Classical Classroom

This week, Dacia Clay has the Dover String Quartet; violinists, Joel Link, Bryan Lee; violist, Milena Pajaro-Van De Stadt; and cellist, Camden Shaw into the studio. They listen to a recording of their own concert from the night before when they played Alban Berg's String Quartet Opus 3 for the Chamber Music Houston series. They introduce Dacia to the twelve-tone system of music composition, and she lives to talk about it. They also discuss serialism, Schoenberg, over-protective fathers, motifs, and that Berg is pronounced like "bare-g", not burg.

Music in this episode:

• Alban Berg String Quartet Op. 3 from a live performance recorded at Stude Concert Hall, Rice University, Shepherd School of Music for Chamber Music Houston

Audio production by Todd "One Todd to rule them all" Hulslander, editing by Mark DiClaudio and mind expansion by Dacia Clay.

In December of 2015, pop singer Taylor Swift donated $50,000 to the Seattle Symphony because she loved their recording of John Luther Adams' 42-minute work, Become Ocean. In this episode, Adams reveals his own pop culture roots, and credits Frank Zappa for getting him into classical music. He talks about his work as an environmentalist, what led him to write Ocean, and swims us through a piece so awesome that critic Alex Ross called it, "the loveliest apocalypse in musical history."

Music in this episode:

• Dark Waves. John Luther Adams
• Ecuatorial. Edgard Varèse.
• Songbirds: Woodthrush. John Luther Adams.
• Become Ocean. John Luther Adams. Performed by the Seattle Symphony.

Audio production by Todd "Swifty" Hulslander with "Blank Space" by Dacia Clay and editing by Mark DiClaudio.

This episode is full of spoilers – not just spoilers about The Force Awakens, but about future Star Wars episodes. Okay – they could be future spoilers. Right now, they're just our attempts at trying to find the Easter eggs hidden in John Williams' new score. This may be the nerdiest and most epic episode of Classical Classroom to date. Brett Mitchell, Associate Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra and Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, is your guide through the music of the latest Star Wars episode. He teaches about John Williams as a composer and about important tools of the compositional trade, and reveals how this new music is tied to Williams' scores for the original films. Mitchell takes no prisoners, and does not care for Ewoks. Prepare for hyperdrive.

Music for the episode:

• "Ride of the Valkyries." From The Ring Cycle, by Richard Wagner.
• Music from the original motion picture scores for
  • Star Wars: Episode 1, The Phantom Menace
  • Star Wars: Episode 4, A New Hope
  • Star Wars: Episode 7, The Force Awakens

Audio production by X-Wing pilot Todd "Dameron" Hulslander with lightsaber sounds by Dacia Clay and editing by Mark DiClaudio.

Many thanks to Angela "Organa" Mitchell, Randy Davis, and Al Dahlhausen at WCLV for their help with this episode!

Like this episode? Check out Classical Classroom, Episode 4: Leitmotif In Star Wars, also featuring Brett Mitchell!

When oboist, journalist, and author Blair Tindall wrote her memoir, Mozart in the Jungle, she tells us, she didn't necessarily not think it would become a TV show. But she did stop to marvel at the fact that playing the oboe could lead to buying a dress for the Golden Globes. Last night, the Amazon series based on her book won two Golden Globes: One for Best TV Comedy or Musical, and one Best Actor in a TV Comedy or Musical for Gael García Bernal's performance as conductor Rodrigo de Souza. (The lesson here being that becoming a classical musician will surely lead to fame and fortune.) In this Classical Classroom, MusicWorks episode, Tindall talks about life as a classical musician, what led her to write Mozart in the Jungle, and the importance of debunking classical music stereotypes and myths. We also discuss Jason Schwartzman's impressive facial hair, hanging out with Coppolas, and how an oboe rolls when you drop it on the floor.

Music in this episode:

• Symphony No. 1 "Low" (aka, the "Low" Symphony). Philip Glass (based on David Bowie's album, Low)
• The Planets: Mars, the Bringer of War. Gustav Holst. Played by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, James Levine conducting.
• "Lisztomania," from the album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Phoenix. Arranged for orchestra by Roger Neill and Suzie Katayama.

Audio production by Todd "BB-Todd" Hulslander with fluency in over six million languages by Dacia Clay and editing by Mark DiClaudio.

Happy New Year, everybody! Get ready for an astonishing onslaught of awesome, a veritable juggernaut of wow, from Classical Classroom in 2016 (John Luther Adams! The Force Awakens! Alisa Weilerstein!), starting with this episode featuring Rufus Wainwright.

You may know Rufus Wainwright as a singer-songwriter, a piano man, a dude who hangs out with Elton John and Joni Mitchell. But as it turns out, he also writes classical music and opera. In this episode, he talks about his new opera, Prima Donna, and writing a traditional romantic opera today.

Audio production by Todd "Toddwright" Hulslander with polite claps from Dacia Clay and editing by Mark DiClaudio.

All music in this episode from the opera Prima Donna, available on Deutsche Grammophon.

Team Classroom is taking a little holiday break this week, so we present one of our favorite episodes from the wayback machine. Hope your holiday season is full of the good stuff. We'll be back next week with new episodes!

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In this episode, independent producer, author, documentary filmmaker, Peabody Award-winner (et cetera, et cetera…), Wesley Horner chats with Dacia about Bach's B Minor Mass and bringing classical music to people who hate wearing tuxedos.

Audio production by Todd Hulslander with occasional grunts of approval from Dacia Clay.

