MPR Music - Saint Paul chamber Orchestra

SPCO host Michael Barone visits with Bruce Coppock and Barry Kempton, the orchestra's president and general manager, to explore some of the planning and imagination behind...and diversity and color inherent in...the coming 2003-2004 performance/broadcast season.

A selection of the season's conductors and guest soloists...including Andreas Delfs, violinist Thomas Zehetmair, Paul Goodwin, cellist Pieter Wispelwey, Max Pommer, violinist Sarah Chang, trombonist Christian Lindberg and the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet...play music by Mozart, Dittersdorf, Locke, Lully, Bach (Johann Sebastian and Carl Philip Emmanuel), Schrecker, Druckman, Schulhoff, Schoenfield and Copland.

It's an introduction you'll not want to miss, and an excellent way to get 'on track' with a Twin Cities concert schedule which begins on September 11. Do tune in.

MOZART: Finale, fr Serenade in G, K. 525 (Sony Classical CD-65600)
—SPCO/Bobby McFerrin, conductor
MOZART: Rondo in C, K. 373 (Teldec CD-46448)
—Thomas Zehetmair, violin/Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie
DITTERSDORF: Finale, fr Symphony in F (Chandos CD-8564/5)
—Cantilena Chamber Orchestra/Adrian Shepherd, conductor
LOCKE: "The Tempest" Incidental Music (Hyperion CD-66667)
—Parley of Instruments/Peter Holman, conductor
LULLY: "Cadmus et Hermione" Suite (Harmonia Mundi CD-907122)
—London Oboe Band/Paul Goodwin, director
J.S. BACH: Prelude in g, S. 999 (Channel Classics CD-14198)
—Pieter Wispelwey, cello
C.P.E. BACH: Presto, fr Double Concerto in E-flat (Novalis CD-150025)
—Vienna Academy/Martin Haselböck, director
J. S. BACH: Minuet & Rejouissance, fr Orchestral Suite IV (Capriccio CD-10012)
—New Bach Collegium Leipzig/Max Pommer, conductor
SCHRECKER: Chamber Symphony (CBC CD=5010)
—Canadian Chamber Ensemble/Raffi Armenian, conductor
DRUCKMAN: Nor Spell Nor Charm (DG CD 435 389)
—Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
SCHULHOFF: Concerto for String Quartet (London CD-444819)
—Deutscher Kammersymphonie/Andreas Delfs, conductor
KALANIEMI: Hermannin Riili, fr 2 Finnish Pieces (Albany CD-339)
—Minneapolis Guitar Quartet
DVORAK: Finale, fr Violin Concerto, Op. 53 (EMI Classics CD-57521)
—Sarah Chang, violin; London Symphony Orchestra/Colin Davis, conductor
CORIGLIANO: Voyage (Telarc CD-80421)
—I Fiamminghi Chamber Orchestra/Rudolf Werthen, conductor
MOZART: Finale, fr Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat, K. 495 (Bis CD-1008)
—Christian Lindberg, trombone; Tapiola Chamber Orch/Jean-Jacques Kantarow,
conductor
SCHOENFIELD: Andante, fr Café Music (Innova CD-544)
Lev Polyakin, vn; Charles Bernard, vcl; Frances Renzi, p
COPLAND: Appalachian Spring (Teldec CD-46314)
—SPCO/Hugh Wolff, conductor

Mark Kosower is guest cellist on our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra broadcast playing two concertos by Vivaldi (who was one of the first to feature the cello in a solo role.. it had been something of a second-class musical citizen up til then). This all-Baroque party also includes a Concerto Grosso by Handel.. featuring a trio of soloists and two suites of dances: the Fourth Orchestral Suite by Bach, stylish music for concert entertainment and a suite of dance movements from the opera "Dardanus" by Rameau which includes everything from a sleep-scene to a sea monster. Nicholas McGegan comments and conducts.

J.S. BACH Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D, S. 1069
VIVALDI: Cello Concerto in a, R. 419
HANDEL: Concerto Grosso in F, Op. 6, No. 2
VIVALDI: Cello Concerto in D, R. 230
RAMEAU: Dardanus Suite

Enjoy authentic chamber music with members of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra this week. Bassoonist Charles Ullery collaborates with Skip James in a jaunty sonata by Saint-Saens, who was friendly to every instrument. Leslie Shank and Earl Yowell team up for an unusual piece for violin and percussion, "Legal Highs" by David Jones—a winning team, as it turns out—and Leslie also plays duo with pianist Susan Billmeyer in Beethven’s C-minor Sonata. Schubert provides a quartet unlike any other, for flute, viola, Guitar and cello, which Alicia McQuerry, Tamas Strasser, Chris Kachian and Joe Johnson introduce us to—an authentic charmer. Chamber music, with members and friends of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in this week’s broadcast concert.

DAVID JONES Legal Highs (1988)
—Leslie Shank, violin; Earl Yowell, percussion

LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata in c, Op. 30. No. 2
—Leslie Shank, violin; Susan Billmeyer, piano

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS Sonata in G for Bassoon and Piano, Op 168
—Charles Ullery, bassoon; Layton James, piano

FRANZ SCHUBERT Quartet in G for Flute, Guitar, Viola and Cello, D. 96—Alicia McQuerrey, flute; Tamas Strasser, viola; Chris Kachian, guitar; Joe Johnson, cello

SCHICKELE MIX AND MATCH
September 28, 2003
(MPR rebroadcast 9/28/2003; recorded 5/5/01)

We’re not really going to the dogs, but this week’s program does include a charming piece inspired by sketches of dogs. American humorist James Thurber depicts everything from hunting hounds to a litter of perfectly healthy puppies raised on fried pancakes. Who else but Peter Schickele could successfully manage a musical evocation of such a scene? Along with Thurber’s Dogs, we’ll have a youthful wind serenade by Richard Strauss in homage to Mozart, a chamber symphony by Shostakovich reflecting on the trauma of World War II, and Chopin’s glittering F minor concerto with which he made his much-applauded public debut.

