Podcasts about sixth symphony

The CSO brings the soaring emotional peaks and valleys of Mahler's Sixth Symphony to Chicago audiences before performing it on Amsterdam's Concertgebouw stage. The “hammer blows of fate” in the finale seem to foreshadow the tragedies in Mahler's life, including his own fatal illness. But the symphony brims with life's pleasures, too, from memories of mountain pastures (listen for the cowbells) to a rapturous portrait of the composer's wife, Alma. Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/mahler-6-with-jaap-van-zweden

referencesBiochim Biophys Acta 2020.Gene Regul Mech.9;1864(2):194626. Dev Neurobiol. 2010 Jul; 70(8): 589–603EBioMedicine. 2015 Dec; 2(12): 1888–1904.Alzheimer's & Dementia:Translational Research & Clinical Interventions (TRCI) 2021Volume7, Issue1 e12217Redding ,O. 1965. "Respect" Aretha Franklin.https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=9iayJ8u4Qew&si=MQGj24vwxi-a7MA2McQuinn, R. etal. 1969. Ballad of Easy Rider" lphttps://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lZsfylbD0QstIkEA7DR2ZE3swDbal4gN4&si=RCdD8y8qqEyzfyXEBeethoven, LV. 1808. Sixth Symphony in F Major. Op 68 "Pastorale" Karajan.https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=KIQZwXLQF0s&si=bSspMm25IvS9Tkht

In Episode 103, Patrick chats to Jane Mitchell about the Aurora Orchestra's latest resource, Discover Beethoven, which uses the Sixth Symphony as a way into orchestral music for young musicians.Hattie Fisk, co-chair of the Music and Drama Education Awards judging panel, gives an overview of the 2025 Awards, and encourages everyone to get voting.And Dr Bushra El-Turk and Dr Joel Bell introduce The Alternative Conservatoire, a new course for young musicians, post-18.Presented and produced by Patrick Johns.https://auroraclassroom.co.ukhttps://musicdramaedawards.comhttps://www.fabermusic.com/freebooksforteachershttps://thealternativeconservatoire.org #CanDoMusic #GetPlaying #SaveOurSubjects© Music Teachers' Association www.musicteachers.org

The Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93 is a symphony in four movements composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1812. Beethoven fondly referred to it as "my little Symphony in F", distinguishing it from his Sixth Symphony, a longer work also in F.[1] The Eighth Symphony is generally light-hearted, though not lightweight, and in many places loud, with many accented notes. Various passages in the symphony are heard by some listeners to be musical jokes.[2] As with various other Beethoven works such as the Opus 27 piano sonatas and the later Ninth Symphony, the symphony deviates from Classical tradition in making the last movement the weightiest of the four. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/musicspeaks-podcast/support

SynopsisOn today's date in 1923, Finnish composer Jean Sibelius conducted the premiere performance of his Symphony No. 6 in Helsinki. He had begun work on it about five years earlier and at that time described his vision for the symphony as follows:“The Sixth Symphony is wild and passionate in character. Gloomy with pastoral contrasts. Probably in four movements with a finale, which will build to a gloomy, wild romp of the orchestra in which the main theme disappears.”That might have been the original idea, but the final product turned out quite different and musicologist Michael Steinberg offered a more spot-on description: “The Sibelius Sixth is transparent, pastoral, lyrical and notably even-tempered — a sanctuary fashioned out of music.”In the pecking order of popularity, the Second and Fifth of Sibelius' seven symphonies rank at the top, with the Sixth probably the least-often heard in concert. But the always-perceptive Steinberg wrote, “To this day, the Sixth remains the least known (or understood) of the seven symphonies, and yet for those who make its full acquaintance, the Sixth may become the most cherished of them all.”Music Played in Today's ProgramJean Sibelius: Symphony No. 6

Beethoven's Seventh Symphony is treasured by generations of music fans for its whirling dance rhythms and majestic Allegretto movement. It finds an admirable interpreter in Czech conductor Petr Popelka, who “lets the music glow without overshadowing details” (Der Standard). Composed in his youth, Schubert's exuberant Sixth Symphony draws inspiration from Beethoven. Conductor Herbert Blomstedt has withdrawn from these concerts due to health reasons. Please note: the originally scheduled performance for March 5 has been canceled due to scheduling conflicts. Ticket holders for March 5 may exchange into the March 1 or 2 concert dates, or another CSO concert this season. Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/schubert-and-beethoven

