Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn

17/07/2024

Streaming now, if you're up: An Introduction to Darius Milhaud. On Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn. Streaming 24/7, all day and all of the night, starting Monday, July 22, at 5 AM Eastern Time.

Darius Milhaud was born on September 4, 1892, and died on June 22, 1984. His life spanned much of the Twentieth Century. Milhaud knew Claude Debussy; he wrote a ballet choreographed by Jean Cocteau. His visits to New York and to Brazil brought jazz and Brazilian music into his work. Milhaud worked in just about every form in classical music. And he found time to be a teacher to the likes of Dave Brubeck and Philip Glass. This edition starts with La création du monde and features, among other works, Le Bœuf sur le toit and Saudades do Brasil, while not neglecting Milhaud’s chamber music and concertos.

Radio Free Brooklyn is a 501(c)3 nonprofit freeform internet community radio station representing Brooklyn NYC's cultures & communities.

15/07/2024

Streaming now, all day and all of the night, and all over the world, Maurice Ravel, Part Two on Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn. This edition focuses on later Ravel compositions.
Maurice Ravel was a master of mood and color. His orchestrations are remarkable. He was an exacting and painstaking composer. Ravel’s influences were widespread and eclectic. And his influence lives on.
This edition includes "Alborado del Gracioso," Ravel's Piano Concerto, "Bolero," "Tzigane," "Chanson Hebraïque," Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, and "Valses Nobles et Sentimentales."

10/07/2024

Bolero! Time to wake up!

Radio Free Brooklyn is a 501(c)3 nonprofit freeform internet community radio station representing Brooklyn NYC's cultures & communities.

10/07/2024

Streaming now, if you are awake: Maurice Ravel, Part Two. Later Ravel. Streaming 24/7 starting on Monday, July 15, at 5 AM Eastern Daylight Time. "Bolero" at 5:49 am this morning. "Tzigane" at 6:05 am. "Chanson Hèbraĩque" at 5:17 am. "Piano Concerto for the Left Hand," written for a pianist who lost his right arm in World War One, at 6:23 am. "Valses nobles et sentimentales" at 6:44 am.

Maurice Ravel was a master of mood and color. As Ravel’s career progressed, he explored many musical avenues. His orchestrations are remarkable. He was an exacting and painstaking composer. His concertos for piano are remarkable. Ravel’s influences were widespread and eclectic. And his influence lives on.

09/07/2024

Maurice Ravel is a composer who defies characterization. His work is well known. Ravel was a master of orchestration who wrote exacting compositions for the piano. His work ranges from piano and chamber music to orchestral works and ballets, with a couple of operas thrown in. This edition of Classical And a Bit More focuses on Ravel’s early career. Works featured include "Rapsodie Espagnole" and "Daphnis et Chloë."

08/07/2024

Maurice Ravel, Part I. Streaming now, 24/7, on Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn.
Maurice Ravel is a composer who defies characterization. Ravel was a master of orchestration who wrote exacting compositions for the piano. His work ranges from piano and chamber music to orchestral works and ballets, with a couple of operas thrown in. This edition of Classical And a Bit More focuses on Ravel’s early career. Works featured include "Rapsodie Espagnole" and "Daphnis et Chloë."
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO1450028084&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8f

07/07/2024

Gustav Mahler was born on this day in 1860. To celebrate his birthday, Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn is reposting several editions which featured the work of this extraordinary composer.
Among monumental works by a composer known for monumental works, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony Number 3 in D Minor is, well, monumental. It’s the longest work in the classical music repertoire which is commonly performed. Gustav Mahler is a composer who inspires exceptional and almost neurotic devotion among his fans. One man I met at a performance of Mahler's Symphony told me, “that was the third best performance of Mahler’s third I’ve heard. So far.” There are number of biographies of Gustav Mahler. One biography, by Henry-Louis De La Grange, extends to four volumes. There are legends about Mahler’s life. He was once reputed to be the model for Gustav Aschenbach in Thomas Mann’s novel Death in Venice. (I think Mann himself was the model.) And Mahler was treated by Sigmund Freud. In 1910, distressed by the discovery that his wife Alma was having an affair with Walter Gropius, who, by the way, went on to found the Bauhaus, Mahler sought counseling from Freud.
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO6249630063&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa

Broadcast, Wed, 5 am to 7 am. Streaming 24/7. Obsessed with classical music since age nine.

07/07/2024

Gustav Mahler was born on this day in 1860.
To commemorate his birthday, Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn is reposting the editions that featured this extraordinary composer's work.
Gustav Mahler and Symphony No. 2 in C Minor. Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, or Resurrection, came together in Mahler’s head after he heard the German Romantic era poem Auferstehung (Resurrection) at a colleague’s memorial service.
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO4345757567&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa

Broadcast, Wed, 5 am to 7 am. Streaming 24/7. Obsessed with classical music since age nine.