Program #5
VIVALDI'S VIOLIN CONCERTO
(MPR broadcast 10/5/2003; recorded 9/12/03)

We introduce one of the newest members of the musical team on our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra broadcast, principal second violinist Dale Barltrop, from Australia, who gives us a demonstration of the sort of virtuoso fiddling which became commonplace in the mid 18th century, concertos by Vivaldi and Locatelli which set the standards throughout Europe. Max Pommer is guest conductor, leading ensemble pieces by Handel and Mozart, plus Bach's Fourth Orchestral Suite in its original form… music majestic but not brassy. Glorious sounds from the Baroque and early classic periods, with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in concert.

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL Concerto Grosso in B-flat, Op. 3, No. 1
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Symphony No. 22 in C, K. 162
PIETRO LOCATELLI Violin Concerto in D, Op. 3, No. 1
ANTONIO VIVALDI Violin Concerto in D, Op. 7, No. 11 (Il grosso mogul)
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D, S. 1069

Program #6
Copland's Appalchian Spring
(MPR broadcast 10/12/2003; recorded 9/20/03)

It is a gift to be simple, and on our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program Aaron Copland gives a perfect example in his American ballet, Appalachian Spring, which we present in its original orchestration for thirteen players. Mozart was anything BUT simple with his 38th Symphony, several steps more advanced than anything in that genre he had composed before, but wildly appreciated by audiences in Prague when it was premiered. And we think you'll be quite wild about a jazzy Concerto for String Quartet and Winds by Erwin Schulhoff, a talented Czech composer whose life was cut short by Nazi repression but whose music soars again in the hands of the young Daedalus String Quartet. Andreas Delfs champions them all…Copland, Schulhoff and Mozart…with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in broadcast concert this week.

From friendship grew a unique masterpiece…this Clarinet Concerto by Mozart, composed for Anton Stadler and played by our Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra principal Timothy Paradise. Music for strings is featured as well…Elgar’s luxuriant Introduction and Allegro, and Michael Tippett’s reflections on antiquity…Fantasia Concertante on a theme of Corelli. The Schubert’s empassioned Symphony No. 8 reminds us that unfinished business is not always incomplete. Douglas Boyd is guest conductor with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in broadcast concert this week. I’m Michael Barone, inviting you to join us here.

--Douglas Boyd, guest conductor; Timothy Paradise, clarinet

View program notes from the SPCO Web site

Program #8

Handel & Corelli
MPR broadcast 10/26/03; recorded 10/3-4/03


	Paul Goodwin

George Frideric Handel, master of the good tune, is but one of the 18th century greats featured on our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program. His Concerti Grossi were modeled after those of Arcangelo Corelli and we'll have one of his as well. Plus dramatic suites from theatrical music by Matthew Locke and Jean Baptiste Lully, and two pieces by the Bach most famous in the 18th century, Carl Phillip Emmanuel, whose symphonies showed the way out of Baroque and into the new Classical era and his flute concertos were fit for a king. Julia Bogorad-Kogan is soloist, with special guest conductor Paul Goodwin in charge for a buffet of savory 18th century treats.

LOCKE: Suite from The Tempest
CORELLI: Concerto Grosso in C minor, Op. 6, No. 3
CPE BACH: Flute Concerto in A minor, Wq. 166
LULLY: Suite from Camus and Hermione
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL: Concerto Grosso in G minor, Op. 6, No. 6
CPE BACH: Symphony in B minor, Wq. 182, No. 5

Paul Goodwin, guest conductor; Julia Bogorad-Kogan, flute

Program #9
Brubeck and Corigliano
MPR broadcast 11/2/03; recorded 10/9/03


	The Brubeck brothers

American music is the focus of our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program. We’ll have one of John Adams’ seminal scores, "Shaker Loops", an intricate web of interacting themes for an orchestra of strings. Flutist Julia Bogorad-Kogan adds her voice to the string ensemble for John Corigliano’s dream-like tone poem, "Voyage", and Chris Brubeck and the Brubeck Brother’s Quartet show us how jazz and the modern classics are all part of the same family, particularly in Brubeck’s new Vignettes for Wind Quintet and Jazz Quartet. Expect fresh sounds and a lively experience as Reinbert de Leeuw conducts contemporary American scores with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in broadcast concert this week.

JOHN CORIGLIANO: Voyage for Flute and Strings
JOHN ADAMS: Shaker Loops
CHRIS BRUBECK: Vignettes for Nonet for Woodwind Quintet and Jazz Quartet
BRUBECK QUARTET: Bulwinkle’s Revenge, Lydian Grin (Mike Dimicco), Take 5

Reinbert de Leeuw, guest conductor; Brubeck Brothers Quartet

Program #10
REICH & ADAMS
(MPR broadcast 11/9/2003; recorded 10/11/03)


	Reinbert de Leeuw

It’s an all-American program with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra this week, beginning with Jennifer Higdon’s "Autumn Music", a wind quintet inspired by Samuel Barber, portraying crispness, clarity and color. We’ll also have Steve Reich’s Triple Quartet, about interlocking harmonies and rhythms, "Nor spell, nor charm" by Jacob Druckman, a lyric elegy…drawing upon Shakespeare…in memory of a lost friend, and John Adams hyperkinetic Chamber Symphony, born of early 20th century modernism and late 20th century cartoons. Reinbert de Leeuw conducts and comments with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in broadcast concert this week.