Via Wikipedia: Beethoven was a nature lover who spent much of his time on walks in the country. He frequently left Vienna to work in rural locations. The composer said the Sixth Symphony is "more the expression of feeling than painting." --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/musicspeaks-podcast/support

SynopsisIn France, today is “la Fete de la Toussaint” – All Saints' Day – observed as both a sacred and secular national holiday, a time to visit cemeteries and put flowers on the graves of relatives. In 1947, when memories of the dead of World War II were still fresh, French Radio broadcast three premieres at a special concert from the Salle Gaveau in Paris.First on the program was the French premiere of Hungarian composer Lazlo Lajhta's somber In Memoriam. This had been the first new orchestral work to be performed in Budapest when concert life had resumed after the war.Second was the world premiere of the Sixth Symphony by Polish composer Alexandre Tansman, who, being Jewish, found refuge in France in 1938, then, during the German occupation, had fled to the United States. In 1946, Tansman returned to Europe in time for the premiere of his symphony, also titled In Memoriam, at this concert.The third work on the program was another world premiere: a newly completed Requiem Mass by French composer Maurice Duruflé, originally commissioned as an orchestral work in 1941 during the German occupation of France, which morphed into a choral Requiem Mass by the time of the liberation.Music Played in Today's ProgramMaurice Duruflé (1902 - 1906) – Requiem (Westminster Choir; Joseph Flummerfelt, cond.) Avie 46

SynopsisBy a coincidence, the last two symphonies of Soviet composer Sergei Prokofiev premiered on today's date: His Sixth Symphony premiered in Leningrad in 1947, and his final, Seventh Symphony, in Moscow, in 1952.The Sixth Symphony is tragic in tone, and Prokofiev confided that it was about the physical and emotional wounds suffered by his countrymen during World War II. The Sixth was premiered at the opening concert of the Leningrad Philharmonic's 1947 season and was applauded warmly by both audiences and the official Soviet critics. But early in 1948, Prokofiev somehow ran afoul of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and his Sixth was quickly withdrawn from further performances.Prokofiev's Seventh was intended to be a symphony for children, a kind of symphonic Peter and the Wolf, written in a deliberately populist style and with a wary eye on the dictates of the Central Committee. It's an airy, almost transparently melodic score. Originally, it had a wistful, somewhat melancholic ending, with the music trailing off into silence. During the final dress rehearsals, however, Prokofiev wrote an alternative, perhaps more “politically correct” finale, decidedly chipper and upbeat in tone.Music Played in Today's ProgramSergei Prokofiev (1891 – 1953) Symphony No. 6 - National Symphony; Leonard Slatkin, cond. RCA/BMG 68801Symphony No. 7 - French National Orchestra; Mstislav Rostropovich, cond. Erato 75322

Edward Seckerson chooses his favourite recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 6 in A minor. More often than not, Mahler's symphonies end positively, whether in triumph, exaltation, joyful exuberance, quiet bliss, or resignation and acceptance. But the Sixth is unique in its tragic, minor-key conclusion and this Symphony as a whole is among his darkest music. Intriguingly, he wrote it during one of the happiest periods of his life, the summers of 1903 and 1904. Mahler was convinced that, in his music, he had the ability to foresee and even predict events and, painful though it might be, as an artist he could not avoid doing so. And in 1907, when he looked back on the Sixth Symphony's finale with its 'three hammer blows of fate' he could point to the death of his daughter Maria, the diagnosis of the severe heart disease which would kill him, and the bitter end of his decade as director of the Vienna Opera. Closer to our own times, some have suggested that, as well as tragic autobiography, Mahler was predicting the tragedies of a whole century.