07/07/2024

Gustav Mahler was born on this day in 1860.
To commemorate his life, Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn is reposting the editions featuring his work.
The 25th edition of Classical And a Bit More featured Mahler's incredible Symphony No. 1. Gustav Mahler’s life and career spanned the transition between romanticism and modernism. He offered suffered from ill health. Mahler was born in 1860 and died in 1911. Yet during those 51 years he conducted several major European orchestras and was briefly conductor of the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera. Gustav Mahler was by often imperious and at the same time depressed. His relations with musicians were often bad. Mahler was an uncompromising perfectionist. Musicians who worked under his direction were often full of admiration colored with hatred of him. When Mahler wrote his first symphony, he was not even thirty years old. And yet it is hardly a youthful work. There are great and delightful complexities in this work. There is a multitude on offer here.

https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO2288158829&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8f

Broadcast, Wed, 5 am to 7 am. Streaming 24/7. Obsessed with classical music since age nine.

07/07/2024

Gustav Mahler was born on this day in 1860. To celebrate Mahler's life and work, Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn is reposting the editions featuring his music.
The fourth edition featured Mahler's magnificent Fifth Symphony and a discussion of the film "Tár."
In the film "Tár," Lydia Tár (played by Cate Blanchett) is an orchestral conductor at the peak of her career. She is the first female conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic; she is also a famous and out gay woman. And Lydia Tár is a world-renowned musicologist who has spent five years of her life in a remote valley in Perú studying the music of the people indigenous to that area. And her autobiography is being published by Nan Talese. And she’s got Adam Gopnik fawning over her in an interview in front of hundreds of well-dressed people at a major New York cultural institution. Brewing in the background is a me too scandal. Mahler was the last of the Romantic era composers of the Nineteenth and the first years of the Twentieth century. The edition finishes with Franz Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony."
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO6708824231&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa

03/07/2024

Streaming now, if you're up: Maurice Ravel. Part 1. Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn.
Maurice Ravel is a composer who defies characterization. His work is well known. Ravel was a master of orchestration who wrote exacting compositions for the piano. His work ranges from piano and chamber music to orchestral works and ballets, with a couple of operas thrown in. This edition of Classical And a Bit More focuses on Ravel’s early career. Including Daphnis et Chloê.

https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/

02/07/2024

A little venting. Every day, I get up to ten similar emails or comments on my page Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn. This one, as you will note, has not even attempted to create a fake name. It's just "Bot Account."
This post was in Norwegian. But these blatant frauds come in many languages.
I have to remove the comments and report the source, simply so that the people who do want to comment are not distracted by this.
My page's audience is primarily in Latin America, which I find gratifying. People comment seriously. I'm providing a service.
(According to Megaphone, which measures listeners and downloads, my largest audience is in the USA, followed by Australia, México, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Colombia, Taiwan, Argentina, Ireland, and Canada.)
Facebook, you can do better.

02/07/2024

Now streaming, 24/7, that's all day and all of the night, Claude Debussy: More Debussy. On Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn.
Claude Debussy is a composer whose work defies description, and yet it is familiar. His orchestral works, including La Mer (featured in this edition), have never lost their currency. Debussy was the among the first composers to explore atonality, and he did it in a way that made one look forward to the journey. All the while giving us such classics as Claire de Lune. You can’t stop listening. Admit it.
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO7835796186&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa

Broadcast, Wed, 5 am to 7 am. Streaming 24/7. Obsessed with classical music since age nine.

26/06/2024

Streaming now, if you're up: Claude Debussy. More Debussy, on Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn. (24/7 starting on Monday, July 1, at 5 am)
Claude Debussy is a composer whose work defies description, and yet it is familiar. His orchestral works, including La Mer, have never lost their currency. And Debussy was the among the first composers to explore atonality, and he did it in a way that made one look forward to the journey. All the while giving us such classics as Claire de Lune. You can’t stop listening. Admit it.
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/

24/06/2024

Claude Debussy, Part I, on Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn, focusing on the "early" Debussy.
Pierre Boulez famously stated that modern music started with Claude Debussy’s atmospheric tone poem "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune". The subject was the erotic adventures of a faun. Which is modernity draped in mythology. Claude Debussy is a composer whose work defies description, and yet it is familiar. His influence lives on in classical music, jazz, film scores—just about everywhere. In this edition, we explore some of Debussy’s earlier works, touching on orchestral compositions as well as piano compositions and chamber music.
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO6544680832&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa

Broadcast, Wed, 5 am to 7 am. Streaming 24/7. Obsessed with classical music since age nine.