JENNIFER HIGDON Autumn Music (1995)
STEVE REICH Triple Quartet (1999)
JACOB DRUCKMAN Nor spell, nor charm (1990)
JOHN ADAMS Chamber Symphony (1992)

—Reinbert de Leeuw, guest conductor

Program #11

MOZART'S FIRST SYMPHONY
MPR broadcast 11/16/2003; recorded 10/17-18/03


	Roy Goodman

Strauss was by no means the first to set the Don Quixote story to music. Our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program proves that Georg Philip Telemann had fun with windmills and galloping mules in his programatic suite from 1761. We'll also serve up two symphonies…No. 22 by Haydn, featuring horns both English and French, and Mozart's very first essay in this format. Charles Ullery plays Mozart's one and only Concerto for Bassoon, which captures the instrument's spirit perfectly. Roy Goodman is our guest conductor, a specialist in Period Performance, bringing fresh insights to our Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra broadcast concert this week.

FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN Symphony No. 22 in E-flat ("The Philosopher")
W. A. MOZART Bassoon Concerto in B-flat, K. 191
GEORG PHILIPP TELEMANN Don Quichotte Suite
MOZART Symphony No. 1 in E-flat, K. 16

—Roy Goodman, guest conductor; Charles Ullery, bassoon

Program Notes

Program #12

Great Taste
MPR broadcast 11/23/2003; recorded 05/18-19/2001


	Martin Haselböck

He wasn't just a chip off the old Bach. When Carl Philip Emmanuel wrote for the organ, he did it in a style very different from that of his famous father. Conductor Martin Haselbock delights in the frothy fantasy… and poignant emotion… of C.P.E. Bach's Concerto in G, created for King Frederick the Great's sister who must have been a pretty good player. Otherwise, it's music from the Viennese tradition into which Haselbock was born… a suite depicting soldiers in battle, plus two symphonies by Haydn, No. 85 for Paris, and a favorite of Marie Antoinette's, and No. 8 for Haydn's first season at the Esterhazy court where he made friends in the orchestra by giving everyone interesting solos.

FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN Symphony No. 8 in G, Evening
CARL PHILIP EMMANUEL BACH Organ Concerto in G
HEINRICH IGNAZ von BIBER Battaglia
FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN Symphony No. 85 in B-flat, The Queen of France

—Martin Haselböck, conductor & organ

Program #13

Schickele Symphony
(MPR rebroadcast 11/30/2003; recorded 9/22/01)


	Peter Schickele

Peter Schickele joins us in our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program to introduce his new Second Symphony, an homage to Spring, The Sweet Season. It's a piece filled with invention, presented here in its world premiere. The young conductor Stefan Sanderling makes his Chamber Orchestra debut, too, with an Italian overture by Schubert and some deft and delightful movements by Gabriel Fauré, Masques and Bergamasques. And pianist Yefim Bronfman provides an heroic account of the fantasy-filled G-minor Concerto No. 2 by Saint-Saëns, which mixes Bach and Offenbach..

Peter Shickele: Symphony No. 2 (The Sweet Season) (world premiere)
Gabriel Fauré: Masques et Bergamasques, Op. 112
Franz Schubert: Overture in D, D. 590
Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2 in g, Op. 22

--Stefan Sanderling, conductor; Yefim Bronfman, piano

Program #14

Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 4
(MPR broadcast 12/7/2003; recorded 10/25-26/20003)


	Christian Lindberg (Photo: Mats Bäcker)

Trombonist Christian Lindberg had a bright idea and the Fourth Horn Concerto by Mozart proves to be a perfect vehicle for his engaging musicianship. On our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program Lindberg also plays a new concerto of his own creation, a wildly coloful fantasy titled Mandrake in the Corner, and already a possible story line begins in the imagination. Plus, we'll have two symphonies, an early one by Mozart and an exquisitely beautiful piece by an overlooked Viennese master Franz Schreker, a wistful farewell to a passing era. Andreas Delfs conducts.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Horn Concerto No. 4 in E-flat, K. 495
CHRISTIAN LINDBERG: Mandrake in the Corner (1998)
FRANZ SCHREKER: Chamber Symphony (1917)
MOZART: Symphony No. 29 in A, K. 201

—Andreas Delfs, conductor, Christian Lindberg, trombone

Program #15
Schubert & Mozart
(MPR broadcast 12/14/2003; recorded 10/31/2003)


	Thomas Zehetmair

A Salzburg Connection is at play on this week's Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program, a link between soloist Thomas Zehetmair and this Mozart Concerto—both products of the same home town. And it's also about youth, as Zehetmair conducts an early Mozart Symphony (Number 10, written when he was 14), a modern Chamber Concerto for 16 Instruments by Englishman Philip Cashian, who numbers Frank Zappa among his youthful influences, and a genuinely romantic Third Symphony by Schubert, product of a charmed 18-year-old genius. Thomas Zehetmair talks with us, too, about his life and art, as we visit the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra for this week's broadcast concert.

Wolfgang Amdeus Mozart: Symphony No. 10 in G, K. 74
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 4 in D, K. 218
Philip Cashian: Chamber Concerto (1995)
Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 3 in D, D.200

—Thomas Zehetmair, conductor and violin

Program #16

Cantus & Carols
(MPR broadcast 12/21/2003; recorded 12/2002)
sing along lyrics


	Cantus

	Lynne Warfel-Holt

In the midst of winter, we discover the bloom of a special rose, and this week's Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program features a variety of appropriate and evocative seasonal selections, including chorale-preludes by Brahms, Bach and Everett Titcomb. We'll also hear choral selections by Morton Lauridson and Franz Biebl, featuring the vocal ensemble Cantus, and Christmas songs for us all to share together. Join the spirit of the times, and share the good tidings. Layton James presides and Lynne Warfel-Holt narrates our program Cantus & Carols, with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in concert this week.