Good News: Recapping the phenomenally important news about the major advance toward nuclear fusion from last week, Link HERE. The Good Word: A splendid wintry poem for the day. Good To Know: The remarkable backstory about the classic Christmas kid’s song, “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town”! Good News: A UK teenager who had been […]

Synopsis On today's date in 1955, the Boston Symphony was celebrating its 75th anniversary season with the premiere performance of a brand-new symphony—the sixth—by the American composer Walter Piston. At the time, Piston was teaching at Harvard, and his association with the Boston Symphony went back decades. Even so, Piston paid the orchestra an extraordinary compliment, crediting its musicians as virtual partners in its composition: “While writing my Sixth Symphony,” Piston wrote, “I came to realize that this was a rather special situation. I was writing for one designated orchestra, one that I had grown up with, and that I knew intimately. Each note set down sounded in the mind with extraordinary clarity, as though played immediately by those who were to perform the work. On several occasions it seemed as though the melodies were being written by the instruments themselves as I followed along. I refrained from playing even a single note of this symphony on the piano.” This symphony may have been tailor-made for the Boston players, but Piston was practical enough to know other orchestras would be interested, and so added this important footnote: “The composer's mental image of the sound of his written notes has to admit a certain flexibility.” Music Played in Today's Program Walter Piston (1894-1976) Symphony No. 6 Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, conductor. Delos 3074

Prokofiev's Sixth Symphony was a risky undertaking in post-World War II Russia: a personal meditation on suffering and loss that he described as agitated, lyrical and austere. Pianist Simon Trpčeski animates the romantic flourishes of Grieg's Piano Concerto while Nokuthula Ngwenyama's Primal Message is a fantasia inspired by the 1974 Aricebo interstellar radio transmission. Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation Daniel Schlosberg in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Learn more: cso.org/performances/22-23/cso-classical/grieg-piano-concerto-and-prokofiev-6

Good News: A great philanthropist, educator and civil rights activist, Mary McLeod Bethune, has a new statue in the Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol, replacing a statue of a confederate general! Link HERE. The Good Word: A splendid quote from Roald Dahl! Good To Know: A classic bit of trivia about some ice cream-adjacent […]

Steeped in fateful march rhythms, bittersweet lullabies and a series of thunderous hammer blows, Mahler's Sixth Symphony is an impassioned, searching statement. New York Philharmonic music director Jaap van Zweden returns to lead the CSO, whose “musical DNA is closely intertwined with Mahler” (Chicago Tribune), in this tour de force. Please note: there will be no late seating for this concert, and the concert will start on time. Ticket holders are invited to a free preconcert conversation featuring Carl Grapentine in Orchestra Hall 75 minutes before the performance. The conversation will last approximately 30 minutes. No additional tickets required. Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/van-zweden-conducts-mahler-6

Jess Gillam and the French cellist Bruno Philippe share some of their favourite music, including movements from Schubert's final string quartet and Beethoven's 'Pastoral' Sixth Symphony, tracks by Amy Winehouse and Alex Turner, and music by Lera Auerbach and John Ireland. Playlist: Puccini - Overture from Madame Butterfly [Orchestra Dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Alberto Erede] De Visee - Sarabande from Pieces for lute, Suite No.7 [Thomas Dunford, Jean Rondeau] Amy Winehouse - Back to Black Lera Auerbach - T'filah (Prayer) for solo violin [Vadim Glutzman] Schubert - String Quartet No.15 in G, 1st movement [Hagen Quartet] John Ireland - Fantasy Sonata [Michael Collins, Michael McHale] Alex Turner - Piledriver waltz Beethoven - Symphony No.6 in F major 'Pastoral', final movement [Philadelphia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti]

Jakub Hrůša conducts a joyful portrait of his Czech homeland in Dvořák's folk-infused Sixth Symphony. Radiant soprano Joélle Harvey makes her CSO debut in Barber's nostalgic recollection of small-town America. Opening the program is Coleridge-Taylor's 1898 breakthrough score, the rhapsodic Ballade. Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/coleridge-taylor-barber-dvorak-6/

