Land of Our Fathers
About this title: Nationalism soon led to a recognition of the classical value of folksong, and an attempt to express in music the language, landscape, and musical traditions of the composer’s own country. Contents include excerpts from: Smetana�...
The Golden Age
About this title: This program covers the wealth of music during the age of Elizabeth I in England and its spread from the Church and the courts to the middle classes; the emergence of opera in Italy and France; the celebration of St. Cecilia; Eliza...
The Mighty Fistful
About this title: Until the 19th century, fashionable Russian audiences preferred Western music. Then came Glinka, Balakirev, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin, Scriabin, and Tchaikovsky. This program covers the distance from folk tradition to th...
The Advent of Fashion
About this title: Music written for public performance in concert halls and theaters required composers to keep abreast of popular styles. Music of Handel, Couperin, Scarlatti, and Rameau is performed by the English Bach Festival, Huddersfield Chora...
The Turn of the Century
About this title: As we move into the 20th century, music is in transition from Romanticism to Modernism, from self-expression to Realism—or to the attempt to escape from reality to bygone eras. Performers include James Galway and the Vienna Philh...
Today and Tomorrow
About this title: Music of our time is harder to assess; we should remember that today’s war-horses were in their own time shockingly modern, and that contemporary audiences often spurned those whom we most venerate today. This program presents a ...
Luther and the Reformation
About this title: This program covers the impact of the Reformation on the history of music; the work of Johann Sebastian Bach; the importance of church organs and chorale singing. Music of Buxtehude and Bach is performed by James Galway, Peter Hurf...
War and Peace
About this title: In the period between the two World Wars, composers sought to express in music the jarring and discordant sense that civilization was giving way to barbarism. During the same time, jazz burst upon the international musical scene. P...
The Renaissance
About this title: This program covers the patronage of the Dukes of Burgundy and the Kings of France, and the continued influence of the Church. It shows how music, like philosophy, moved away from the elaborate formality of the Gothic and, like arc...
The Revolutionary
About this title: This program covers Beethoven, the man who changed the course of music and aligned himself with the forces that changed the course of history. Movements or extracts from the Third, Sixth, and Ninth Symphonies, Quartets Opus 18 and ...