It's four days until Christmas. Chances are, you've heard a lot of beautiful music. If you're looking for more of that, you've come to the wrong place. Welcome to Jingle Hell, where bad songs are born, and good songs come to die. Alecia Lawyer, founder, artistic director, and principal oboist of River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) talks about the worst musical offerings of the season, and what makes them so bad. Songs that include entire scales? Check. Songs with completely bizarre lyrics that we sing along with anyway? Check. Wookiees? Yeah. This episode has all of that and oh so much more. Listen if you dare! And, uh, merry Christmas. You're welcome.

Audio production by Todd "Good King Wencelastodd" Hulslander with two eyes made out of coal by Dacia Clay and editing by Mark DiClaudio.

Music in this episode:

• "Dominick the Donkey." Ray Allen, Sam Saltzberg and Wandra Merrell.
• "I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas." John Rox. Performed by Gayla Peevey.
• "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." Randy Brooks. Performed by Elmo and Patsy.
• "White Winter Hymnal." Written and performed by Fleet Foxes. From their self-titled album.
• "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town." By John Frederick Coots. Performed by the Cheeky Monkeys.
• "Ding​-​a​-​ling​-​a​-​ring​-​a​-​ling." Written and performed by Sufjan Stevens. From Silver and Gold.
• "Baby It's Cold Outside." Frank Loesser. Performed by Zooey Deschanel & Leon Redbone. From the Elf movie soundtrack.
• "Vader Did You Know?" Vic Mignogna.
• "What Can You Get a Wookiee for Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb?)." From Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk.
• "Mary, Did You Know?" Lyrics written by Mark Lowry and music written by Buddy Greene. Performed by Pentatonix.
• Greensleeves. London Festival Orchestra.
• "Joy to the World." Isaac Watts.
• "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen." Performed by the Bach Choir.
• "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." Performed by Celtic Woman.
• "Good King Wenceslas." John Mason Neale.
• "Angels We Have Heard on High." Performed by Sandi Patty.
• "The Cherry-Tree Carol." Performed by King's College Choir.

If you enjoyed this episode, you can also hear Alecia talk all about the oboe in Episode 10!

2013 was – I think we can all agree – a magical year. It was the year of the arthouse film Sharknado, the year of the Harlem Shake, and the year that Justin Bieber was separated from his pet monkey. But more important than any of those moments? Thanksgivukkah happened. Learn all about this phenomenon, about the history of Hanukkah, and about the music of the holiday in this Classical Classroom episode from the vault.

Happy Thanksgivukkah everyone! That's right: the Julian and the Hebrew calendars have aligned this year to create a day even more amazing than Hanukkah and more delicious than Thanksgiving. There won't be another until the year 79811! To honor this rare occasion, Cantor Benjamin Matis of the Shelter Rock Jewish Center in Roslyn, New York in Long Island schools us on the history and music of Hanukkah.

Audio production by Todd "Toddfurky" Hulslander with a side of help and gravy from Dacia Clay.

Music in this episode includes:

• John Williams' Star Wars (Main Theme)
• Ma'oz Tzur (Ashkenazi and Sephardic versions)
• George Frideric Handel's Judas Maccabaeus (HWV 63)
• Richard Tucker singing "Sound an Alarm" (Judas Maccabaeus)
• David Paskin, The Ballad of Thanksgivukkah

Auguste Franchomme. 19th centuryChances are, unless you happen to be a cellist, you've probably never heard of Auguste Franchomme. But back in the day, he was one of the most celebrated musicians in Paris, he was besties with Chopin, and he hung out with people like Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, and the Rothschilds. He was a teenager when he won the Premier Prix at the Paris Conservatoire, and he was solo cellist in King Louis-Philippe's Musique du Roi. So, why is it that most of his work hasn't been recorded and is, in fact, out of print? Why do we remember the name "Chopin" and not "Franchomme"? Cellist and Franchomme scholar Louise Dubin, who just put out a CD called The Franchomme Project, discusses this and much more in this episode.

All music in this episode from Louise Dubin's The Franchomme Project.

Audio production by Todd "Terr-ee-bleh" Hulslander with eating of palmiere by Dacia Clay and editing by Mark DiClaudio.

For more about Louise Dubin: www.louise-dubin.com

Hope all of you in the States enjoyed your Thanksgiving. We took some time off to enjoy ours, so this week, we're giving you old gold. Øystein was recently in Houston, and because our stars didn't align, we weren't able to record a new episode with him. (Øystein, come back anytime, buddy!) To make up for that, we give you this rerun.

Learn 100% more about the tuba in this episode than you've ever known! Norwegian tuba soloist and chamber musician Øystein Baadsvik is the only tuba virtuoso in the world to make a career exclusively as a soloist. He is also the only tuba player in the world to have a great story about touring with a punk band. He joins us all the way from Norway to tell us about this shadowy instrument: its size, its repertoire, and its fnugg.

Audio production by Todd "Tall Texan" Hulslander with slings and arrows by Dacia Clay.

Music in this episode:

• Bass Tuba Concerto in F Minor, 1st movement, by Ralph Vaughn Williams. Performed by Øystein Baadsvik.
• Concerto for Tuba and Orchestra 1st movement, by John Williams. Performed by Øystein Baadsvik.
• "Fnugg" from The Front Row – Reserved (a Houston Public Media compilation CD). Performed by Øystein Baadsvik.
• "Fnugg" from YouTube video
• Blood Sweat and Tears tuba solo
• The Cod Lovers
• Encounters II for solo tuba, performed by Roger Bobo
• "Csárdás by Vittorio Monti," performed by Øystein Baadsvik.
• "Ordner seg (It'll Be All Right)" from Ferry Tales by Øystein Baadsvik.
• "Winter" from the Four Seasons Concerto by Antonio Vivaldi, performed by Øystein Baadsvik.

PS, The title for this show was inspired by a great band called 500 Megatons of Boogie. You can find out more about them here: www.reverbnation.com/500megatonsofboogie

For more about Øystein Baadsvik: www.baadsvik.com.