GIUSEPPE TORELLI: Christmas Concerto
EVERETT TITCOMB: (orch. Layton Jams) Puer natus est
FRANZ SAVER BIEBL: Ave Maria
JOHANNES BRAHMS:(arr. Layton James) Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming
MORTEN LAURIDSEN: O Magnum Mysterium
ERNEST MOERAN: Whythorn 'es Shadow
J.S. BACH: In Dulci Jubilo
BACH: Sinfonia fr. Christmas Oratorio
ARIEL RAMIREZ: Los Reyes Magos (The Three Kings)
NIGERIAN CHRISTMAS SONG: Olatunji, Via "Betelehemu"
FREDERICK WADELEY: (orch. Layton James) There Shall Come Forth a Rod
sing along lyrics

—Layton James, conductor; Cantus, vocal enemble; Lynne Warfel-Holt, narrator

Program #17
MOZART'S ABDUCTION
(MPR rebroadcast 12/28/2003; recorded 9/29/01)

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART The Abduction from the Seraglio, K. 384

—Andreas Delfs, conductor; Esther Heideman, soprano; Laura Aikin, soprano; Stanford Olsen, Theodore Green, tenor, Alan Ewing, bass; John de Lancie, narrator; Minnesota Chorale

Program #18

Mozart's Requiem and Kráza's Brundibár
(MPR broadcast 1/4/2004; recorded 11/7-8/03 )

Hans Krása's Brundibár, and the Surreal Cultural Life of Theresienstadt
Feature essay and slideshow by Gary B. Cohen, University of Minnesota


	Hans Kráza

There are few more poignant works in the entire history of music than the two which Andreas Delfs has brought together for this astonishing program. Although both were created under the most difficult circumstances, the music itself doesn't reflect the turmoil and suffering that surrounded its creation. Before he was sent to his death at Auschwitz, Czech composer Hans Krása put on Brundibár, a parable of the triumph of good over evil, at least 55 times at Terezín (Theresienstadt), the notorious ghetto established in 1941 by the Nazis, and this enchanting children's opera offered a ray of hope to young and old prisoners alike. Mozart was mortally ill when he composed his Requiem, and died before he could complete it, yet it is a work of unique emotional power and musical genius. Maestro Delfs dedicates these performances of the Requiem to Krása, the children of Terezín and all others who perished in the Holocaust.

HANS KRÁSKA : Brundibár (children's opera) (1939)

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Requiem in d, K. 626

—Andreas Delfs, conductor; Bel Canto Voices & Minnesota Boychoir; St. Olaf Choir; Alexandra Deshorties, soprano; Jennifer Larmore, alto; James Taylor, tenor; Eric Owens, bass

Program notes from the SPCO Web site

Hans Krása's Brundibár, and the Surreal Cultural Life of Theresienstadt
Feature essay and slideshow by Gary B. Cohen, University of Minnesota

Program #19

A Celebration of Purcell
(MPR broadcast 1/11/2004; recorded 11/20-21/03)


	Gary Bordner and Curtis Streetman

It's an authentic Purcell Trumpet Tune which Gary Bordner performs as part of our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program. We focus on the English Baroque, with Purcell's first Ode to Saint Cecilia and a Masque from "The Fairy Queen", a Symphony by William Boyce, and Jeremiah Clarke's sorrowful Ode upon the Death of Mr. H. Purcell—the best there was in England for some time to come. Solo singers Christine Brandes, Maria Jette, Ryland Angel, Alan Bennett and Curtis Streetman team up with the University of Minnesota Chamber Singers and Concert Choir as Nicholas McGegan and members of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra for music of delightful celebration during this week's broadcast.

HENRY PURCELL: Ode for St. Cecilia (Welcome to All the Pleasures)
WILLIAM BOYCE: Symphony No. 1 in B-flat
PURCELL: Trumpet Sonata in d
PURCELL: The Faerie Queen, from Masque from Act 5
JEREMIAH CLARKE: Ode on the Death of Purcell (Come, come along)

—Nicholas McGegan, conductor; Christine Brandes, soprano; Maria Jette, soprano;Ryland Angel, alto;Alan Bennett, tenor; Curtis Streetman, bass; University of Minnesota Concert Choir and Chamber Singers; Gary Bordner, trumpet

Program notes from the SPCO Web site

Program #20

Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony
(MPR Broadcast: 1/18/04; recorded: 11/28-29/03)


	Emmanuel Krivine

It's music for the imagination. Provide your own in this Concerto for Strings by Stravinsky and dance along at home, if you wish. Pianist Steward Goodyear provides his own cadenzas for Mozart's Concerto No. 21, in a gesture of which Mozart certainly would have approved. Luigi Dallapiccola provides a distinctly modern, and distinctly Italian review of a notion of A Little Night Music. His Piccola Musica Notturna is miniature marvel in tone, in contrast to the effervescent Felix Mendelssohn, who sends home postcards from an Italian sojourn Rome and Naples. Emmanuel Krivine conducts Mendelssohn's sun-drenched Italian Symphony as the final stop on our international musical itinerary served up in characterful manner by friends in the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in concert.

