Morning Irsay

Hosts: James Irsay

Synopsis: We'll have oboist Léon Goosens back for a Rameau transcription. A word about Beethoven's birthday on the 17th- my listening week was more Mozart than Beethoven! I generally follow my own musical consciousness when preparing the programs, and I did that this week, as usual. We will, of course have some Beethoven - a modest collection of pure, simple genius and good humor performed by "The Man Who Invented Beethoven", Artur Schnabel. The classical music world always has Beethoven, and no one will go hungry this week, or any week!
In lieu (love that word) of a Beethoven String Quartet, we present Mozart's Quartet no. 19 in C K465, The Dissonant (some say "Dissonance") performed by the wonderful Capet Quartet in 1928, their last year, as the founder, Lucien Capet, died that year.
Their playing is perfectly controlled, and a mix of classic neatness and old-fashioned style, with ample slippin' & slidin', but not an overdose of same. Let's just say you'll know it ain't from the year 2020. This performance is guaranteed!
We discovered some rare early recordings of Mozart's late "Three Minute Wonder", or "46 Measure Wonder" if you prefer - the Ave Verum Corpus. We have recordings in all sizes, dating from 1906, 1928, 1936 and 1942 - with different instrumentation and voice(s).
It's difficult for us to stay away from Haydn, so we have the early symphony no. 6 in D major, which features plenty of writing for orchestral soloists - a fine, early symphony written at Haydn's introduction to Esterhazy in 1761. One of our fav conductors, Hans von Benda, will conduct the orchestra he founded, the Berlin Chanber Orchestra, with soloists from the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Toss in a little Moriz Rosenthal playing Chopin mazurkas and there we have it. Not the expected all-Beethoven tribute, but we swing our own way over at WBAI!
Note the illustrations. The ca.1905 photo of the Capet String Quartet (not the personnel of 1928, save for Lucien Capet) shows a couple of long, bushy beards, appearing as if they had been strapped on. Of course the two gigantic beards belong to.... the two violinists!! It "begs the question" (as that expression is now improperly used) how can they play their violins with such beards? Do they lay it over the top, with the ends just falling short of the bridge? Or do they tuck them under and use them as chin rests? Do they throw them over their shoulder like a Continental soldier? Yes, these are deep questions...
See you there! And enjoy Beethoven's 250th on the 17th. And CHAPPY CHANUKAH!