Muse Mentors

Fredrich Kuhlau was admired by Beethoven and is known as "the Beethoven of the flute." He wrote his gorgeous Fantasy in D major for solo flute in 1820 during a four-month stay in Vienna. Perhaps the Danube river provided inspiration for this silky, rippling Romantic music...

Georg Philip Telemann, Fantaisie No. 12, performed by Karen Kevra

Fredrich Kuhlau, Fantasy, Op. 38 in D major, Adagio, performed by Karen Kevra 

J.S. Bach, Fantasia in G minor, BWV 542, performed by Hans-André Stamm-organ 

Beethoven, Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, performed by Singapore Symphony Chorus and Youth Choir, Eudenice Palaruan, Choral Director, Tengku Irfan, piano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AXnA7-TD4Q

Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 "Moonlight" - I. Adagio sostenuto performed by Maurizio Pollini-piano 

Beethoven, Symphony #6 "Pastorale" - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, conductor

Please support the show.

Artwork: Danube landscape near Regensburg, by Albrecht Altdorfer

Support the show

Frenchman Johannès Donjon's Etudes de Salon are whimsical and summery music. His miniature "Song of the Wind", "Élégie", and "Will-O'-the Wisp" require sure-footed technique. Even so, this fun music oozes with color, expression and imagination.

Georg Philip Telemann, Fantaisie No. 12

Johannès Donjon, Song of the Wind, Élégie, Will-O'-the Wisp

Performed by  Karen Kevra. 

Support the show

It's been a period of intense news and worldwide stress. At times like these you've got to turn it off and turn to music. Czech composer Jindřich Feld's 1957 Meditation is a sublime 2.5 minute work that offers a respite from the news.  Try the simple meditative approach for a deep listening experience.

Ray Chen-violin, and Julio Elizalde-piano perform Jules Massenet Meditation from Thais  Karen Kevra-flute, performs Jindřich Feld's Meditation.

Support the show

Pierre-Octave Ferroud wrote his "Bergère Captive", a gorgeous and plaintive work for solo flute in July of 1921. You've probably never heard of Ferroud because he died a grisly pedestrian death when he stepped out into an oncoming car and was killed at the age of 36. It's a tragedy because if you listen to his colorful and inventive music you will understand why he won the attention  of Prokofiev, Poulenc and Stravinsky! His "Captive Shepherd" is musical storytelling at its best--full of imagination, a summery rainbow of colors, and deep emotion.

Georg Philip Telemann, Fantaisie No. 12

Pierre-Octave Ferroud,  Jade

Pierre-Octave Ferroud, Bergère Captive

All flute pieces performed by  Karen Kevra 

Support the show

Johann Sebastian Bach was incredibly generous with the flute.  He wrote several full scale sonatas, gave the flute has starring roles in two of the Brandenburg concerti, and beautiful obbligato parts in countless arias, but there is just one solo partita. The slow movement from his A minor flute Partita-a Sarabande -is a dance form with both Arab and Spanish origins and has a silky, sensual quality. Imagine a kind of "dance of the seven veils. " Way back in 1583, King Philip II of Spain had  the Sarabande banned because it was said to ‘excite bad emotions’.

Georg Philip Telemann, Fantaisie No. 12

J.S. Bach Brandenburg Concerto #5 in D major, BWV 1050 mmt. 1 Allegro
Karen Kevra-flute,  Lucy Chapman-violin Elizabeth Metcalfe-harpsichord  

J.S. Bach "Schafe können sicher weiden" (Sheep may safely graze) from his Cantata BWV 208. Hyunah Yu-soprano, Karen Kevra & Kenichi Ueda-flutes  

J.S. Bach, Prelude from Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV1007, Edward Arron-cello

All flute pieces performed by  Karen Kevra 

Manuscript of J.S.Bach's Partita in A minor.

www.capitalcityconcerts.org

Support the show

"THE CHILDREN ARE PLAYING" is a tiny fairy-tale of a piece for solo flute written by Denmark's best-known composer Carl Nielsen in 1920 as incidental music for a play called "The Mother." The whimsical music is a tip of the cap to Hans Christian Andersen and sounds like kids on playground on a spring day--leaping and laughter and teasing and taunting with a mix of sun and clouds. 

Georg Philip Telemann, Fantaisie No. 12

Claude Debussy, Syrinx

Carl Nielsen, The Children are Playing

All flute piece performed by  Karen Kevra 

Frank Loesser, I'm Hans Christian Andersen performed by Danny Kaye

Artwork: Sibylle von Olfers, Mother Earth and Her Children

Support the show

In this encore episode James Pease Blair, one of National Geographic's legendary photographers  talked about love, life, and legacy. 

Jim began his 32 year career at the National Geographic Society with a splash as staff photographer on board Jacques Cousteau's Calypso in 1962. As a photography student in the fifties at the Institute of Design in Chicago, he studied with Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind, but it was his years as a summer intern with Roy E. Stryker, at the Pittsburgh Photographic Library that made the biggest impression on Jim. Jim Blair's artistry and empathy brought a new kind of humanity to National Geographic which went from being a travel and culture magazine to a  journal which included social and environmental images that revealed the soul of planet and its inhabitants.

Don't miss this powerfully moving episode on the 91st anniversary of his birth.

Support the show

Composer/flutist/pianist Louis Moyse's Pastorale was written in 1925 when he was just 14 years old.  Louis was the son of the great French flutist Marcel Moyse, and he grew up steeped in Parisian culture and with the sound of the flute in his ears and his heart. That influence shows in this evocative, oh-so-French piece that sounds like a marriage between Impressionism and springtime in the French countryside.  

 Georg Philip Telemann, Fantaisie No. 12, performed by Karen Kevra 

 Louis Moyse, Pastorale, performed by Karen Kevra  

John Lunn, Downton Abbey Theme, The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra  

J.S. Bach, Gavotte, performed by Karen Kevra  

Cecile Chaminade, Concertino, performed by Karen Kevra  

Sakura, traditional Japanese folktune, performed by Karen Kevra

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Flute Concerto No. 2 in D major, Allegro aperto, performed by Marcel Moyse  

Igor Stravinsky, Petrouchka, Wiener Philharmonic  

Cab Calloway, Jumpin' Jive  

Duke Ellington Orchestra, Jubilee Stomp  

Maurice Ravel, Daphnis et Chloé Suite No. 2, Berlin Philharmonic

Support the show

Composer Katherine Hoover's Winter Spirits is a musical tribute to the American Desert Southwest. This 5 minute piece was inspired by Marie Buchfink's artwork picturing a cross-legged native American flute player: A colorful cloud of tiny beneficent spirits rises from the flute into a cloud. Elements of dance, chant, and drumming combine to create a mystical, magical soundscape. 

Katherine Hoover, Kokopeli
Katherine Hoover, Winter Spirits
performed by Karen Kevra, flute

Support the show

In this first full episode of the FLUTE STORIES MINI-SERIES host and flutist Karen Kevra explores Claude Debussy's  magical mythical Syrinx, the finest gem of the solo flute repertoire.

Claude Debussy, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Claude Debussy, Syrinx
CPE Bach, Poco Adagio from Sonata in A minor for solo flute
Karen Kevra, flute

Albert von Tilzer, Take Me Out to the Ballgame,
Mark Herman, organ

Support the show