Classically Speaking

Since being used to commemorate the funerals of the likes of FDR, JFK and Albert Einstein, Samuel Barber's famous, lush tearjerker Adagio for Strings has become an unnoficial anthem of communal mourning. But the work has also elicited some very different emotions by appearing in some unexpected places, like an episode of Seinfeld or the floors of a dance club. Take a deep dive into the piece itself.

For every piece of music that's ever been notated there's a moment, however brief, where the composer has the inspiration, but nothing is yet written down.

That's where the conversation begins with TJ Cole. She visited Nashville in 2018 to get to know Intersection and Nashville in Harmony. The two groups had co-commissioned a piece of music on the theme of gender identity. Cole discussed her ideas, and agreed to meet us again when the piece was set to premiere.

When she came back? She had something completely different than what she had planned. Mostly due to how inspired she was by individual testimonials from members of Nashville in Harmony.

As a musicologist, Dr. Robin Wallace has devoted much of his career to studying Beethoven. 

Then his wife, Barbara, went deaf. 

In this episode of Classically Speaking, Wallace discusses how Barbara's adjustments to deafness lead him to new insights and inspired his latest book, Hearing Beethoven: A Story of Musical Loss and Discovery. In it, Wallace busts some major Beethoven myths and challenges some of the conventional ways the hearing world thinks about the composer's deafness. 

Hannibal Lokumbe is not caught up in what classical music "should" be. On his visit to Nashville this past winter for a residency with local chamber ensemble Intersection, the main event was a performance of his massive piece Crucifixion/Resurrection: 9 Souls A Traveling. The work is massive and emotional - a large scale choral/orchestral requiem for the Charleston Nine. But Lokumbe also made time for public speaking on the topics of mass incarceration, the spiritual existence of people of color, and the life of Fannie Lou Hamer. When he spent time with 91Classical he spoke a little bit about all of these topics, as well as his history on his family's farm, and how he finds artistic inspiration from his ancestors.

Four friends got together and started a band? That's so Nashville. The friends are a violinist, cellist, lute player, and countertenor? Yep. Still very Nashville. 

When Classically Speaking was invited to produce a live episode recording at national podcasting conference PodX, we wanted to showcase an ensemble that's worked hand in hand with 91Classical since the beginning. Cheap Trills made their debut on Live in Studio C, and even let our audience "name the band" in the fall of 2018. 

In this episode you'll hear three full pieces of music performed live by the ensemble, including an aria by J.S. Bach, a spiritual, and a tune by Stevie Wonder. All arranged in collaboration among the members of the group. This kind of team work is a great introduction to Nashville's classical music scene.

When you've been playing in a rock band for your whole career the way Ben Folds has, getting in front of a huge symphony orchestra feels completely different. 

In writing his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Folds was composing a piece for the dancers of Nashville Ballet, while at the same time telling hThe concerto was released as part of Folds's album So There, which also includes his collaboration with classical ensemble YMusic. In this video from a CBS broadcast in 2015 you can see the partnership in action. is own story: that of a rock pianist composing a concerto. In this Classically Speaking interview, he compares composition to songwriting, and concerto playing to rock. 

The concerto was released as part of Folds's album So There, which also includes his collaboration with classical ensemble YMusic. In this video from a CBS broadcast in 2015 you can see the partnership in action. 

For Wu Fei, playing by heart doesn't mean playing from memory. It means improvisation.

This Classically Speaking mixtape walks across the fine line between classical music and American folk music.

Robert Schumann was just 20 years old when he started composing his Piano Sonata No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22 in 1830. It took him eight years to complete it, and over the course of that time Schumann experienced both major setbacks and tremendous joy – emotions you can feel in the contours of the sonata.

While thoughts of love, sex and power dominate Nashville Ballet's Lucy Negro Redux, for Rhiannon Giddens the work is about uncovering a hidden part of history.