19/06/2024

Streaming now, if you're up, Claude Debussy, Part I, on Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn, focusing on the "early" Debussy. (Next week more Debussy!) (24/7 starting Monday June 24 at 5 am EDT.)
Pierre Boulez famously stated that modern music started with Claude Debussy’s atmospheric tone poem "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune". Claude Debussy is a composer whose work defies description, and yet it is familiar. His influence lives on in classical music, jazz, film scores—just about everywhere. In this edition, we explore some of Debussy’s earlier works, touching on orchestral compositions as well as piano compositions and chamber music.
http://www.radiorethink.com/tuner/?stationCode=rfb

18/06/2024

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera "Don Giovanni" is without doubt one of the great works of the classical music repertoire. And there are many legends around the opera and Mozart’s life during that time. While you're pondering those questions, why not listen to the entire opera, in two editions of Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn?
And, what about Don Juan? The figure of Don Juan was a prominent subject in Spain’s golden age. The first play that mentions Don Juan was written in 1630. The work, "El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de Piedra," or "The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest," was written by one Tirso de Molina. Since that play was first produced, the character of Don Juan has been the subject of numerous works through the centuries. Of course, the gender politics are of the work are of note. Don Juan is a man who victimizes a lot of women. The women don’t seem to have so much agency. In recent years, this has changed. Donna Giovanna, l'ingannatrice di Salerno, or Donna Giovanna, the Trickster of Salerno, is play by Menotti Lerro, shows us a female and bisexual version of Don Juan.

Don Giovanni, Act I:
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO1467945826&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa
Don Giovanni, Act II:
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO1071988315&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa

12/06/2024

Streaming now, if you're up: Mozart’s Great Opera Don Giovanni, Act II, on Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni is without doubt one of the great works of the classical music repertoire. And there are many legends around the opera and Mozart’s life during that time. Don Giovanni was composed in 1788, just three years before Mozart’s death. It was a big success in Prague, like many of Mozart’s works. In fact, Don Giovanni was commissioned after the success of Mozart’s trip to Prague in 1787. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte, who could be the subject of a biopic. To set the record straight: There was a rivalry between Salieri and Mozart. Mozart did run up a lot of debts. And he could be a little dissolute. And Mozart was buried in a common grave. But that was common in Vienna at the time.
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/

03/06/2024

Now Streaming all day and all of the night, two episodes of Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn which give you the delight of orchestral music and opera composed by the great Richard Strauss (Richard Strauss Society)(Richard Strauss,el Genio). We’ve all heard his music, or at least a little bit. We've all heard the awesome opening to Strauss uber-famous 1896 tone poem, "Also Sprach Zarathustra.: At least the first minute and fifty seconds or so, the Sonnenaufgang, or Sunrise. It’s the opening music for 2001, A Space Odyssey, and when I heard it, at age nine, it changed my life. The tone poem is based on a work by Friedrich Nietzsche. You don’t need to read the book. But you do need to hear Richard Strauss’s symphonic treatment of it. Richard Strauss was born on June 11, 1864, and he lived until the 8th of September 1949. Strauss enjoyed enormous success and fame in his life. And he saw his reputation destroyed. But he won it back. As Alex Ross, classical music critic for The New Yorker puts it, Strauss was “a supremely wily character.” But we’re here for the music.
As for Richard Strauss’s opera Salome, this work tells a story that is unseemly, sexy, twisted, uncomfortable, and compelling. And it’s all set to some of the best music written in the Twentieth Century.
An Introduction to Richard Strauss:
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO6428979955&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa
Richard Strauss and Salome:
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO9453511591&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa

21/05/2024

Streaming now, all day and all of the night, the 40th edition of Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn: Gustav Mahler and Symphony No. 2. Continuing the Mahler Obsession.Gustav Mahler and Symphony No. 2 in C Minor. Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, or Resurrection, came together in Mahler’s head after he heard the German Romantic era poem Auferstehung (Resurrection) at a colleague’s memorial service.

https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO4345757567&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa

15/05/2024

Streaming now, if you are are up: Gustav Mahler and Symphony No. 2, on Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn. Streaming all day and all of the night starting 5 am on May 20 at 5 am New York City time. Continuing the Mahler obsession.
Gustav Mahler and Symphony No. 2 in C Minor. Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, or Resurrection, came together in Mahler’s head after he heard the German Romantic era poem "Auferstehung" ("Resurrection") at a colleague’s memorial service.
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org