Jakub Hrůša conducts a joyful portrait of his Czech homeland in Dvořák's folk-infused Sixth Symphony. Radiant soprano Joélle Harvey makes her CSO debut in Barber's nostalgic recollection of small-town America. Opening the program is Coleridge-Taylor's 1898 breakthrough score, the rhapsodic Ballade. Learn more: cso.org/performances/21-22/cso-classical/coleridge-taylor-barber-dvorak-6/

Most Americans know Tchaikovsky as the composer of the delightful dances contained within the Nutcracker Ballet. As Fr. John Strickland shows, however, there is much more to be heard in their melodies, and little that was delightful about the emotionally agonized life behind them. Using selections from a variety of works, he explores how the romantic agony came for Tchaikovsky in his boyhood and thereafter never departed. Special attention is given to an analysis of the famous Sixth Symphony, nicknamed Pathetique. First performed just days before the composer's abrupt death, the work brings the generation of the romantics to a heart-rending and emblematic conclusion.

Jon and Haz ask some important questions about Tchaikovsky's final masterpiece, including the origins of the 'pathétique' moniker and why a Colorado conductor got the movements the wrong way round when he performed it. Is that waltz really as 'limping' as they say? How about the legend about the symphony being Tchaikovsky's 'suicide note'? And do you agree that his music is, as one critic put it, 'a veritable orgy of naked feelings?'Accompanying playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0IujonLl2lB7bfPzz71U0Z?si=-WGcX8MsSYmFj2mdXFevYg&utm_source=copy-linkSupport the Show.www.artsactive.org.ukEmail a2@artsactive.org.ukTwitter @artsactiveInstagram artsactivecardiff Facebook artsactive#classicalmusic #stdavidshall #neuadddewisant #drjonathanjames #bravingthestave #musicconversations #funfacts #guestspeakers #cardiff

You're listening to Artie Wayne with Freddy Martin and His Orchestra and…   You're on the Sound Beat.   While Howard Hughes' aviation career is popularly associated with “The Spruce Goose”, the Hughes H-1 Racer set the landplane air-speed record in 1935, and it occupies a place in history that exists now, and may very well forever. Speaking of that, you're listening to Now and Forever, from Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony. It was used in the 1943 film, “The Outlaw”, which Hughes produced. As for  particular place in history: when the H1 broke the record by travelling at 352 mph, it was the last civilian plane to break it. As we know from Leonardo Dicaprio, and researchers, of course, Hughes was a man consumed with success. Upon crash-landing the H1 in its initial test run, he stepped from the downed plane and announced “We can fix her; she'll go faster”.

You won't find it on the commercial soundtrack, but the music leading up to Holdo's sacrifice represents the culmination of profound thematic transformation rarely heard in all of Star Wars. Highlights: How the Desperation motif spawned from the Tension motif (after various iterations). Desperation motif is heard in its final form as the three subplots come to a head and finishes right as Holdo rams into the Supremacy. Frank Lehman's "Thematic Transformation and the Limits of Leitmotivic Analysis" Basic vs. advanced ways that leitmotifs tend to undergo transformation in Star Wars The shelf-stable analogy of preserving precious leitmotifs for future use... and how that isn't the case here Teleological genesis: when a theme develops from a motivic fragment and culminates in a final instance, never to reoccur. Speculation, philosophical questions, and who cares about thematic transformation anyway? Also in these minutes: silence! Where we are in the soundtrack: "Holdo's Resolve" -- it's not on the commercial soundtrack. https://youtu.be/3rIBFn3oU7c Sources and References: Buhler, James. 2000. "Star Wars, Music and Myth." In Music and Cinema. Wesleyan University Press. https://academic.csuohio.edu/kneuendorf/c49415/Buhler00.pdf Darcy, Warren. 2001. "Rotational Form, Teleological Genesis, and Fantasy-Projection in the Slow Movement of Mahler's Sixth Symphony." University of California Press https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/ncm.2001.25.1.49 Lehman, Frank. 2019. "Thematic Transformation and the Limits of Leitmotivic Analysis." Talk given at Society for Music Theory, 2019 https://youtu.be/4ZBCNK0PYrk -- 2021. Complete Catalogue of the Musical Themes of Star Wars: https://franklehman.com/starwars/ Schneller, Tom. 2014. "Sweet Fulfillment: Allusion and Teleological Genesis in John Williams's Close Encounters of the Third Kind." https://www.academia.edu/6928980/Sweet_Fulfillment_Allusion_and_Teleological_Genesis_in_John_Williams_s_Close_Encounters_of_the_Third_Kind Svejda, Jim. 2018. "John Williams Discusses “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “The Post.” KUSC Interviews. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/john-williams-discusses-star-wars-the-last-jedi-and-the-post/id616808075?i=1000403320805 Connect with Star Wars Music Minute: Watch us on YouTube: youtube.com/starwarsmusicminute Twitter: @StarWarsMusMin and @chrysanthetan Instagram: @starwarsmusicminute and @chrysanthetan Email podcast@starwarsmusicminute.com Submit anonymous questions/comments for the show with this quick form. Want more? Check out Chrysanthe's Patreon for weekly practice/composing/music analysis livestreams.

