Classical Conversations

Two members of the Chicago-based Black Oak Ensemble, cellist David Cunliffe and violist Aurélien Fort Pederzoli, joins us for a conversation about their debut album from Cedille Records, Silenced Voices. The CD contains extraordinary works by six promising, early 20th century Jewish composers originally from Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and the Netherlands. One survived World War II as a member of the Dutch resistance, the others perished in concentration camps and elsewhere in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Star violinist Rachel Barton Pine joins Haley Taylor for a conversation about her Music by Black Composers project, and her new album from Avie Records, which contains the folk music-infused violin concertos of Antonin Dvořák and Aram Khachaturian.

Percussionist/composer David Skidmore, co-founder of the Grammy Award-winning, Chicago-based percussion quartet Third Coast Percussion, discusses their genre-defying collaboration with record producer and composer Devonté Hynes for their new album Fields.

Haley Taylor talks with Grammy nominated composer and clarinetist Derek Bermel about his new album Migrations. The album includes his Migration Series for Jazz Ensemble and Orchestra (2006); the song cycle Mar de Setembro (2011), with texts by Eugénio de Andrade; and the three-movement orchestral A Shout, a Whisper, and a Trace (2009), in performances by the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, saxophonist Ted Nash, clarinetist Bermel, Brazilian jazz vocalist Luciana Souza, and the Albany Symphony under its music director, David Alan Miller.

Listeners are well acquainted with the violinist Angèle Dubeau and her ensemble La Pieta through their many recordings. The latest entry in her discography is called Pulsations – a collection of short works by composers with their own unique musical pulse. Angèle joins Haley Taylor for a conversation about the new disc, which contains music by Ludovico Einaudi, Yann Tiersen, Johan Johannsson, and Max Richter among many others.

Violinist/concertmaster Margaret Batjer celebrates 20 years with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra by releasing a new album of violin works, including a piece she helped premiere: the violin concerto by composer Pierre Jalbert. Also on the disc: soulful, beautiful works for violin and orchestra by Baltic composers Arvo Pärt and Peteris Vasks, balanced with a lovely rendition of J.S. Bach's Concerto in A Minor, BWV 1041.

The Boston-based Neave Trio (violinist Anna Williams; cellist Mikhail Veselov; pianist Eri Nakamura) have released a wonderful new album of music by three female composers (Amy Beach; Louise Farrenc; Rebecca Clarke) – each of them unique and absolutely essential. The trio's members join us for a conversation about the composers and music heard on the critically-acclaimed disc.

The Grammy-nominated early music vocal quartet New York Polyphony has released an album of remarkable sacred works from the Spanish renaissance. Entitled Lamentatione (Lamentations), the recording shines light on four composers, including Francisco de Peñalosa and Pedro de Escobar – both of whom helped spark the flowering of polyphony in the 16th century. New York Polyphony's Craig Philips joins us to preview the disc.

Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy takes us on a deep dive into his docu-oratorio The Hunger, inspired by Ireland's Great Famine (1845-52). At once devastating and hauntingly beautiful, The Hunger draws on the letters of American humanitarian Asenath Nicholson, who traveled to Ireland to bear witness to the horrible events. The new album (from Nonesuch Records) features contemporary music ensemble Alarm Will Sound with soprano Katherine Manley, and legendary sean nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird.

Star pianist Jeffrey Biegel is in town to channel the spirit of the late, great Liberace with the Toledo Symphony this weekend! Listen to his extended interview from Afternoon Classics with Brad Cresswell, including selections from his digital album A Pianist's Journey, plus a preview of his TSO debut in Michael Daugherty's Le Tombeau de Liberace (The Tomb of Liberace). Note: musical selections from A Pianist's Journey included with permission; other recordings have been truncated due to copyright. Photo credit: Jerry LoFaro.