Classical Classroom

Classical Classroom is finally coming back. Dacia Clay will be asking even more, even dumber questions about classical music to really smart people like Joshua Bell, Sharon Isbin, Hillary Hahn, Miro Quartet, Jono Hill, Anne Akiko Meyers, and many, many more.

We just heard that Classroom guest Peter Boyer is up to some big stuff (go Peter, it's your birthday…):

First, the National Symphony Orchestra – that's the orchestra in residence at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. – will be playing Peter's work Rolling River (Sketches on "Shenandoah") on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol on September 3, 2017;

And also, on September 9th, in an "It's a Small Classical Music World After All" moment, Classroom alum Brett Mitchell will be conducting the Colorado Symphony and soloist Renee Fleming in a performance of Peter's New Beginnings.

In honor of this news, we decided to rerun Peter's episode. Enjoy!

Why do composers write symphonies? What goes into writing a symphony? If it has three movements, is it still a symphony? I mean, really: What IS a symphony anyway?! Grammy-nominated composer and conductor Peter Boyer answers all of these questions and more by taking us deep into his Symphony No. 1. From making dots on a page, to recording the piece with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios, this is a tell-all of one composer's creative process. Come along, won't you? Goood. Goood…

Music in this episode:

Peter Boyer, Symphony No. 1. Played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Naxos 8.559769.

Peter Boyer, the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road, London

Audio production by Todd "Twitchy" Hulslander with quasi-spiritual guidance from Dacia Clay.

Greetings listeners! We're rerunning this episode of the podcast in honor of Karim Al-Zand's recent premiere of the new work, "The Prisoner," at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California. The piece was inspired by the writings of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner.

This episode is about something else: pattern preludes.

Pattern preludes are enigmas inside of conundrums wrapped in a warm flour tortilla. No – wait. That's not right… Pattern preludes, according to composer Karim Al-Zand's website, are, "…pieces constrained by a single idea (usually a rhythmic or textural ostinato) through which a composer expresses a narrowly focused thought. Patterning is especially well-suited to preludes, which are by convention short, concise and introductory." Bach, Chopin, Debussy, and others wrote pattern preludes. These little pieces function as a tool by which classical music newbies can get to know a composer's style. Learn aaall about them in this episode!

Music in this episode:

• Bach's Well Tempered Clavier C major prelude book 1
• Chopin's C major Etude, Op 10, No.1, played by Vladimir Ashkenazy
• Chopin/Bach, played by Kana Mimaki
• Al-Zand Pattern Prelude No. 1 (after Bach), played by DiLiberto
• Schumann Album Leaves Op. 124, No. 17, played by Denes Varjon

Audio production by Todd "Titters" Hulslander with alliteration from Dacia Clay.

How, exactly, does one know that he is a "light lyric tenor," or a "Spinto tenor," or a "dramatic tenor"? Is there like, a Tenor Task Team? Two members of the Texas Tenors – JC Fisher and John Hagen – teach the types of tenor to us. We also learn about "classical crossover" music and why it is a gateway drug, turning innocent classical music newbies into addicts by the thousands.

By the way, if you like this episode, check out the Texas Tenors on Houston Public Media TV 8 Monday August 7, 2017 (local PBS show times here).

Music in this episode:

• "La donna è mobile", by The Three Tenors, from the Three Tenors in Concert, Los Angeles (1994)
• "Celeste Aida", by Giuseppe Verdi, performed by Giuseppe Giacomini
• Tosca, by Giacomo Puccini, performed by Luciano Pavarotti (James Levine on piano)
• Otello, by Giuseppe Verdi, performed by Placido Domingo
• "Principe più non se" from La Cenerentola by Gioachino Rossini, performed by Juan Diego Florez with Los Angeles Philharmonic
• "Vesti la Giubba" from Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo, performed by Luciano Pavarotti
• La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini, performed Andrea Bocelli
• "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot by Giacomo Puccini, performed by Franco Corelli
• "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot by Giacomo Puccini, performed by the Texas Tenors

Audio production by Todd "Tenortastic" Hulslander with scads of squillo from Dacia Clay.

This episode does double duty: teaches you all about the trumpet and trumpet playing, while carrying out the secondary mission of Classical Classroom, i.e., the humiliation of the show's host. Trumpet players George Chase and Jason Adams of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra teach former trumpet player Dacia a trumpet lesson. Along the way, they say all kinds of important things about the history of the instrument. Plus, there are duck calls!

