Impolite to Listen: Classical Music Conversations

Chris and Sridhar discuss the latter's upcoming audition, their dislike of the classical saxophone, and things about which they have changed their minds (including Aaron Copland, Wynton Marsalis, Yo-Yo Ma, and Beethoven's even symphonies).

Join the discussion:

Tweet us @shreggz and @chris_arkin

Episode clips on Instagram @impolite2listen

Kate Clark - an introduction to the Baroque flute

Telemann - Fantasia for Solo Flute in E Minor

Jed Wentz - Blavet Flute Sonatas

Saxophone quartet plays Bach's Italian Concerto

Stan Getz - Misty

Copland: Rodeo - Zubin Mehta conducting the LA Philharmonic

Copland conducts Hoedown from Rodeo

Marsalis - Swing Symphony

Marsalis - Haydn Trumpet Concerto

Yo-Yo Ma plays the Bach Cello Suites live at the BBC Proms

Yo-Yo Ma - NPR Tiny Desk Concert

Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncant, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile - Attaboy from Goat Rodeo Sessions

Goat Rodeo Sessians NPR Tiny Desk Concerts

Yo-Yo Ma on re-recording the Bach Cello Suites

Yo-Yo Ma, Leonidas Kavakos, Emanuel Ax - The Making of Beethoven for Three

Beethoven Symphony No. 6 - Yo-Yo Ma, Beethoven for Three

2001: A Space Odyssey opening

2001: A Space Odyssey docking scene

Schindler's List - black tie Nazi party

Jordi Savall - Beethoven Symphony No. 6

Beethoven Late Quartets - Quator Mosaïques

Chris and Sridhar discuss the New York Philharmonic’s new concert hall, TikTok’s influence on the music industry, and rules to make rehearsals run smoothly.

Jump in! Tweet us @shreggz and @chris_arkin

Episode clips on Instagram @impolite2listen

Useful Links:

New York Philharmonic's new David Geffen Hall

Stella Katherine Cole

Hank Green - So...TikTok Sucks

Willem de Fesch - wikipedia

Willem de Fesch: Concerto Grosso in B-Flat Major - Bremer Barockorchester

Online Tone Generator

Tuning Drones

Just Intonation vs Equal Temperament

Why It's Impossible to Tune a Piano - minutephysics

Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition - Berlin Philharmonic/Karajan

René Voisin - wikipedia

Roger Voisin

Chris and Sridhar share some thoughts on YouTube Music before discussing the life, art, and legacy of Leonard Bernstein. Then, in true Lenny fashion, they (night)cap it off by naming some of their favorite Bernstein YouTube videos.

Jump in! Tweet us @shreggz and @chris_arkin

Episode clips on Instagram @impolite2listen

Useful Links:

YouTube Music - App Store

Netherlands Bach Society

Bernstein plays and conducts Rhapsody in Blue

Bernstein - Ravel Piano Concerto

Bernstein - Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1

Young People's Concert: What is American Music?

Young People's Concert: What Does Music Mean?

Photos from the set of "Maestro"

Isaac Stern - Fiddler on the Roof

Alan Menken's Razzie winning song - High Times, Hard Times

Jean Ferrandis Flutist - Official Archive

Ferrandis rehearses Mozart with Leonard Bernstein

Glenn Gould - Bach Keyboard Concerto in D Minor

Gould - Brahms D Minor Piano Concerto (Bernstein's speech included)

The Truth About a Legend - Leonard Bernstein on the Gould "scandal"

Bernstein - Beethoven 9 at the fall of the Berlin Wall

Bernstein - "Nimrod" from Elgar's Enigma Variations

Triangle lessons with Bernstein

Bernstein riffing with a tuba player

Best of House Speaker John Bercow

Sridhar's Picks:

Bernstein documentary rehearsing Rite of Spring

Bernstein discusses Beethoven's 6th and 7th symphonies

Teachers and Teaching - An Autobiographic Essay by Leonard Bernstein

Chris' Picks:

Trumpet player disagrees with Bernstein in rehearsal

Bernstein on Debussy's Faune - Part 1

Bernstein on Debussy's Faune - Part 2

The Making of West Side Story documentary

Chris and Sridhar discuss their favorite Victor Borge bits, the ins and outs of concert attire, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's acquisition of the record label Pentatone.