Fiddler Jay Ungar wrote a melancholy tune in 1982 and titled it “Ashokan Farewell.” It reflected, he wrote, the wistful sadness he felt at the conclusion of a week-long, summer-time fiddle and dance program in the Catskill Mountains at Ashokan Field Campus of the State University of New York. “I was embarrassed by the emotions that welled up whenever I played it,” recalled Jay Ungar. It’s written in the style of a Scottish lament or Irish Air, and Ungar says he sometimes introduced it as “a Scottish lament written by a Jewish guy from the Bronx.” Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns heard a recording of Ungar’s tune and asked if he could use it as the theme for his PBS documentary series, The Civil War. In that context, the sadness in Jay Ungar’s “Ashokan Farewell” takes on a whole different meaning. The Civil War has inspired a number of other American composers, among them Roy Harris, whose Sixth Symphony—subtitled “Gettysburg”—was premiered on this date in 1944 by the Boston Symphony. It was written on commission from the Blue Network, the radio predecessor of the American Broadcasting Company. Each of the symphony’s movements is prefaced by a quotation from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

Tom Service selects his favourite recordings of Bruckner's Sixth Symphony

On today’s date in 1923, the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius conducted the premiere performance of his Symphony No. 6 in Helsinki. He had begun work on it some five years earlier, and at that time described his vision for the symphony as follows: “The Sixth Symphony is wild and passionate in character. Gloomy with pastoral contrasts. Probably in four movements with a finale, which will build to a gloomy, wild romp of the orchestra in which the main theme disappears.” Well, that may have been the original idea, but the final product turned out quite different, and the late musicologist Michael Steinberg offered a more spot-on description: “The Sibelius Sixth is transparent, pastoral, lyrical, and notably even-tempered—a sanctuary fashioned out of music.” In the pecking order of popularity, the Second and Fifth of Sibelius’s seven symphonies rank at the top, with the Sixth probably the least-often heard in concert. But the always perceptive Mr. Steinberg, wrote: “To this day the Sixth remains the least known (or understood) of the seven symphonies, and yet for those who make its full acquaintance, the Sixth may become the most cherished of them all.”

On today’s date in 1923, the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius conducted the premiere performance of his Symphony No. 6 in Helsinki. He had begun work on it some five years earlier, and at that time described his vision for the symphony as follows: “The Sixth Symphony is wild and passionate in character. Gloomy with pastoral contrasts. Probably in four movements with a finale, which will build to a gloomy, wild romp of the orchestra in which the main theme disappears.” Well, that may have been the original idea, but the final product turned out quite different, and the late musicologist Michael Steinberg offered a more spot-on description: “The Sibelius Sixth is transparent, pastoral, lyrical, and notably even-tempered—a sanctuary fashioned out of music.” In the pecking order of popularity, the Second and Fifth of Sibelius’s seven symphonies rank at the top, with the Sixth probably the least-often heard in concert. But the always perceptive Mr. Steinberg, wrote: “To this day the Sixth remains the least known (or understood) of the seven symphonies, and yet for those who make its full acquaintance, the Sixth may become the most cherished of them all.”

