All Classical Radio

Where We Live host Adam Eccleston speaks to Alonzo Chadwick, Executive Director of BRAVO Youth Orchestras. BRAVO is inspired by El Sistema model founded in Venezuela in 1975 to improve the lives of underserved children through intensive orchestral instruction. The organization balances the goals of social improvement and musical rigor. Learn more at oregonbravo.org.

Portland musician and educator Aaron Nigel Smith talks about his collaborative album 'All One Tribe,' which celebrates the rich culture and diversity of Black voices. It was released in 2021 and has been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Children's Music category.

Where We Live, celebrating the arts and community leaders.

Host Raúl Gómez-Rojas revisits the Recording Inclusivity Initiative (RII), on the heels of its recent Local that Works contest win, presented by Current.org.

Learn more about RII at ecordinginclusivity.allclassical.org.

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein chose the title "Undersong," an archaic term meaning "refrain", which can be found both in the individual pieces (Schumann's Arabesque, and Kreisleriana; Couperin's Les Barricade Mysterieuses), and throughout the entire album.

"All of the music on this album consists of musical forms that have a refrain. Glass, Schumann, Couperin and Satie constantly revisit the same material in these pieces, worrying at it, shifting it to different harmonies and into different rhythmic shapes. Working with this music in the fall of 2020 was a constant reminder that in my afternoon walk in Green-wood Cemetery, I was quite literally treading a familiar path every day, a path that nonetheless had changed almost imperceptibly every time I left the house." - Dinnerstein

In his newest recording for Deutsche Grammophon (released September, 2021), Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson explores Mozart’s music in the context of composers who came before him and who helped Mozart shape his distinctive and immediately recognizable style. Ólafsson speaks with program director John Pitman about how he made connections between Mozart and C.P.E. Bach, as well as important composers of Mozart’s time who aren’t so well known today, such as Baldassare Galuppi, whom Ólafsson regards as a very important and forward-thinking composer of the 18th century.

"Muse" is the name of the debut recording by cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and his sister, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason. The siblings have recorded together before, in the 2020 release, "Carnival of the Animals", and have performed live many times. "Muse" includes two major 20th century cello sonatas, by Samuel Barber (1932); and Sergei Rachmaninov (1901), as well as shorter pieces by both composers. Sheku and Isata share the joys of performing as siblings (there is no rivalry, both say), and the challenges that have become all too familiar in these times. Hear the rest of the story in their conversation with All Classical Portland's Program Director John Pitman.

John Pitman, All Classical Portland’s Director of Music and Programming, interviews pianist Seong-Jin Cho about the sixth and latest album. Returning to the music of Frédéric Chopin with Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 2, Cho’s CD was recorded in April of 2021, in Hamburg and London. Seong-Jin shares with John the process, and the special challenges, of recording in a studio with an orchestra during the pandemic and offers his insight into the young Chopin’s approach to the concerto form, as well as to the four Scherzi, which were written at various stages in the composer’s life.

To mark a milestone birthday and celebrate a new chapter in his relationship with the label, French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet was given “carte blanche” by the Decca classical label to choose personal music that he has never recorded before—a selection that reflects on the people and pieces that have impacted his life as an artist while expanding his already diverse repertoire in new directions.

Mr. Thibaudet’s choices on his disc each have a unique story, and he shares the best with host John Pitman in the recorded conversation, which includes brief musical samples. Some pieces were specially arranged for the pianist, such as “Pride and Prejudice” by Dario Marianelli; others arranged by Thibaudet’s teachers (Elgar’s Salut d’amour one example); and still others were arranged by the pianist himself, including an astounding piano version of Barber’s Adagio. Thibaudet’s recording is as much a gift to us as it is to himself and will enhance playlists for years to come.

John’s guest is Jerod Impichchaachaaha' (Im-pih-CHAH-chah-ha) Tate, whose 2009 composition, Lowak Shoppala’ (LO-wak SHO-pah-la), an epic retelling of Chickasaw stories, received its world premiere recording this year. Jerod shares his own stories of growing up in a household of Western classical music, and strong ties to his indigenous roots as well.

John interviews Randall Goosby, whose debut on the Decca label, "Roots," was released this summer (and is being played on All Classical Portland regularly). The disc is an exploration of music written by Black composers and of composers inspired by Black American culture. Randall tells John Pitman about the importance and responsibility of bringing underrepresented composers into the repertoire, finding balance between violin study and sports; and the mentorship of the great violinist Itzhak Perlman, whose summer camp in New York is on, naturally, Shelter Island.