2007
December 17, 2007
Alex Ross Part II (continued from last week)
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December 10, 2007
Part I of II: New Yorker music critic Alex Ross on his new book The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
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December 3, 2007
Tonight's previously scheduled program featuring Alex Ross will be rescheduled. Instead, Andrew Patner is joined by Norm Pellegrini, Goodman Theatre's Roche Schulfer, and others in remembering the legendary Chicago press agent, performing arts subscription advocate, and Lyric opera fixture DANNY NEWMAN who died Saturday night at his home in Lincolnwood at age 88.
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November 26, 2007
Poet and translator Peter Cole on Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain. Cole recently translated, edited and introduced "THE DREAM OF THE POEM: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain 950-1492" (Princeton University Press: pup.princeton.edu).
Peter Cole's Ibis Editions:
http://www.ibiseditions.com/home/about.htm
Link for Nextbook, the group that sponsored his visit here:
http://nextbook.org/
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November 12, 2007
Part two of a conversation with acclaimed and iconoclastic Chicago architect STANLEY TIGERMAN on his career spanning five decades and the alternative design school, Archeworks, that he co-founded. Featuring music by pianist Art Tatum.
November 5, 2007
LADY VALERIE SOLTI reflects on the legacy of her husband Sir Georg Solti ten years after his death and discusses the work of The Solti Foundation and its support for young musical artists.
October 29, 2007
Part 1 of a two-part conversation with renowned architect Stanley Tigerman
Tigerman (left) and Patner (right)
Archeworks alternative design school co-founded by Stanley Tigerman
Tigerman McCurry Architects
October 22, 2007
Andrew samples two new releases of music by the late Ralph Shapey
[1921-2002], long the dean of Chicago composers, including a new recording by young
performers Miranda Cuckson, violin, and Blair McMillen, piano.
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RALPH SHAPEY: Radical Traditionalism
Various performers including members of the Contemporary Chamber Players of
The University of Chicago and the New York New Music Ensemble
Five works from 1963 to 1979
New World Records — 2 CD set — 80681-2
www.newworldrecords.org
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MUSIC BY RALPH SHAPEY: Miranda Cuckson, violin - Blair McMillen, piano
Five works from 1945 to 2000
Centaur Records — CRC 2900
www.centaurrecords.com
October 15, 2007
Conversation with Maestro, Bernard Haitink who begins conducting the CSO's new season Thursday, October 18.
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October 8, 2007
Part 2 of a 2-part conversation with the legendary Italian soprano, Renata Scotto.
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October 1, 2007
Part 1 of a 2-part conversation with legendary Italian soprano, Renata Scotto.
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September 24, 2007
A WFMT exclusive: Andrew interviews Riccardo Muti in the basement of Orchestra Hall.
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September 17, 2007
Renowned essayist, critic, editor, and short-story writer [and Chicagoan] Joseph Epstein discusses his new retrospective book of essays, IN A CARDBOARD BELT! Essays Personal, Literary, and Savage.
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September 3, 2007
Andrew presents a program of songs for Labor Day.
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August 27, 2007
Memorials to cabaret artists Johnny Frigo and John Wallowitch.
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August 20, 2007 (Rebroadcast)
A program of music and conversation on the great American songwriter, composer, music historian, and essayist Alec WILDER whose centennial is being marked this year. Chicago musician, teacher, and conductor Richard Wyszynski recently presented an all-Wilder tribute concert at the Harold Washington Library Center. He is joined on the program by clarinetist Gail Schechter.
Alec Wilder Website
John von Rhein's Chicago Tribune Wilder appreciation:
Metromix Chicago
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August 13, 2007 (Rebroadcast)
A program of music by the pioneering and independent 20th century Italian composer Giacinto SCELSI [pronounced gia--CHEEN-toh SHAYL-si], 1905-1988, who is currently the focus of two weeks of special concerts at this year's Salzburg Festival.
Official Scelsi Website
Salzburg Festival
A musical memoir from a Scelsi musician friend, including one of the few known photos of Scelsi:
Musical Times
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August 6, 2007 (Rebroadcast)
Through a combination of popular demand and Mr. Fleisher's upcoming Ravinia Festival concert appearance at the Martin Theatre with the Orion String Quartet on Thursday 09 August we will rebroadcast our recent Leon Fleisher interview program on this Monday 06 August from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. Chicago time on 98.7WFMT and wfmt.com.
WFMT will also broadcast excerpts of the interview during its regular broadcast schedule in the week leading up to the 09 August Ravinia appearance.
The original interview was conducted this spring in conjunction with Mr. Fleisher's receiving the Dushkin Award from the Music Institute of Chicago on May 2, 2007.
Leon Fleisher, a member of the faculty of Ravinia's Steans Institute for Young Artists, will perform with the Orion String Quartet in the Brahms Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34.
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July 30, 2007
A preview of a concert this Friday at the Harold Washington Library showcasing the work of "unclassifiable" American composer, songwriter and arranger Alec Wilder.