IGOR STRAVINSKY: Concerto in D for Strings (1946)
WOLFGANG MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K. 467
LUIGI DALLAPICCOLA: Piccola musica notturna (1954)
FELIX MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4 in A, Op. 90 (Italian)

Emmanuel Krivine, conductor
Stewart Goodyear, piano

Program notes from the SPCO Web site

Program #21
Concertmaster's Collection
(MPR Broadcast: 1/25/04; recorded: 12/5-6/03)


	Mary Nessinger

	Steven Copes

Life, love, lust and loss, we have it all on our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program, which includes a zesty Wind Serenade by Richard Strauss, the care-free work of a teenaged talent. Poems of Friedrich Rückert set by by Gustav Mahler explore nuances of human emotion. Mary Nessinger sings songs, some intended as wedding gifts. She also portrays the deranged heroine in Benjamin Britten's cantata "Phaedra", overcome by desire. From Vienna, microcosmic movements for string quartet by Webern contrast with the exhuberant Haffner Serenade by Mozart, party music of a most stylish sort. It's a Concertmaster's Collection, with Stephen Copes at the helm of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in broadcast concert this week.

RICHARD STRAUSS: Wind Serenade in E-flat, Op. 7
ANTON WEBERN: Five Movements for String Quartet, Op. 5
GUSTAV MAHLER: (arr. West) Rückert Songs
BENJAMIN BRITTEN: Phaedra, Op. 93 (1975)
WOLFGANG MOZART: Serenade No. 7 in D, K.250 (Haffner) (mvmts. 1-4)

Steven Copes, director and violin
Mary Nessinger, meszzo-soprano

Program notes from the SPCO Web site

Program #22

Paulus Premiere
(MPR Broadcast: 2/01/04; recorded: 10/07/01)


	Choral Arts Ensemble of Rochester

It's Beethoven in a lighter mood in this scherzo from his Fourth Symphony. It's a work of classical poise yet filled with intense drama, as well. On our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program, along with Beethoven, you'll hear works by twentieth century German master Paul Hindemith. His cheeky, thorny Kammermusik Concerto No. 4 for violin, gives our concertmaster, Steven Copes, a real handful. The Choral Arts Ensemble of Rochester, Minnesota joins us for three lyric French chansons, and for the premiere of a new score, commissioned by the Mayo Foundation, which deals with the healing power of music in A Place of Hope. Andreas Delfs conducts the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in broadcast concert this week.

STEPHEN PAULUS: A Place of Hope (world premiere)
PAUL HINDEMITH: 3 Chansons (for a capella chorus)
HINDEMITH: Violin Concerto, Op. 36, no. 3 ( Kammermusik No. 4)
LUDWIG VON BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 4 in B-flat, Op. 60

Andreas Delfs, conductor
Steven Copes, violin
Choral Arts Ensemble of Rochester (MN)

Program #23

COPES & SHOSTAKOVICH
(MPR broadcast 2/8/2004; recorded 1/9-10/04)


	Shai Wosner

It's a very sophisticated game of name that tune on our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program, and this Chamber Concerto by Alban Berg actually begins with themes based on his name and those of his teacher and another friend. We'll explore the essence of sheer sound in an early work, Concordanza, by the groundbreaking Russian composer, Sophia Gubaidulina. We'll also hear the orchestral arrangement of the tenth of Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartets, plain-speaking music with a powerful message. Pianist Shai Wosner and conductor Reinberg de Leeuw are special guests with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in broadcast concert this week.

ALBAN BERG Chamber Concerto, Op. 8 (1924)
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA Concordanza (1971)
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Chamber Symphony, Op. 118a (1961)

—Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor; Steven Copes, violin; Shai Wosner, piano

Program notes from the SPCO Web site

Program #24

Beethoven's Emperor Concerto
(MPR broadcast 2/15/2004; recorded 1/18/04)


	Garrick Ohlsson (photo: Philip Jones Griffiths)

An Austrian theme weaves through our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program. Arnold Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony, scored for a rather small ensemble, nonetheless packs plenty of big ideas into a very compact space. By contrast, a Divertimento by Mozart seems all whipped cream. But it is party music, after all, and a youthful venture. Beethoven achieves perfect poise in his Fifth Piano Concerto, and Garrick Ohlsson gives a performance worthy of an Emperor. Andreas Delfs conducts the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in this week's concert broadcast.

WOLFGANG MOZART Divertimento in F for Strings, K. 138
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG Chamber Symphony No. 1, Op. 9 (1906)
LUDWING van BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat, Op. 73 (Emperor)

Andreas Delfs, conductor; Garrick Ohlsson, piano

Program notes from the SPCO Web site

Program #25

Keyboard for Two
(MPR broadcast 2/22/2004; recorded 1/23-24/04)


	Perseus Freeing Andromeda by Piero di Cosimo, 1515. Perseus finds Andromeda tied to a rock by the shore. Moved by her beauty, he slays the monster and makes her his wife.

Was it diplomacy, or forward thinking? On our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program, Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach sets up the passing of an era in a concerto where the Baroque harpsichord and classical fortepiano share the spotlight. Karl Dittersdorf depicts Andromeda's Rescue by Perseus, a classical Greek legend captured in a classical symphony. And a youthful Mozart cedes the laurel to the mature Haydn, whose symphony for Paris was specially adapted to the French taste. It's a little slice of life from the end of the 18th century when Nicholas McGegan conducts the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, with harpsichordist Skip James, in broadcast concert this week.