Symphony No. 6 in A major (WAB 106) by Austrian composer Anton Bruckner (1824–1896) is a work in four movements composed between September 24, 1879, and September 3, 1881, and dedicated to his landlord, Dr. Anton van Ölzelt-Newin. Though it possesses many characteristic features of a Bruckner symphony, it differs the most from the rest of his symphonic repertory. Redlich went so far as to cite the lack of hallmarks of Bruckner's symphonic compositional style in the Sixth Symphony for the somewhat bewildered reaction of supporters and critics. Purchase the music (without talk) at: http://www.classicalsavings.com/store/p629/Bruckner%3A_Symphony_No._6_in_A_Major%2C_WAB_106.html Your purchase helps to support our show! Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock #ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive #LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans #CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain #ClassicalMusicLivesOn #Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you! http://www.classicalsavings.com/donate.html staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com

The Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93 is a symphony in four movements composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1812. Beethoven fondly referred to it as "my little Symphony in F," distinguishing it from his Sixth Symphony, a longer work also in F. ​ The Eighth Symphony is generally light-hearted, though not lightweight, and in many places cheerfully loud, with many accented notes. Various passages in the symphony are heard by some listeners to be musical jokes. As with various other Beethoven works such as the Opus 27 piano sonatas, the symphony deviates from Classical tradition in making the last movement the weightiest of the four. CMD German Opera Company of Berlin Orchestra ​Conducted by Sylvia Wagner Purchase the music (without talk) for only $2.99 at: http://www.classicalsavings.com/store/p522/Beethoven%3A_Symphony_No._8_in_F_Major%2C_Op._93.html Your purchase helps to support our show! Classical Music Discoveries is sponsored by La Musica International Chamber Music Festival and Uber. @khedgecock #ClassicalMusicDiscoveries #KeepClassicalMusicAlive #LaMusicaFestival #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofVenice #CMDParisPhilharmonicinOrléans #CMDGermanOperaCompanyofBerlin #CMDGrandOperaCompanyofBarcelonaSpain #ClassicalMusicLivesOn #Uber Please consider supporting our show, thank you! http://www.classicalsavings.com/donate.html staff@classicalmusicdiscoveries.com

Part two of our Beethoven exploration: 'this time it's heroic!'

By a coincidence, the last two symphonies of the Soviet composer Sergei Prokofiev both premiered on today’s date: Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony premiered in Leningrad in 1947, and his final, Seventh Symphony, in Moscow, in 1952. The Sixth Symphony is tragic in tone, and Prokofiev confided that it was about the physical and emotional wounds suffered by his countrymen during the Second World War. The Sixth was premiered at the opening concert of the Leningrad Philharmonic’s 1947 season and was applauded warmly by both audiences and the official Soviet critics. But early in 1948, Prokofiev somehow ran afoul of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and his Sixth was quickly withdrawn from further performances. Prokofiev’s Seventh was intended to be a symphony for children, a kind of symphonic “Peter and the Wolf,” written in a deliberately populist style and with a wary eye on the dictates of the Central Committee. It’s an airy, almost transparently melodic score. Originally it had a wistful, somewhat melancholic ending, with the music trailing off into silence. During the final dress rehearsals, however, Prokofiev wrote an alternative, perhaps more “politically correct” finale, decidedly chipper and up-beat in tone.

By a coincidence, the last two symphonies of the Soviet composer Sergei Prokofiev both premiered on today’s date: Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony premiered in Leningrad in 1947, and his final, Seventh Symphony, in Moscow, in 1952. The Sixth Symphony is tragic in tone, and Prokofiev confided that it was about the physical and emotional wounds suffered by his countrymen during the Second World War. The Sixth was premiered at the opening concert of the Leningrad Philharmonic’s 1947 season and was applauded warmly by both audiences and the official Soviet critics. But early in 1948, Prokofiev somehow ran afoul of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and his Sixth was quickly withdrawn from further performances. Prokofiev’s Seventh was intended to be a symphony for children, a kind of symphonic “Peter and the Wolf,” written in a deliberately populist style and with a wary eye on the dictates of the Central Committee. It’s an airy, almost transparently melodic score. Originally it had a wistful, somewhat melancholic ending, with the music trailing off into silence. During the final dress rehearsals, however, Prokofiev wrote an alternative, perhaps more “politically correct” finale, decidedly chipper and up-beat in tone.