(The free concert will be given Friday, August 3rd, 2007 at 12:15pm in the auditorium of the Harold Washington Public Library, 400 South State Street, Chicago. For additional information, call 773-276-3762 or contact Richard Wyszynski, 851 North Leavitt Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60622-7116)
Alec Wilder Website
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July 23, 2007
A program of music by the idiosyncratic 20th century Italian composer Giacinto SCELSI [gia--CHEEN-toh SHAYL-si], 1905-1988, who will be the focus of two weeks of special concerts at this year's Salzburg Festival next month.
Note from Andrew:
The composer I featured on Monday night was Giacinto SCELSI [1905-1988], an Italian who very much went his own way. The works I played, "Aion" [1961], "Pfhat" [1974], and "Konx-Om-Pax" [1969], were recorded on the French ACCORD label for the first time in 1988 under Swiss composer-conductor Jürg Wyttenbach.
Scelsi will be the focus of a major series of concerts in August, KONTINENT SCELSI, at this year's Salzburg Festival.
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July 16, 2007
The second of a two-part conversation with music with American-born orchestra and opera conductor Kent Nagano.
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July 9, 2007
The first of a two-part conversation with music with American-born orchestra and opera conductor Kent Nagano.
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July 2, 2007
Andrew talks with Leon Fleisher, legendary pianist, pedagogue, and advocate for people with disabilities.
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June 25, 2007
Steve Levitt and Jimmy Tomasello, veteran guitar teachers at the Old Town School of Folk Music, join new executive director James "Bau" [pronounced as "paw"] Graves in the WFMT performance studio talking -- and plucking -- about the School's teaching programs and its spirit.
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June 18, 2007
Andrew welcomes teacher, musician, musicologist, and community organizer James "Bau" [pronounced "Baw," to rhyme with "paw"] Graves, new executive director of the Old Town School of Folk Music, for a lively hour of music and conversation.
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May 28, 2007
Andrew talks with members and directors of the Chicago Children's Choir in anticipation of the Choir's 50th Anniversary Gala Concert at the Civic Opera House and Alumni Reunion Concert at The Art Institute of Chicago
June 2 and 3.
Chicago Children's Choir News
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May 21, 2007
Andrew's guest is multi-faceted conductor-arranger-composer and teacher Cliff Colnot in anticipation of the DePaul University Orchestra annual, free, spring concert Colnot will conduct at Orchestra Hall on May 30.
Depaul Symphony Orchestra Annual Spring Concert
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May 14, 2007
Andrew's guest is Robert Falls, marking his 20th anniversary as artistic director of Chicago's Goodman Theatre, in the second of a lively two-part conversation with music.
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May 7, 2007
Andrew presents an exclusive biographical interview with new Chicago Symphony Orchestra principal conductor Bernard Haitink, in anticipation of his CSO concerts May 10 to 15, and previews the new CSO-Resound release of Maestro Haitink's live recording of the Mahler Third Symphony.
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April 30, 2007
Andrew's guest is Robert Falls, marking his 20th anniversary as artistic director of Chicago's Goodman Theatre, in the first of a lively two-part conversation with music.
To download the MP3 of the interview, right-click on the link below and choose "Save Target As." (Mac users: control-click and choose "Download Linked File").
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April 16, 2007 and April 23
Parts I and II of a conversation with music with eminent pianist, scholar, and critic Charles Rosen who turns 80 next month.
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April 9, 2007
Andrew's guest is Gustavo Dudamel, the 26-year-old music director of the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela who is this week's guest conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The interview, a Chicago exclusive, was taped on April 3 before the surprise news on Sunday April 8 that Dudamel would become the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic beginning with the 2009-2010 season.
To download MP3 of interview, right-click on link below and choose "Save Target As." (Mac users: control-click and choose "Download Linked File).
Download the Full Interview
March 26, 2007
A rebroadcast of a December 2006 conversation with M. Boulez about his new relationship with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus. We'll also hear his 1992 recording of Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra with the CSO.
March 12, 2007
WHO'S AFRAID OF GYÖRGY LIGETI? The first in an occasional series of programs on modern and contemporary composers looks at the Hungarian iconoclast who died last year at 83.
March 5, 2007
Part two of a two-part commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini — a conversation with acclaimed music writer Harvey Sachs, Toscanini's biographer and the editor and translator of THE LETTERS OF ARTURO TOSCANINI, just republished in paperback by The University of Chicago Press.
The University of Chicago Press
February 26, 2007
Part one of a two-part commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini — a conversation with acclaimed music writer Harvey Sachs, Toscanini's biographer and the editor and translator of THE LETTERS OF ARTURO TOSCANINI, just republished in paperback by The University of Chicago Press.
February 19, 2007
A special music program for the Fine Arts Circle membership drive:
I'll be replaying my one-hour 2005 Bobby Short memorial tribute program tonight after 10 pm on 98.7WFMT and wfmt.com both for something that might fit in with the current Fine Arts Circle membership drive on the station and as a memorial tribute as well to Whitney Balliett, the great New Yorker jazz and popular music critic and profile writer for exactly half a century, who died this February 1 at age 80.