WOLFGANG MOZART: Symphony No. 28 in C, K. 200
C.P.E BACH: Double Concerto in E-flat for Fortepiano and Harpsicord, Wq. 47
KARL DITTERS von DITTORSDORF: Symphony in F (Perseus and Andromeda)
FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN: Symphony No. 86 in D

—Nicholas McGegan, conductor, Layton James, harpsicord

Program notes from the SPCO Web site

Program #26
LEVIN PLAYS WITH MOZART
(MPR broadcast 2/29/2004; recorded 10/27/01)

JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU: The Temple of Glory Suite

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K.467

ROBERT LEVIN: Improvisation in the Style of Mozart

FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN: Symphony No. 59 in A, Fire

—Nicholas McGegan, conductor; Robert Levin, piano

Program #27

Unanswered Questions
(MPR broadcast 3/7/04; recorded 2/6-7/04)


	Lisa Saffer

How do you relate to time when listening to music? Do you count the pulse, or nervously check your watch? Do you make time to hear new things, question your place in the scheme of time, or thank the heavens for the time you have? In our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra broadcast concert, a provocative progression of works by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, Charles Ives and Lukas Foss offer timely examples of a timeless art with Robert Spano conducting. Time marches on, but I hope you'll take the time to tune in.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Adagio and Fugue in c, K. 546
LUKAS FOSS: Time Cycle (1960)
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN: Molto Adagio, fr String Quartet No. 15 in a, Op. 132
CHARLES IVES: The Unanswered Question
J.S. BACH: Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D, S. 1068

—Robert Spano, conductor; Lisa Saffer, soprano

Program notes from the SPCO Web site

Program #28

André Watts Plays Mozart
(MPR broadcast 3/14/04; Recorded 2/14/04)


	André Watts

There's a ruminative elegance to Mozart's 24th Piano Concerto, which André Watts conveys so well on our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program. Though its middle movement seems serene, there's a brooding intensity to the piece overall. Even Mozart seems to have struggled here, since there is no final version of the score and no cadenza, so Mr. Watts provides his own. Intense in other ways is the new Sinfonia by Roberto Sierra, which we premiere, and the rarely played Second Symphony by Kurt Weill, written "between worlds", beyond Berlin but before Broadway. Andreas Delfs conducts with special insight as we present our Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in this week's broadcast concert.

ROBERT SIERRA: Sinfonia No. 1 (world premiere)
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 24 in c, K. 491
KURT WEILL: Symphony No. 2 (1933)

Andreas Delfs, conductor
André Watts, piano

Program #29

Spring Ensembles
(MPR Broadcast: 3/21/04; recorded dates vary)


	William Alwyn

When two or three are gathered together, we have ‘chamber music', for two, three and six players on our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program. A Clarinet Sonata by William Alwyn and a Violin Sonata by Mozart feature Timothy Paradise and Elsa Nilssen in traditional pairings with piano, but then we get a Concertino by Erwin Schulhoff for Flute, Viola and Double Bass. We'll also hear Osvaldo Golijov's Lullaby and Doina for strings and winds and the heterogenous Septet by Saint-Saens, which even brings Lynn Erickson's trumpet into an unexpectedly intimate environment. It's all about collegial conversation and artful communication, as members of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and friends share authentic chamber music for broadcast this week.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Sonata No. 25 in F for Violin and Piano, K. 377 —Elsa Nilsson, violin; Lydia Artymiw, piano (rec. 2/1/04)
WILLIAM ALWYN Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
—Timothy Paradise, clarinet; John Jensen, piano (rec. 11/9/03)
OSVALDO GOLIJOV Lullaby and Doina
—Timothy Paradise, clarinet; Julia Bogorad-Kogan, flute; Dale Barltrop, violin Evelina Chao, viola; Sarah Lewis, cell; Christopher Brown, double bass (rec.2/20/04)
ERWIN SCHULHOFF Concertino for flute, viola and double bass
—Alicia McQuerrey, flute; Evelina Chao, viola; Sarah Lewis, cello (rec. 11/9/03)
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS Septet
—Lynn Erickson, trumpet; Leslie Shank, John Kennedy, violins; Evelina Chao,viola; Sarah Lewis, cello; Christopher Brown, double bass; Lydia Artymiw, piano (rec. 2/1/04)

Levin Plays with Mozart
MPR Broadcast 3/28/04, recorded 10/27/01


	Robert Levin

Although the music may sound like Mozart, it's actually pianist Robert Levin, doing exactly what Mozart did with zest and panache: improvising. Levin brings this special skill our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program, where he takes off on some themes suggested by the audience, and also provides spontaneous embellishments and cadenzas to Mozart's popular Concerto No. 21 in C. Nicholas McGegan sets the pace for a suite of Baroque dances from Jean-Phillipe Rameau's lavish opera "The Temple of Glory", and wraps things up in flaming intensity, classically poised, of course, with Haydn's "Fire" Symphony No. 59. Music from the 18th century is brought to life in performance by pianist Robert Levin, Nic McGegan and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in concert.

JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU: The Temple of Glory Suite
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K. 467
ROBERT LEVIN: Improvisation in the Style of Mozart
FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN: Symphony No. 59 in A, Fire

Nicholas McGegan, conductor; Robert Levin, piano

Bach's Great Passion
MPR rebroadcast: 4/4/04; Recorded: 4/14/01


	J. S. Bach's "Passion"

A stately sarabande laments the death of the Lamb in the Passion of Christ according to the Gospel of Matthew set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach. Overwhelming in its accomplishment, redemptive in its power, this incredible score draws us as participants into the Evangelist's Biblical narrative. Pontius Pilate, Judas, Peter, the Angry Crowd, and Jesus all are there as the inevitable tragedy unfolds. The Daughters of Zion and the Faithful offer comment and comfort, and the individual believer, personified in reflective arias and duets, ponders the ultimate redemption of the human soul. Nicholas McGegan conducts the Dale Warland Singers and soloists Dana Hanchard, Judith Malafronte, Benjamin Butterfield and Eric Owens in an unforgettable experience: Bach's Saint Matthew Passion with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in concert.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: The Passion According to Saint Matthew, S. 244

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Dale Warland Singers (chorus)
Benjamin Butterfield, tenor (Evangelist)
Eric Owens, bass (Christ)
Dana Hanchard, soprano
Judith Malafronte, mezzo-soprano

McGegan and Mendelssohn
MPR rebroadcast: 4/11/04; recorded 9/9/01


	Christopher O'Riley

A Scottish Highland fling, an enchanted forest, a piano bench for two and a wedding present from groom to bride…Nicholas McGegan and pianist Christopher O'Riley play an all Mendelssohn concert with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in this week's broadcast. It's about passion, in the D-minor Piano Concerto, and poetry, with Mendelssohn's overture to Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream”. Then O'Riley and McGegan team up for a bit of four-handed piano fun…that's four-handed, not underhanded. Don't miss the felicities of Felix on this week's Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra broadcast concert.

