Rim of the Moon: I. The Ships of Arcady Ivor Gurney - A Gloucestershire Rhapsody

The English school of Pastoral Music was an informal movement of early 20th century English composers who were concerned with creating a uniquely English style of music. Less generous critics described it as the ‘cow pat school’ or the music of ‘buttercups and hedgerows, nevertheless it has produced some of the most iconic music in the English classical repertoire. In this this episode we are listening to music from some of the composers most identified with the tradition, Harold Darke, Vaughn Williams, Gustav Holst and Frank Bridges. Harold Darke - In the Bleak Midwinter Harold Darke - Fantasy in E Major Vaughan Williams - English Folk Song Suite: 3. March: Folk Songs from Somerset Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending Gustav Holst - Morris Dance Tunes: Trunkles Gustav Holst - In the Bleak Midwinter Gustav Holst - Somerset Rhapsody Frank Bridge - 3 Sketches.

We featured New York based Puerto Rican composer Gabriel Vicens in a special spot that sat between episodes 43 and 44. He returns to curate this episode. “I’ve curated a selection of pieces that explore approaches concerned with repetition, dissonance, stillness, space, and introspection. I’m interested in how we experience the flow of time when listening to music and how silence or perhaps quietness creates intimacy, evoking thoughts, memories, and emotions”. Maurice Ravel - Gaspard de la nuit, M. 55: II. Le Gibet Claude Debussy - Preludes/Book 1, L. 117: 6. Des pas sur la neige Arnold Schoenberg - 6 Kleine Klavierstücke Op. 19 Anton Webern - Three Pieces for Cello and Piano, Op. 11 Galina Ustvolskaya - Trio For Clarinet, Violin And Piano: 2. Dolce John Cage - Two2: No. 2, 1'55.635 and No. 4, 5'23 György Kurtag - Játékok VI, 50-51, In memoriam András Mihály Harold Budd - Veil of Orpheus Peter Garland - Nostalgia for the Southern Cross Morton Feldman - Palais de Mari