Your Classical Coffee Break

This coffee break listens to extraordinary, but rarely heard classical music written by composers of African descent. Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was a virtuoso violinist, and conductor of the leading symphony orchestra in Paris. His mother was an African slave. Louis Moreau Gottschalk composed music with an African-Caribbean flavor. Born in New Orleans in 1829 – Gottchalk was best known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works. José Silvestre White was an Afro-Cuban violinist and composer born in Cuba in 1836, studied in Paris, was director of the Imperial Conservatory in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before returning to France to end his career. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, born in England in 1875, was an Afro-British composer, conductor & professor. Coleridge-Taylor achieved such success that he was referred to by white New York musicians as the "African Mahler" at the time when he had three tours of the United States in the early 1900s.

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This coffee break goes under the hood of the allegro sonata form to hear how it hums. The form was developed long before recording instruments were invented so composers used repetition to ensure their tunes were heard and appreciated. We pull apart Mozart's F Major Piano Sonata to better understand the piece's structure and power.

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Your Classical Coffee Break takes its last lap on our world-wide journey. This time we go back in time as well to travel to the Brandenburg Gate with Dave Brubeck, Old California with William Grant Still, visit The Cloisters, and march down the Appian Way with Respighi and the Roman Army.

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Your Classic Coffee Break agrees with the Buddha in believing that it is better to travel well than to arrive. In that spirit, we continue our world-wide journey exploring natural wonders through music, visiting a babbling brook in Connecticut, the Central Steppes of Russia, the Plains of North America, the Artic, and back to New England. Whew! But what road music! Mr. Somers sneaks in a beloved, well-known piece to finish this leg of our trip.

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Kurt Vonnegut stated, "Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God." This coffee break takes us on a whirlwind musical tour of Rome, Ithaca (NY), Japan, China, then back to New Jersey to hear Frances White's fascinating piece which uses the sound of traffic over a bridge as a foundation, Along the way we listen to Respighi's Fountains of Rome, as well as Henry Cowell's Snows of Fujiyama and explore how Nature's wonder serve as a muse for composers.

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(Turn up the volume a bit, the first piece starts out softly.) This coffee break puts on its hiking boots, dons scuba gear, and packs a thermos of java to begin a journey around the globe. Natural wonders and their topography have always inspired composers to recreate the Earth in music. Grab your passport and enjoy the celebration of Mother Earth.

(FYI--as of this posting Pulitzer Prize-winning George Crumb is very much alive.)

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In this freewheeling coffee break, clarinetist Dr. Christopher DiSanto, Associate Professor of Music, Stockton University, shares his perceptions on how artists approach virtuosic, as well as less technical, more emotional compositions. We talk about how a clarinet can play a cello solo, tempo and Beethoven's metronome, and can "showing your chops" ruin musicality? We also listen to some exceptional clarinet performances.

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The coffee break with Professor Christopher DiSanto, Associate Professor of Music, Stockton University, has a Viennese flavor. Dr. DiSanto, a professional clarinetist, discusses how he approaches performing Brahms, especially understanding the technical and emotional aspects of the pieces, even how he determines what kind of clarinet to use. We listen to some exquisite clarinet music, as well as discuss how to hire musicians for orchestras and the excellence of regional orchestras.

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A special guest visits this coffee break. Dr. Christopher DiSanto, Associate Professor of Music, Stockton University, shares his unique insights on classical music from his perspective as a professional clarinetist, orchestra personnel manager, and university professor. We hear some wonderful ensemble pieces performed by Dr. DiSanto and dig into how an artist approaches a new (or familiar) musical composition.

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This coffee breaks ends the examination of music that represents death by listening to extraordinary works by two great composers, music that takes us through the darkness into the afterlife. Sinfonia da Requiem was Benjamin Britten's antiwar piece that was structured similarly to the Roman Catholic Mass for the dead. Britten's War Requiem brings choir, soloist, poetry and two orchestras together to create an amazing vision of life and death. Death and Transfiguration is Richard Strauss's tone poem about a dying man's thoughts on his life's experience and he finally receives his transfiguration "from the infinite reaches of heaven." Powerful ideas and music.

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