Classical Music Playlist, March 26, 2021
American composer Amy Beach (1867-1944) | photo by Rayhuff-Richter
We’re highlighting the life and music of pioneering women in classical music every weekday during March for Women's History Month.
Amy Beach was the first American woman to compose and publish a symphony. Her ancestors being from the British Isles, she modeled her “Gaelic Symphony” of 1894 on Irish folk themes. The 1896 premiere in Boston was well-received.
Born in New Hampshire in 1867, Amy Marcy Cheney was a child prodigy and made her debut with the Boston Symphony at age 17. At 18 she married a Boston surgeon, Dr Henry Harris Aubrey Beach, 25 years her senior. He preferred that she limit her public performances as a pianist. But feeling that a husband should, nonetheless, support his wife, when she did perform any pay should be donated to charity. She focused on composition and became a member of what eventually was known as the “Boston Six,” a group of New England composers who were influential in developing a new American idiom distinct from the European sound. Beach was the only woman in the group.
During 25 years of marriage, Amy Beach composed not only the Gaelic Symphony, a Piano Concerto, and songs, but also chamber, choral and solo piano music. Following the death of her husband in 1910, she went to Europe to revive her career as a pianist. Her return to Boston four years later was triumphant, and she continued to tour and compose eventually some three hundred works, most published and performed.
Amy Beach died 1944 in New York City at the age of 77.
6:00 a.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in Bb major BWV 1051
European Brandenburg Ensemble; Trevor Pinnock, conductor
6:17 a.m.
John Knowles Paine
Overture to Shakespeare's "As You Like It" Opus 28
Ulster Orchestra; JoAnn Falletta, conductor
6:29 a.m.
Amy Beach
Pastorale
Reykjavik Wind Quintet
6:34 a.m.
Edward Elgar
Three Bavarian Dances Opus 27
Bournemouth Sinfonietta; Norman Del Mar, conductor
6:48 a.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Violin Concerto No. 3: II. Adagio
Academy of St Martin in the Fields; Neville Marriner, conductor Rachel Barton Pine, violin
6:58 a.m.
Fela Sowande
African Suite: Selections
Chicago Sinfonietta; Paul Freeman, conductor
7:10 a.m.
Giacomo Puccini
MANON LESCAUT: Intermezzo
BRT Philharmonic Orchestra; Alexander Rahbari, conductor
7:20 a.m.
Claude Debussy
Clair de lune ("Moonlight")
Inon Barnatan, piano
7:27 a.m.
Aram Khachaturian
Flute Concerto: First Movement
Philharmonia Orchestra; Ion Marin, conductor Patrick Gallois, flute
7:45 a.m.
Hubert Parry
Lady Radnor's Suite
City of London Sinfonia; Richard Hickox, conductor
8:01 a.m.
Johannes Brahms
Piano Concerto No. 1: III. Rondo in D minor Opus 15
Concertgebouw Orchestra; Bernard Haitink, conductor Claudio Arrau, piano
8:16 a.m.
George Friederich Handel
Concerto Grosso No. 2 in Bb major Opus 3/2 HWV 313
Academy of Ancient Music; Richard Egarr, conductor
8:32 a.m.
Henry Cowell
Saturday Night at the Firehouse
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; Lukas Foss, conductor
8:38 a.m.
John Lunn
Downton Abbey
La Pieta; Angele Dubeau, conductor Angele Dubeau, violin
8:47 a.m.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Violin Concerto: II. Andante Opus 80
Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra Philippe Graffin, violin
8:58 a.m.
Johann Hertel
Trumpet Concerto No. 3 in D major
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Neville Marriner, conductor Hakan Hardenberger, trumpet
9:12 a.m.
Amy Beach
Fireflies Opus 15
Joel Fan, piano
9:17 a.m.
Georges Bizet
CARMEN: Habanera: L'amour est un l'oiseau.
National Orchestra of France; Seiji Ozawa, conductor Jessye Norman, soprano; French Radio Chorus
9:26 a.m.
Peter Maxwell Davies
Farewell to Stromness
Lauren Scott, harp
9:34 a.m.
Alexander MacKenzie
Coriolanus Opus 61
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Martyn Brabbins, conductor
10:00 a.m.
Jean-Philippe Rameau
The Temple of Glory: Suite II (Le temple de la gloire)
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra; Nicholas McGegan, conductor
10:17 a.m.
John Rutter
Folk Suite
Royal Ballet Sinfonia; David Lloyd-Jones, conductor
10:30 a.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 32 in G major K 318
English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
10:40 a.m.
Maurice Ravel
Miroirs: Alborada del gracioso (Morning Song of the Jester)
Minnesota Orchestra; Eiji Oue, conductor
10:49 a.m.
Astor Piazzolla
Oblivion
RTE Concert Orchestra [of Ireland] Fionnuala Hunt, violin
10:57 a.m.
Antonin Dvorak
Carnival Overture Opus 92
Scottish National Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
11:10 a.m.
Amy Beach
Piano Trio in A minor Opus 150
Neave Trio
11:28 a.m.