Join the discussion:

Tweet us @shreggz and @chris_arkin

Episode clips on Instagram @impolite2listen

Useful links:

Victor Borge documentary

Victor Borge performs at the White House

White House Steinway

Victor Borge & Anton Contra play Monti's Czardas

Victor Borge as Franz Liszt

Victor Borge & Michala Petri play Czardas

Victor Borge - Inflationary Language

Victor Borge - Happy Birthdays

Netflix to Stop Greenlighting Vanity Projects

Criterion Channel

First Woman Joins Vienna Philharmonic in 1997

Claudio Abbado's suit

Joshua Bell & Jeremy Denk - NPR Tiny Desk Concert

Joshua Bell & Yuja Wang play Beethoven Violin Sonata no. 9

Mischa Maisky plays Bruch's Kol Nidrei

A New Model for a Music Conservatory by Ted Gioia

The Honest Broker - Ted Gioia's substack

Pentatone Music

Reprise Records - wikipedia

Samuel Lipman - The House of Music: Art in an Era of Institutions

Natalia Osipova dances Giselle

Erich Leinsdorf - The Composer's Advocate: A Radical Orthodoxy for Musicians

Chris and Sridhar discuss session gigs, band education, Chris’ dream of becoming a piano salesman, Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2, Gerard Schwarz, the Seattle Symphony, and the art of conducting.

Join the discussion:

Tweet us @shreggz and @chris_arkin

Episode clips on Instagram @impolitemedia

Useful links:

Pierre Boulez with hula girls

Karajan conducts Sibelius: Finlandia

Karajan conducts Smetana: The Moldau

Karajan conducts Wagner: Overture to Die Meistersinger

Wayne Bergeron

Malcolm McNab

Movies Jim Walker has played in

Ratatouille - Wall Rat (Jim Walker flute solo)

Alexander Malofeev plays Rachmaninoff - Lilacs

Gerard Schwarz conducts Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2

Howard Hanson - wikipedia

Hanson Symphony No. 2 - wikipedia

Gerard Schwarz - wikipedia

Bernstein plays Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue

Aaron Copland: Duo for Flute and Piano

Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man

Claudio Abbado conducts Beethoven: Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral"

András Schiff: Schubert documentary

Seattle Symphony on YouTube

Trumpet player disagrees with Bernstein - BBC Symphony

Leonard Bernstein rehearses Elgar's Enigma Variations

ITL is back with a 100% topical episode: after a quick review of the new West Side Story movie, Chris and Sridhar chat about the politics of music as it pertains to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. They discuss the cancellation of Russian music and musicians in wartime, music as propaganda, musicians who enable and benefit from Putin, and much more.

Join the discussion:

Tweet us @shreggz and @chris_arkin

Episode clips on Instagram @impolitemedia

Useful links:

West Side Story 1961 Opening

West Side Story 2021 Opening

Neil Gaiman - A View from the Cheap Seats

Ansel Elgort - Thief

Erik Hoel - CGI did, in fact, ruin movies

Subscribe to Erik Hoel's (free!) newsletter, The Intrinsic Perspective

Borys Lyatoshynsky - Symphony no. 3 in B Minor, "Peace Will Defeat War"

Borys Lyatoshynsky - wikipedia

Alexander Malofeev - wikipedia

NPR article on Malofeev's cancelled concerts

Malofeev plays Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3

Malofeev plays Rachmaninoff: Lilacs

Valery Gergiev - wikipedia

Summary of Navalny's report on Gergiev's illegal activities

Putin's War Conductor - Navalny's report in Russian on Gergiev

Navalny singles out Gergiev for sanctions - Reuters

Life in a Day - Valery Gergiev

Gergiev checks the Chelsea score

Anna Netrebko - wikipedia

Alex Ross - Listening to Russian Music in Putin's Shadow

Zachary Woolfe - Putin's Maestro, and the Limits of Cultural Exchange in Wartime

Netrebko posing with flag of Novorossiya

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy plays the piano

Zelenskyy plays Hava Nagila

In this cocktail of an episode, Chris and Sridhar discuss the theme from HBO’s Succession, naming a chamber music group, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, whether or not music theory should be mandatory, and the merits of a theoretical perspective of music. They also get distracted and shop for domain names.