Music in this episode:

• Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major Mvt. 3 -Bach played by the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra
• Duo No. 1 by Chris Gecker played by George Chase and Jason Adams

Audio production by Todd "Ah!" Hulslander with running and hiding by Dacia Clay.

The story of Mozart's death has, over the years, taken on an awful lot of…story. Extant theories regarding how he died number in the hundreds and are still emerging. Even yours truly did an episode of Classical Classroom to try to get to the bottom of the whole thing. In this episode, Dr. Robert Greenberg, a music historian and bestselling creator of courses for the Great Courses and the Teaching Company (and now, for Robert Greenberg Music), explains the facts that we know that we know about how Mozart died. Plus, we explore why it's so hard for us to accept that incredible human beings like Mozart can, and do die, of totally boring, normal causes.

Audio production by Todd "Wolfie" Hulslander with suspicious eyeballing by Dacia Clay.

Classical music: the future frontier. These are the voyages of the podcast Classical Classroom. It's mission: to explore strange new music – Sorry. I'll stop. Where was I? Right! Composer, performer, and Mannes College of Musiccomposition faculty member, Missy Mazzoli talks to us about the future of classical music, from the future, aka, New York. Also talked about in this episode: Beth Morrison, Schoenberg, David Little, pillow fights, Lars von Trier, eighth blackbird, Richard Reed Parry, Bryce Dessner, Victoire, Abigail Fischer, "bands" vs. "ensembles", operatic voice, and streaming music.

PS, If you're in the Houston area, Missy's opera, Song from the Uproar, will be making its premiere here at Da Camera in March of 2015. For more info, click here!

Audio production of this episode by Todd "Tisk Tisk" Hulslander with buckets of help from Dacia Clay.

All music in this episode was composed by Missy Mazzoli.

For more about Missy Mazzoli: www.missymazzoli.com

Pianist, Shepherd School of Music professor, and recording artist Jon Kimura Parker – or as we like to call him, Captain Jon Solo – talks about the hidden world of the guest soloist. From the singular experience of performing with an orchestra in one ear and a concert hall in the other, to rehearsal times that will give you stage fright just hearing about them, it's a behind-the-scenes tell-all exposé of concertic proportions. (That's a word. We swear.)

Music in this episode was recorded live with Jon Kimura Parker in the Geary Performance Studio at Houston Public Media except for:

• Ludwig van Beethoven: Klavierkonzert Nr. 1 C-Dur, op. 15 played by Martha Argerich and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
• P.D.Q. Bach: Concerto for Two Pianos vs. Orchestra, S. 2 are better than one (P.D.Q. Bach).

Audio production by Todd "The Tobogganator" Hulslander with a running start by Dacia Clay.

Violinist Rachel Barton Pine loves playing challenging music (and apparently, being on Classical Classroom, as this is her third time on the show). So it makes sense that she would want to play the musical equivalent of running a marathon for her latest album: Bel Canto Paganini: 24 Caprices. In this episode, Rachel talks about who Paganini was. As it turns out, he was much more than just a classical music proto-goth with what some thought was a supernatural ability to play the violin.

Music in this episode:

• Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini – Nikolai Lugansky, Sakari Oramo City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
• Breaking The Rules: Pagan Annie Richard Greene, Jon Kurnick, Denny Seiwell
• All other music from Bel Canto Paganini by Rachel Barton Pine

Audio production by Todd "Sheriff Harry S. Truman" Hulslander with from Dacia Clay.

This show is from the Wayback Machine, and Emily has done a lot since this. She currently does a podcast called Level with Emily Reese for one, and she runs a company called Joon Media. (I'll post what she was doing at the time of our interview below.) What I remember most about this interview is 1) having my mind blown about Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, and 2) Emily's laugh, which I think you'll agree is pretty great.

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Beethoven's Fifth. We've never done a show on it because everybody knows it! Right? Emily Reese, on air host for Classical Minnesota Public Radio, host of Top Score (part of the Infinite Guest podcast series), and creator of MPR's Learning to Listen, says that we are wrong, so wrong! Emily takes us through the entire symphony, which, as it turns out, is completely surprising and amazing. Plus, we play drinking games! Or at least give you some to play.

Music in this episode:

• Symphony No. 5, Ludwig van Beethoven. Played by Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, and conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. Archiv.

Audio production by Todd "The Tower" Hulslander with fear of heights by Dacia Clay.