George Gershwin
Three Preludes: 1 & 2
Sharon Isbin, guitar
11:38 a.m.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
EUGENE ONEGIN: Waltz
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Yuri Temirkanov, conductor
11:50 a.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Seasons: Summer - II. Adagio
La Serenissima; Adrian Chandler, conductor
11:56 a.m.
Gioachino Rossini
THE BARBER OF SEVILLE: Overture (IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA)
State of Mexico Symphony; Enrique Batiz, conductor
12:06 p.m.
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Piano Concerto No. 2: II. Adagio sostenuto
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; Vasily Petrenko, conductor Simon Trpceski, piano
12:21 p.m.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Ruins of Athens Overture Opus 113
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; Riccardo Chailly, conductor
12:28 p.m.
Amy Beach
From Grandmother's Garden: Rosemary and Rue Opus 97/4
Joanne Polk, piano
12:35 p.m.
Bela Bartok
Dance Suite: III. Allegro vivace SZ 77
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop, conductor
12:41 p.m.
Alexey Shor
Seascapes for Viola and Orchestra: III. Gathering Storm
London Philharmonic Orchestra; David Parry, conductor David Aaron Carpenter, viola
12:48 p.m.
George Friederich Handel
SERSE: "Ombra mai fu"
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; Harry Bicket, conductor Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano
1:00 p.m.
Harold Arlen
Over the Rainbow
Dave Brubeck, piano
1:04 p.m.
Bernhard Crusell
Clarinet Concerto No. 2 in F minor Opus 5
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra; Okko Kamu, conductor Martin Frost, clarinet
1:27 p.m.
William Schuman
New England Triptych
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra; Leonard Slatkin, conductor
1:43 p.m.
Amy Beach
Quartet for Strings Opus 89
Crescent String Quartet
2:00 p.m.
Isaac Albeniz
Asturias (Leyenda) - from "Suite Espanola" Opus 47
Jason Vieaux, guitar
2:08 p.m.
George Phillip Telemann
Concerto for flute, oboe and viola d'amore in E major
Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra; Martin Haselbock, conductor Stephen Schultz, flute; Gonzalo X. Ruiz, oboe; Elizabeth Blumenstock, viola d'amore
2:25 p.m.
Max Bruch
Canzone Opus 55
Philharmonia Orchestra; Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor Sergei Nakariakov, flugelhorn
2:34 p.m.
Aaron Copland
Appalachian Spring
Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, conductor
3:00 p.m.
William Grant Still
Vignettes for oboe, bassoon and piano
Sierra Winds
3:12 p.m.
Ernst Eichner
Harp Concerto No. 1 in C major Opus 6
Kurpfalz Chamber Orchestra; Stefan Fraas, conductor Silke Aichhorn, harp
3:36 p.m.
Amy Beach
Ballade Opus 6
Joanne Polk, piano
3:47 p.m.
Antonin Dvorak
Slavonic Rhapsody No. 1 in D major Opus 45
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra; Zdenek Kosler, conductor
4:00 p.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Concerto for two violins (Double Concerto) in D minor BWV 1043
Academy of Ancient Music; Andrew Manze, conductor Andrew Manze, violin; Rachel Podger, violin
4:16 p.m.
Giulio Regondi
Guitar Etude No. 4 in E major
David Starobin, guitar
4:22 p.m.
Edward K. (Duke) Ellington
New World A' Comin'
Cincinnati Pops; Erich Kunzel, conductor Duke Ellington, piano
4:35 p.m.
Felix Mendelssohn
Symphony No. 4 "Italian": I. Allegro Vivace in A major Opus 90
San Francisco Symphony; Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
4:47 p.m.
TRADITIONAL
Danny Boy
Voces 8
4:51 p.m.
Frederic Chopin
Ballade No. 3 in Ab
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
5:00 p.m.
Benjamin Britten
Soirees musicales (Suite after Rossini) Opus 9
National Philharmonic Orchestra; Richard Bonynge, conductor
5:11 p.m.
Johann Hertel
Trumpet Concerto No. 1 in Eb major
London Philharmonic Orchestra; Elgar Howarth, conductor Hakan Hardenberger, trumpet
5:25 p.m.
Robert Schumann
Ghost Variations Wo0 24
Igor Levit, piano
5:38 p.m.
Camille Saint-Saens
Havanaise Opus 83
New York Philharmonic; Zubin Mehta, conductor Itzhak Perlman, violin
5:48 p.m.
George Gershwin
Lullaby
Moscow Philharmonic; Dmitri Kitayenko, conductor
6:00 p.m.
Amy Beach
Gaelic Symphony in E minor Opus 32
Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
6:41 p.m.
Claude Debussy
Children's Corner: Golliwog's Cakewalk
Leigh Howard Stevens, marimba
6:45 p.m.
Miguel Llobet
Canco del Lladre: The Robber's Song: Catalan
Julian Bream, guitar
6:47 p.m.
Charles Gounod
ROMEO ET JULIETTE: Je veux vivre (Juliet's waltz song)
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra; Arthur Fagen, conductor Richard Stoltzman, clarinet
6:52 p.m.
Miklos Rozsa
Spellbound: Prelude & Love Theme
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic; Alexander Shelley, conductor Daniel Hope, violin
