Musica della sera

Featured here is a brief excerpt from a documentary about British trumpet virtuoso Alison Balsom by Richard Dunkley . What follows are several (thirteen!) stills from the film that also serve as links to music videos of some her outstanding performances from a variety of sources (only the Thalben-Ball elegy is audio only).

Video: We did a short variation of the film which was filed away and literally forgotten until editor Simon Sharp showed it to me recently. It is a beautiful cut, concentrating on Alison’s creative process rather than celebrity, with different music from the main film. Since then Alison has won the Classical BRITS again. ─Richard Dunkley

12th Century English Church where Alison Balsom practices on her trumpet.

Video: In concert, Alison Balsom performs a capella Claude Debussy’s Syrinx.

Trudging through the snow Alison Balsom brings her trumpet and her cup of coffee to practice in a Medieval stone church..

Video: Here Alison performs on the valveless natural trumpet, the brief overture from Händel’s: Atalanta

Entering the church.

Video: Handel – Birthday Ode for Queen Anne: Eternal source of light divine, Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert. Alison Balsom on natural trumpet with countertenor Iestyn Davies

Practicing inside the church in stained glass light.

Video: In concert, performing Haydn’s trumpet concerto in E-flat major.

In this profile Alison Balsom looks a little like Julie Christie in Dr. Zhivago.

Video: In Concert in Germany: Alison Balsom performs the Queen of the Night aria from Mozart’s the Magic Flute, receives a heavy award, and gives thanks in German.

Stretching after a long practice session.

Video: Beautiful baroque ornamentation in this Presto from a Vivaldi concerto.

Working out phrasing, etc., at the piano.

Video: Alison Balsom demonstrates triple-tonguing and discusses other technical demands of Enesco’s remarkable “Legend” before performing it.

Alison writes performance notes on her score.

Video: Alison Balsom talks a little about preparations for an album of Italian concertos.

Performing outside with dancers.

Video: In Concert, Ástor Piazzolla’s Libertango

The glam side of being a beautiful blond trumpet virtuoso.

Video: Rodion Shchedrin’s composition “A la Albeniz”.

Sashaying playfully before an appearance.

Video: Sweet melancholy in this Elegy by George Thalben-Ball, with Quentin Thomas on organ.

The remarkable dress Alison Balsom wore at the 2009 Classical Brits Awards where she won Female Artist of the Year

Video: Alison Balsom’s American television debut on The David Letterman Show. Hard to play trumpet when you’re smiling, but she manages. Dave was demonstrably wowed by this performance of the finale of Alessandro Marcello’s celebrated concerto.

Ta da!

Video: Alison, trumpet in hand, walks up through the middle of the audience to the stage and performs the lively rondo from Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s trumpet concerto.

─Nicholas Mitchell

UPDATE:

And! She tweets!

Thanks – was v fun “@puxxled: Dave Letterman truly wowed by Alison Balsom’s performance. http://youtu.be/IQF19eNf8OI  #classical @AliBalsom”

3:26 PM – 17 May 13

Jack Cushman, Flickr Collage

By offspring request (Gabriel Mitchell, age 10), this week’s Musica della sera features quite a bit of flute music at the end of the show, but not before quite a bit of trumpet music, piano music, and organ music: playlist.  Stream on demand with the KUSP Music Show Player, just to the right of these words.  (Available till 5/23/2013)

Watch this music blog space, because I will be showcasing the art of trumpet virtuoso Alison Balsom before the day is out.

─NM

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Opinion expressed there and here is our own and doesn’t reflect that of the station.

You can read and leave comments by clicking on individual posts, including this one, which we have provided as a general forum for Musica della sera.  Be the first!

We welcome listener and reader comments, questions, requests, suggestions, or feedback. Comments are moderated, spam (oh, so much spam! which is why genuine comments are so refreshing!) is screened out. Comments for each entry are frozen automatically 10 days after they are initially posted. This is not ideal. Unfortunately, I have no control over that.

Schubert Soiré: “Ein Schubert-Abend in einem Wiener Bürgerhause” by Julius Schmid

─NM

Follow us on Twitter: Meera and Nicholas and on Facebook: Meera and Nicholas
Opinion expressed there and here is our own and doesn’t reflect that of the station.