The first episode is here! Discover underlying meaning and musical gems in Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, nicknamed the "Pastoral." Click here to access a PDF of the musical score referenced in the episode.

Part two of our Beethoven exploration: 'this time it's heroic!'

Hannah is back to help break down Mahler's tragic Sixth Symphony, a massive and complicated piece that takes a while to break down! For your convenience, here is where we start talking about each movement: 1st Mvt: 12:30 2nd Mvt: 28:25 3rd Mvt: 39:45 4th Mvt: 50:15 And here is a link to the recording of the last movement we refer to!

The Estonian conductor, Paavo Järvi, talks about his three orchestras, and particularly his Tokyo-based NHK Symphony Orchestra as they arrive in Europe as part of a concert tour that takes in nine cities. To coincide with the tour, Sony Classical has released two new albums: Mahler's Sixth Symphony and three work by Bartók, the Music for strings, percussion and celesta, Dance Suite and Divertimento.

Riccardo Muti opens his 10th season as music director with two dramatic Russian works—Alexander Scriabin's haunting first orchestral composition and Shostakovich's pensive Sixth Symphony, written during a time of prewar tension. The brilliant Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, hailed by the Wall Street Journal as "one of the most gifted musicians of his generation," performs Edvard Grieg's treasured Piano Concerto.

To arrive at complete knowledge of divinity, the soul must undergo specific trials and temptations, symbolized by the Sixth Arcanum of the tarot. The disciple must confront, in a state of equanimity, insight, and dispassion, the undesirable elements he or she carries within the psyche. Such egotistical elements come in the form of pride, anger, greed, gluttony, laziness, envy, and most of all, the capital defect of lust. Sexual desire is the original sin that expelled Adam and Eve from Eden, the primordial blissful state of the consciousness. To return to Eden, one must enter through the same door one left: sexuality. It is not by renouncing sex that one can overcome lust, but by learning to work in a perfect matrimony to transmute selfishness and desire into conscious love. This lecture explores alchemical and kabbalistic teachings within the Zohar, especially the significance of the Hebrew letter ו Vav, its representation as the spinal column, and its appearance within the first verse of Genesis: (Bereshit Bara Elohim At Ha-Shamayim Vey-At Ha'aretz): בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ "In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth." Discover the mysteries of דעת Da'ath, alchemical knowledge, as defined through serpent mysticism: the positive brazen serpent that healed the Israelites in the wilderness and the tempting serpent of Eden. You will also learn about the initiatic significance of the seven days of Genesis; the symbolism of the Menorah, the seal of Solomon / Star of David, and the left / right hand paths in the Qur'an; the relationship between alchemy and abstinence as explained in Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra; as well as the hidden meaning of Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, particularly the famous first movement.

“There could be no more impressive demonstration of modern orchestral virtuosity at its committed best than the pairing of Haitink and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra” (Chicago Tribune). Former principal conductor Bernard Haitink, renowned for his transformative interpretations of symphonic masterworks with the CSO, returns to lead Bruckner's rich, kaleidoscopic Sixth Symphony. These performances are the conductor's only U.S. concert engagement this season. Paul Lewis, “a defining interpreter of Beethoven” (Chicago Tribune), joins forces with the orchestra and Haitink to perform the composer's triumphant Second Piano Concerto. https://cso.org/haitinkbrucknerbeethoven

Beethoven painted pictures with music in his Sixth Symphony, which is often called the Pastoral Symphony. In this episode, we learn about another scene, “Storm,” in which Beethoven paints a musical picture of a storm that brews in the distance, coming closer until it is right overhead. Visit artsedge.kennedy-center.org for even more!

Beethoven painted pictures with music in his Sixth Symphony, which is often called the Pastoral Symphony. In this episode, we learn about another scene, “Storm,” in which Beethoven paints a musical picture of a storm that brews in the distance, coming closer until it is right overhead. Visit artsedge.kennedy-center.org for even more!