FELIX MENDELSSOHN: A midsummer Night's Dream Overture, Op. 21
MENDELSSOHN: Piano Concerto No. 2 in d, Op. 40
MENDELSSOHN: Allegro brilliant in A for Piano Four-Hands, Op. 92
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 3 in a, Op. 56 ( Scottish )

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Christopher O'Riley, piano

Vivaldi's Guitar Concerto
MPR broadcast 4/18/04; recorded 3/12-13/04

We ask you to use your imagination on our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program: How might Vivaldi have composed had he lived in the 21st century? American composer David Hahn plays that game in a new concerto he wrote for the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, who present the work in its broadcast premiere. For comparison, Joseph Hagedorn rearranged one of Vivaldi's original concertos for his ensemble. We'll have ballet music, too, by Gluck and a custom tailored French Symphony by Haydn, as Harry Bicket leads us through a mostly 18th century sampler.

CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK: Alessandro Suite
DAVID HAHN: Concerto in the Baroque Style
ANTONIO VIVALDI: Concerto in C, RV 560
FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN: Symphony No. 84 in E-flat

Harry Bicket, conductor
Minneapolis Guitar Quartet

Sins & Sweets
MPR broadcast 4/25/04; recorded 1/6/02


	The Hudson Shad

Two sisters from Louisiana set out to earn money for the family back home and, in their exploits in Memphis, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and San Francisco, find life to be a mix of delights and disasters. Ute Lemper sings of "The Seven Deadly Sins" in Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht's pithy and satirical elaboration upon bourgeois aspiration. But from there it's all sacher torts and kaffe mit schlag with end-of-an-era-salon music by Strauss, Rimsky-Korsakov, Rossini, and Rezhicek—everything from the "Blue Danube" to a "Bumble-Bee". Andreas Delfs conducts.

KURT WEILL Seven Deadly Sins (1933)
GIOACHINO ROSSINI The Thieving Magpie Overture
MODEST MUSSORGSKY Khovantchina Overture
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Flight of the Bumblebee , fr. Tsar Saltan
JOAHNN STRAUSS, JR. On the Beautiful Danube, Op. 314
EMIL von REZHICEK Donna Diana Overture
JOHANN STRAUSS, SR. Radetzky March, Op. 228

Andreas Delfs, conductor
Ute Lemper, vocalist
The Hudson Shad (male vocal ensemble)

Tribute to Peter Howard
MPR broadcast 5/2/04; Recorded 3/26-27/04


	Peter Howard

Friendship pays dividends on our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program, when cellist Peter Howard premieres a new concerto written for him by a long-time friend, Paul Schoenfield. Peter and Paul were performing together years before Mr. Howard took up his post as the SPCO's principal cellist, and their reunion here is sweet The piece honors Peter as he retires from the Chamber Orchestra after 29 seasons. We have second premiere, a local one, of the 1925 jazz-inspired ballet Moonstruck by Erwin Schulhoff. Plus Mozart's G-minor Symphony No. 40 as Andreas Delfs conducts.

ERWIN SCHULHOFF Moonstruck (1925)
PAUL SCHOENFIELD Cello Concerto (world premiere)
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Symphoy No. 40 in g, K. 550

Andreas Delfs, conductor
Theatre de la Jeune Lune
Peter Howard, cello

Program notes

Program #36

Handel with care
MPR broadcast 5/9/04; recorded 4/2-3/04


	John McVeigh (photo: Michael McCreary)

	Kathryn Greenbank

We get a Handel on things during this week's Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program, as conductor Nick McGegan leads us through music which had 18 th century European audiences clamoring for more. Tenor John McVeigh sings an ode to St. Cecilia and arias from Handel operas, and oboist Kathryn Greenbank plays a solo concerto.

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL Concerto Grosso in b, Opus 6, No. 12
HANDEL Oboe Concerto No. 3 in g
HANDEL Cantata: Look Down, Harmonious Saint
HANDEL Arias (various), from Jeptha and Partenope
HANDEL Concerto Grosso in B-flat, Op. 3, No. 2

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
John McVeigh, tenor
Kathryn Greenbank, oboe

Program #37

Baroque Voices
MPR Rebroadcast 5/16/04; recorded 1/18/02


	Dominique Labelle

	Robin Blaze

We go all-Italian on our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra broadcast. This music set a new standard for instrumental writing, and Arcangelo Corelli's grand concertos were copied throughout Europe. But singing is what the Italian Baroque is all about, and soloists Dominique Labelle and Robin Blaze present Pergolesi's famous setting of the "Stabat Mater," the passionate operatic exchanges of potentially doomed lovers. They also present a newly discovered early work by Handel, which has languished unperformed for nearly 300 years.