Join the discussion:

Tweet us @shreggz and @chris_arkin

Episode clips on Instagram @impolitelisten

Useful links:

Succession - theme and opening credits

Nicholas Britell explains the Succession theme

San Francisco Philharmonic

Karl Jenkins - wikipedia

Karl Jenkins - Palladio

Dvořák - Serenade for Strings

Ivry Gitlis plays Saint-Saëns Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso

Sergei Nakariakov plays Saint-Saëns on trumpet

Sergei Nakariakov - official website

Leonard Bernstein conducts Beethoven Symphony No. 5

Stirred Not Shaken - jazz ensemble

Stirred, Not Shaken - the podcast about how to drink better

Tony Bennett/Bill Evans: When in Rome

Rhapsody in Blue - Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic

George Gershwin plays Rhapsody in Blue

United Airlines Rhapsody in Blue Commercial

Woody Allen - Manhattan opening scene

Fantasia 2000 - Rhapsody in Blue

Bernstein/Los Angeles Philharmonic - Rhapsody in Blue

Maja Babyszka - Rhapsody in Blue

Diminished Jazz Theory - Tony Winston

Glenn Gould - Bach Contrapunctus I

Glenn Gould - Bach Contrapunctus IV

Glenn Gould - Bach Contrapunctus XIV

Chris and Sridhar play a game of Overrated/Underrated/Properly Rated with the Cleveland Orchestra, seats behind the orchestra in a concert hall, Mahler's 5th Symphony, and standing ovations. Then, for another edition of ITL At the Movies, they discuss Damien Chazelle's 2014 film "Whiplash," which prompts a conversation about abusive teachers and "old school" teaching methods.

(Disclaimer--in the spirit of "Whiplash," this episode is uncensored.)

Join the discussion:

Tweet us @shreggz and @chris_arkin

Episode clips on Instagram @impolitelisten

Useful links:

Mahler Symphony no. 10 - Cleveland Orchestra/Pierre Boulez

Bruckner - String Quintet

Mahler Symphony no. 5 - Lucerne Festival Orchestra/Claudio Abbado

Pretend It's a City with Fran Leibowitz and Martin Scorsese

Whiplash - Amazon Prime Video

Whiplash - wikipedia

Whiplash deleted scene

Ian Pace on systemic abuse in music education

After an obligatory chat about The Nutcracker, Chris and Sridhar reveal their musical Christmas wishlists. They discuss vocal training, baroque instruments, ballet orchestras, music festivals, entertainment in the metaverse, and the growing number of pops concerts. Will Santa give them what they want?

Join the discussion:

Tweet us @shreggz and @chris_arkin

Episode clips on Instagram @impolitelisten

Useful links:

Staatsballett Berlin (not Munich!) on the Nutcracker

ITL #13: The Christmas Special

Billie Holiday - I'm a Fool to Want You

King's College Choir - Coventry Carol

Kate Clark - Introduction to the Baroque Flute

All of Bach - Cantata BWV 102

Marten Root and Shunske Sato on BWV 102

Gabriele Cassone and Ton Koopman - Brandenburg Concerto no. 2

Lucerne Chamber Circle - Bach Christmas Oratorio

Glenn Gould - The Question of Instrument

Kuijken Brothers - Bach Trio Sonata from Musical Offering

Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Album

Natalia Osipova dances Giselle - The Royal Ballet

Count Basie at Newport

Emmanuel Pahud - Haydn Trio at Festival Salon

Entertainment in the Metaverse

Chris and Sridhar discuss concerts during COVID, tips for writing program notes, buying a digital piano, the International Chopin Piano Competition, and the music of Frédéric Chopin in general.

Join the discussion:

Tweet us @shreggz and @chris_arkin

Episode clips on Instagram @impolitelisten

Useful links:

International Chopin Piano Competition - wikipedia

2021 Chopin Piano Competition - full playlists

Bruce Liu, first prize winner - first round

Bruce Liu - second round

Bruce Liu - final round

Chopin Cello Sonata - Natalia Gutman and Sviatoslav Richter

Kristin Zimerman plays Ballade no. 1 in G Minor

Zimerman plays Ballade no. 4 in F Minor

Zimerman plays Waltz in A-Flat Major (from 1975 Chopin Competition)

Zimerman plays Mazurka in G Minor (from 1975 Chopin Competition)

Zimerman plays Grande Polonaise Brillante (from 1975 Chopin Competition)

Maurizio Pollini at the 1960 Chopin Competition

Pollini plays Chopin Preludes Op. 28

Glenn Gould plays Chopin Piano Sonata no. 3 in B Minor

Hershey Felder - wikipedia

Hershey Felder - stream his shows on his website

Hershey Felder in "Maestro: The Art of Leonard Bernstein"