The Brooklyn-based string quartet sat down with an enthusiastic Tom Ashbrook for On Point radio a couple weeks ago to talk about their music and perform in studio.

The host tells how when he first heard their music by chance it was a sudden revelation; he saw the group blazing new paths for the age-old classical tradition, with a fresh, energetic, eclectic drive for discovery and wonder. Nonplused, impatient to understand, he pressed this idea on them, asking what they were trying to say with this approach to music, but they just seem to be having fun, expressing themselves, exploring their common interests in a variety of cultural traditions, playing the classics, accepting commissions, and composing their own music; i.e., driven by wide-ranging global interests, blazing their own personal trails to the next gratifying new performance opportunity.

Listen to the show online here, or subscribe to it on iTunes.

Brooklyn Rider (photo: Sarah Small)

Say string quartet and you’ll think classical. Say classical and you may think old. Over. But in the right hands, everything old is new again, and then some.

Take two violins, a viola, a cello. Add the world. Persian, Silk Road, Bartok, Beethoven, Roma, klezmer, Minnesota, Brooklyn, Philip Glass – and you’ve got Brooklyn Rider. The spell-casting, trail-blazing string quartet out of Brooklyn and all over.

This hour, On Point: they’re with us live. Brooklyn Rider and their latest album – “A Walking Fire.”

–Tom Ashbrook

The four members of Brooklyn Rider, the Brooklyn-based string quartet. Their new album, out this week, is “A Walking Fire.”

Nicholas Cords, violist.

Johnny Gandelsman, violinist.

Colin Jacobsen, violinist.

Eric Jacobsen, cellist.

Brooklyn Rider (Photo: Sarah Small)

Read more about the show and comment at On Point’s blog entry: Classical Music’s Future Sound: From Brooklyn to Persia and Beyond

─NM

Doncha just hate that?

From Eric Whitacre’s Facebook.

–MCM

This week Meera hosts Musica della sera. Click the music player in the right margin to listen (available till May 16).

French Vessels

Meera says French Romantic, but I say more like romantic French. Vive la différence. One thing is for sure, it’s a great show, with a lot of variety. Check it out!

Find Meera on Twitter and Facebook. Classical requests and suggestions always welcome.

─NM

At Bob Boilen’s new desk, violinist Nicola Benedetti performs John Williams’ theme from Schindler’s List and Part I of Bach’s masterpiece Chaconne. Wonderful!

Nicola Benedetti: Tiny Desk Concert, All Songs Considered, NPR

“Watch the young violinist spin out music by John Williams and Bach in sweet and soulful tendrils of sound. Wielding a 1717 Gariel Strad worth $10 million, Benedetti performs with warmth and approachable grace that’s simply enchanting.” ─Anastasia Tsioulcas, NPR Classical, All Songs Considered

(more information and to watch video of performance)

─NM

Ton Koopman Plays Bach

J. S. Bach – Chorale-Prelude “Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ” BWV 639
Ton Koopman, Organ

This is so lovely, I had to share it.

─NM

This week’s show features two duos for violin and cello and one for two violins, and one piece for unaccompanied double bass. The only other instruments heard on the show were viola and piano, and we all know a piano is pretty useless without strings. Anyway, that’s how it turned out. I hope you enjoy it. Music by Boccherini, Leclair, Dvořák, Bach, Tartini, Mozart.  Performed by Van Cliburn, Yo-Yo Ma, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Edgar Meyer, and more!

It aired Thursday, May 2, 2013, but you can listen on demand by clicking the Music Show Player on the right side of this page and the Playlists link just below it lists the pieces featured. The show is available until next Thursday, May 9, 2013.

Notably there were no duos for viola and violin featured on the show, though one duo featured a violinist and a violist.

This program is dedicated to the memory of Dale Owen, who passed way at his home on Wednesday, May 1st, 2013. Longtime host of “A Classic Example” on Wednesday nights on KUSP, he will be greatly missed.

─Nicholas Mitchell

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook. Classical requests and suggestions always welcome.

Thursday, April 25, 2013, cultures coalesce. Paul McCartney and Billy Joel’s forays into classical form.  New arrangements of Sondheim.  Musica della sera, listen on demand on the KUSP Music Show Player. Meera Collier-Mitchell hosts.

Cellular Planets – Tripp Leavitt, Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, School of Medicine