13/05/2024

Now streaming, all day and all of the night, wherever in the world you are, the latest edition of Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn: A Further Introduction to Jean Sibelius. Because we all need more Jean Sibelius.
Jean Sibelius is known primarily for his symphonies and tone poems, and his achievements in these two forms are profound. Starting with Finlandia and continuing through En Saga and finishing with Tapiola, Sibelius displayed a mastery of the form. And his achievements in the symphony are no less profound. This edition starts with Symphony Number 1 in E Minor and finishes with the extraordinary one-movement Symphony Number 7 in C Major.
Click below to listen:
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO7122867250&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa

11/05/2024

I watched this extraordinary performance by the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional OSN México at the Palacio de Bellas Artes last night.
First of all, let me say that the acoustics of this hall are wonderful. One can hear the orchestra with great clarity. (Note the wood floor and sides.) The hall is more box than shoebox, with curved sides as well.
The playing of the orchestra was also precise and passionate.
The program started with "Prayer," by Vivian Fung, and then proceeded to a fine performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Alexandra Conunova on the violin. She followed her performance with an encore.
The program concluded with Concerto for Orchestra by Bela Bartók. Last night's performance was the best I've ever heard of this fantastic piece of music.
Last night marked the second time I've seen the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional OSN México, the first time being on Tuesday at the Auditorio Nacional, where they treated us to a rousing and deeply moving version of Beethoven's Ninth, along with the Egmont Overture and Borodin's Polovitsian Dances.
Dare I say that I'm seeing a path forward for classical music. Both nights were sell-outs, or close to it. And there were a lot of young people and families present both nights. Last night, in the row in front of me were two women, probably in their twenties, one extensively tatted. And there was nary a scowling professional classical music scowler in sight. Try finding that at David Geffen Hall.
Of course, the ticket prices may have something to do with it. On Tuesday I paid less than I paid to see PJ Harvey this September. And last night's ticket was less than $10.

08/05/2024

Streaming now, if you're up: "A Further Introduction to Jean Sibelius." on Radio Free Brooklyn Streaming all day and all of the night starting on Monday, May, 13, at 5 am Eastern Daylight Time.
Jean Sibelius is known primarily for his symphonies and tone poems, and his achievements in these two forms are profound. Starting with Finlandia and continuing through En Saga and finishing with Tapiola, Sibelius displayed a mastery of the form. And his achievements in the symphony are no less profound. This edition starts with Symphony Number 1 in E Minor and finishes with the extraordinary one-movement Symphony Number 7 in C Major.
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org

07/05/2024

On May 7, 1824, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony premiered at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna.
For the edition of Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn, "There Is Only One Beethoven," which includes the Ninth, click on the link below:
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO9041897006&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa

07/05/2024

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born on this day in 1840.
For the edition of Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn, "Pyotr Illich Tchaikovsky--Melody and Emotion," click on the link below:
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO1551964194&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa

07/05/2024

Johannes Brahms was born on this day in 1833.
For the edition of Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn, "Johannes Brahms, Mid Romantic, click on the link below:
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO2701389318&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa

05/05/2024

Streaming now, all day and all of the night, Eastern Orthodox Easter: Sacred Music from Ukraine. On Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn.
The Ukrainian choral tradition goes back over a thousand years. This edition starts with Nikolai Diletsky, a 17th century composer and musicologist. Then, the Golden Three of Ukrainian choral music: Maxim Sozontovich Berezovsky, Dimitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky, and Artemy Vedel. We conclude with a collection of chants and sacred music from the the Monastery Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO1504650690&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa

01/05/2024

Streaming now, all day and all of the night, May Day. Songs of Protest and Resistance. On Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn.
This edition of Classical And a Bit More, in honor of May Day, or International Workers’ Day, is devoted to music of protest, of resistance, and of pointed commentary on injustice. Included are British, American, Mexican, and Argentinian musicians; and this edition ends with the complete cast recording of the very influential and thought-provoking 1976 Lincoln Center Production of the "The Three Penny Opera."
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org/show-archive/?episode=RADIO1355429549&epuid=f6a236d6-1b21-11ee-af0b-cbb8ace6b8fa

01/05/2024

Streaming now, if you're up: Eastern Orthodox Easter, on Classical And a Bit More-Radio Free Brooklyn
(Streaming all day and all of the night starting Sunday):
The Ukrainian choral tradition goes back over a thousand years. This edition starts with Nikolai Diletsky, a 17th century composer and musicologist. Then it features the Golden Three of Ukrainian choral music: Maxim Sozontovich Berezovsky, Dimitry Stepanovich Bortnyansky, and Artemy Vedel. It finishes with a collection of chants and sacred music from the the Monastery Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
https://www.radiofreebrooklyn.org