As their first decade of performing together coincided with the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, the Calidore String Quartet embarked on a tour to perform the complete cycle of the composer’s sixteen string quartets. “Performing the Beethoven cycle is the musical equivalent of scaling Mount Everest,” said violinist Ryan Meehan, who once appeared on WFMT’s Introductions. “It is a grueling …

A reissue of a live recording made at an acclaimed concert in Munich on October 17, 1976, featuring the Fifth Symphony and Leonore Overture No. 3, new to the WFMT library. Following this all-Beethoven program with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein returned to Munich to conduct regularly, beginning an annual series with the orchestra in 1983. Joachim Kaiser, …

Recent guests in the WFMT studios, Cantus presents a collection of songs that what it means to connect in the modern world on their fourth release on Signum Classics. The program reflects upon the tension between technology and human longing for genuine in-person interaction. Citing the documentary Social Dilemma as an inspiration, ensemble bass Chris Foss says “the digital revolution …

With a discography of well over 100 albums, this release marks Marc-André Hamelin’s first Beethoven recording. The transcendental difficulties of the Hammerklavier — by far Beethoven’s longest piano sonata, and in the composer’s view also his finest — will always deter all but the greatest pianists of the day, with only a select few able to master its formidable musical, …

Following their award-winning first installment of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Caldidore String Quartet presents the Middle Quartets on a three-disc set. Winners of top prizes at major competitions including the 2016 M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition, the ensemble has distinguished itself as one of the foremost interpreters of a vast repertory since they were founded in 2010 at the …