It was Balliett's columns and articles, and books collecting them, that were among my important introductions as a boy to so many performers and song composers who would become my own heroes — Mabel Mercer, Alec Wilder, Marian McPartland, Bobby Short, et al. — and it was his style of writing — especially in his extensive interview/profiles — that so influenced my own style of and method for putting many of my pieces together.
I'll be doing a tribute specifically to Whitney Balliett soon, but as I get so many requests to repeat the Bobby Short show, originally broadcast shortly after Short's own death at 80 in on March 21, 2005, this seemed an appropriate step for now.
I recently re-read Balliett's classic New Yorker "Profile" of Bobby Short — "The Human Sound" from December 26, 1970, when Balliett was 44 and Short was 46 and had been at the Café Carlyle for just over two years. [I can still see the ink wash illustration in my mind's eye.] It is, of course, a beautiful piece of work. But it is also interesting in how it captures a time, the early 1970s, when the heyday of the American popular song was, in the words of one of Mr. Short's favorite songs, "so near, and yet so far." It is interesting, too, to read again of how many then-contemporary songs Bobby Short performed in those days and to contrast this with how his act developed and changed — and did not change — over the 34 years at The Carlyle :
New Yorker Profile of Bobby Short
At some point, I'll figure out how to put my own two Sun-Times profiles of Bobby Short — based on several visits with him at his Sutton Place apartment [in 1970 he was still living above Carnegie Hall] as well as his Carlyle performances — online.
February 12, 2007
Chicago author Peter M. Ascoli talks with Andrew about his new biography of his grandfather JULIUS ROSENWALD: The Man Who Built Sears, Roebuck and Advanced the Cause of Black Education in the American South.
February 5, 2007
The second of two programs with Irwin Weil, Professor of Russian Language and Literature at Northwestern University, on Russian poetry and music.
Dear Friends,
Thanks for listening and for your comments!
Here are details on the recording of E. Onegin used on last night's Critical Thinking program with Irwin Weil. Of course we did not hear Hvorostovsky or Shicoff as Professor Weil provided Onegin and Lensky's parts himself! But you did hear the Sicilian [!] Nuccia Focile as Tatiana and Francis Egerton as M. Triquet along w/ the Orchestre de Paris and Semyon Bychkov (who will be conducting the CSO at Orchestra Hall 22, 23, 24, and 25 February).
It is my understanding that this is regarded by many of the best of the modern complete recordings of the work.
Tchaikovsky — Eugene Onegin (1879)
PHILIPS 438 235-2 or 475 7017 [re-issue]
Orchestre de Paris/Semyon Bychkov conducting
Recorded 1992/3
Nuccia Focile — Tatiana
Dimitri Hvorostovsky — Eugene Onegin
Sarah Walker — Madame Larina
Olga Borodina — Olga
Irina Arkhipova — Filipyevna
Neil Shicoff — Lensky
Alexander Anisimov — Prince Gremin
Francis Egerton — Monsieur Triquet
Herve Hennequin — A captain
St. Petersburg Chamber Choir
Orchestre de Paris Monday January 29
The first of two programs with Irwin Weil, Professor of Russian Language and Literature at Northwestern University, on Russian poetry and music.
January 22, 2007
Andrew talks with this year's recipients of the annual Joyce Awards presented by the Joyce Foundation to artists of color creating new work with Midwest arts institutions.
January 16, 2007
The second of two programs with music with University of Chicago musicologist Philip Gossett on his new book Divas and Scholars: Performing Italian Opera (University of Chicago Press).
January 8, 2007
The first of two programs with music with University of Chicago musicologist Philip Gossett on his new book Divas and Scholars: Performing Italian Opera (University of Chicago Press).
December 4, 2007
This week Andrew's guest is Chicago Symphony Orchestra conductor emeritus Pierre Boulez in the first of two new conversations with music in which the pioneering composer and acclaimed conductor reflects on recent programs and his new position with the CSO.
November 27, 2007
This Monday night November 27 at 10 p.m. on 98.7WFMT Radio Chicago and wfmt.com Andrew will talk with theatre artist and opera director Mary Zimmerman about her production of ARGONAUTIKA: The Voyage of Jason and the Argonauts with Lookingglass Theatre Company and her upcoming productions at the Metropolitan Opera.
Argonautika runs through December 23 at the Water Tower Water Works, 821 North Michigan Avenue at Pearson.
Lookingglass Theatre Company
November 20, 2007
Andrew will talk with poet and Princeton English professor Esther Schor on her new book Emma Lazarus, a part of the "Jewish Encounters" series of Nextbook and Schocken. Lazarus was one of the great women of nineteenth-century American letters and her most famous poem is mounted at the base of the Statue of Liberty.
Nextbook
Schocken Books
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