ARCANGELO CORELLI Concerto Grosso in D, Op. 6, no. 7
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL Gloria in Excelsis Deo
HANDEL Aria, Dove sei, from Rodelinda (1725)
GIOVANNI PERGOLESI Stabat Mater (1736)

Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Dominique Labelle, soprano
Robin Blaze, countertenor

Program #38
Hardenberger Trumpets
MPR rebroadcast 5/23/04; recorded 11/03/01

Think of it as a modern take on the classical symphony: Francis Poulenc’s saucy 4-movement Sinfonietta from 1947 has been compared with a good French pastry—light, easily digested and delicious. On our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program, we'll also hear two works by Haydn, a pretty decent chef in his own right. His elegant and characterful Symphony No. 96, written for London, was the very last of his numerous solo concertos and it takes advantage of the melodic opportunities of the then-new keyed trumpet. Håkan Hardenberger is guest soloist, offering commenary and virtuosic playing with a sassy, jazz-inspired Concertino by Henri Jolivet which is kind of a blend of Ravel and Miles Davis. Andreas Delfs conducts.

FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN: Symphony No. 96 in D (The Miracle)
HAYDN: Trumpet Concerto in E-flat
ANDRÉ JOLIVET: Concertino for Trumpet and Strings
FRANCIS POULENC: Sinfonietta

Andreas Delfs, conductor
Håkan Hardenberger, trumpet

Program #39

Sarah Chang Plays Dvořák
MPR Broadcast: 5/30/04; recorded: 4/23-24/04


	Sarah chang

Prodigeous talent converges on our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program. Mendelssohn was all of sixteen when he wrote his miraculous Octet, dream music for any string player, which is why guest conductor Joseph Silverstein plays the first fiddle part in our ensemble--a hands-on approach. He conducts Mozart’s 33rd Symphony, and provides the sort of insightful accompaniment that only another violinist can provide as Sarah Chang lights a fire under the dramatic and energetic A-minor Concerto by Dvořák, a romantic masterwork.

WOLFGANG MOZART Symphony No. 33 in B-flat, K. 319
FELIX MENDELSSOHN Octet in E-flat for Strings, Op. 20
ANTON DVORAK Violin Concerto in a, Op. 53

Joseph Silverstein, conductor
Sarah Chang, violin

Interview with violinists Sarah Chang and Joseph Silverstein

Program #40

Swensen Conducts Beethoven
MPR broadcast 6/6/04; recorded 4/30/04

An ominous opening of timpani gives this famous work by Haydn its nickname: guest conductor Joseph Swensen conducts the Drumroll Symphony No. 103 on our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program. London audiences at the time hailed the Drumroll Symphony as a stroke of genius. Jean Sibelius judiciously uses timpani in his suite for strings, “Rakastava” with gentle reflections of the Finnish spirit, while Beethoven proved to his Viennese audience that the young virtuoso from Bonn was more than just a flashy pianist. His C-major Piano Concerto is both brilliant and masterful. Stephen Kovacevich is our flashy, and masterful, pianist.

JEAN SIBELIUS Rakastava, Op. 14
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 1 in C, Op. 15
FRANZ JOSEF HAYDN Symphony No. 103 in E-flat (Drumroll)

Joseph Swensen, conductor
Stephen Kovacevich, piano

Program #41

Frank Huang Plays Beethoven
MPR broadcast 6/13/04; Recorded 06/01/04

Youth and drama play equal parts in our next Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra program. Twenty-five year old violinist Frank Huang explores the nuances of one of the repertoire's most celebrated and challenging concertos, Beethoven's Opus 61. We'll also have Beethoven's Egmont Overture, inspired by a play by Goethe, and the melodius Fifth Symphony by Schubert, product of a 19-year-old for whom nothing was impossible. Joel Smirnoff leads the proceedings, fulfilling his own bit of drama. He was called in a the last minute to replace an indisposed guest, but our show went on—quite marvelously as you will hear.

Music:
LUDWIG van BEETHOVEN Egmont Overture, Op. 84
BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61
FRANZ SCHUBERT Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, D. 485

Joel Smirnoff, conductor
Frank Huang, violin

Program #42

Mozart's Abduction
MPR Broadcast 6/20/04; Recorded 9/29/01

Title page to the 1785 edition of "The Abduction from the Seraglio" In a Moorish land, a beautiful maid is kept in locks and chains and on this week’s Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra broadcast, we’re going to set her free. In Mozart's "Abduction from the Seraglio", the Pasha Selim has designs on his new prisoner, the noble Konstanze, while his jailor Osmin lusts after the serving-girl, Blonde. Boyfriend Pedrillo and HIS master Belmonte do their best to effect an escape, but in the end it is the Pasha's selfless benificence which earns the aprobation of one and all. John DeLancie tells the tale, joined by singers Laura Aikin, Esther Heidemann, Stanford Olsen, Theodore Green and Alan Ewing It's a Turkish Delight from Mozart, with conductor Andreas Delfs and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in concert.

Music:
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART The Abduction from the Seraglio, K. 32

Andreas Delfs, conductor
Esther Heideman, soprano
Laura Aikin, soprano
Stanford Olsen, Theodore Green, tenor
Alan Ewing, bass
John de Lancie, narrator
Minnesota Chorale

Program #43

Mozart's Impressario
MPR Broadcast 6/27/04; Recorded 5/28-29/04

John de Lancie gets all his "Qs" in order, both as an onstage character and the writer/producer of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's extraordinarily funny presentation of Mozart's The Impressario and Strauss's The Bourgeois Gentleman. Maria Jette, Genevieve Christianson, and Vern Sutton are the best and worst sort of prima donnas giving old librettos some hilarious new twists in theatrical entertainments conducted by Andreas Delfs.

Music:
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART The Impressario, K. 486
RICHARD STRAUSS Le bourgeois gentilhomme, Op. 60

Andreas Delfs, conductor
John de Lancie, narrator