by Joshua Weilerstein
Sticky Notes is a classical music podcast for everyone, whether you are just getting interested in classical music for the first time, or if you've been listening to it and loving it all your life. Interviews with great artists, in depth looks at pieces in the repertoire, and both basic and deep dives into every era of music. Classical music is absolutely for everyone, so let's start listening! Note - Seasons 1-5 will be returning over the next year. They have been taken down in order to be re-recorded in improved sound quality!
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3/14/2017
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April 17, 2025
Host, Michael Tilson Thomas, explores Steve Reich's composition Different Trains, revealing the composer's innovative use of recorded voices and the emotional depth of the piece.
April 3, 2025
<p>Debussy and Ravel are often described as the prototypical musical impressionists. It is often said that the two composers are the closest equivalents to the artistic world of Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Degas, and others. But both Ravel and Debussy (like Monet for that matter), vehemently rejected the term Impressionism, and they both felt that they were striking out on their own individual paths in their msuic. That didn’t stop the public and critics from constantly comparing the music of these two shining lights of French music, despite the fact that Ravel and Debussy are actually quite different. Comparing Ravel and Debussy is a bit like comparing Haydn and Mozart. At first glance, there are many similarities, but if you look and listen more closely, Ravel and Debussy(like Mozart and Haydn) had totally different approaches, goals, and styles.</p> <p>All of the constant comparisons and attempts at making the composers compete with each other had a real impact on Debussy and Ravel. Initially they were friends and mutual admirers of each others work, but they slowly drifted apart over time until they stopped speaking to each other altogether. We’ll talk about this complicated personal relationship, as well as looking at these differences in their music, not from a critical standpoint, but from the perspective of bringing out what is so wonderfully unique about their music. We’ll also talk about Ravel’s arrangements of two Debussy’s greatest orchestral works: his two piano arrangement of Debussy’s Nocturnes, and his piano 4 hands arrangement of the legendary Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. Join us on another collaboration with G Henle Publishers!</p> <p>Recordings:</p> <p>Nocturnes</p> <p>Claudio Abbado with London Symphony<br /> Anne Shasby, Richard McMahon, Piano</p> <p>Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun</p> <p>Ravel arrangement: Jean-Pierre Armengaud and Olivier Chauzu<br /> Debussy Arrangement: Charles Badami and Anthony Olson </p>
March 20, 2025
<p>It’s hard to overstate the depth of the connection between Dmitri Shostakovich and the legendary cellist Mstistlav Rostropovich. Shostakovich and Rostropovich were extremely close friends, and Shostakovich wrote and dedicated several works to him, including the piece we’re going to talk about today, the first Cello Concerto. Rostropovich had been desperate to get Shostakovich to write a concerto for him, but Shostakovich’s wife had one simple piece of advice: if you want Shostakovich to write something for you, don’t talk to him about it or even mention it. So Rostropovich waited and waited, until July of 1959, when he was asked by Shostakovich to come to Leningrad to try out a new Cello Concerto. Shostakovich played through the piece for Rostropovich, turned to him, and asked him if he liked it. Rostropovich apparently told Shostakovich that he “had been shaken to the core.” Shostakovich, in his famously modest way, then shakily asked Rostropovich if he could dedicate the concerto to him. Rostropovich immediately agreed, and then rushed off to learn the concerto as quickly as possible. He learned the entire concerto in 3 days, then returned to Shostakovich and played it for him by heart. The concerto is practically stamped with Rostropovich’s name, which is why I’ll be using a recording of a live performance of Rostropovich during the show today, though I must say I also recommend a pretty great modern recording by a certain cellist who is also my sister, Alisa Weilerstein. This concerto has always been one of my favorites; it is compact, powerful, punchy, beautiful, intense, concentrated, and tremendously exciting. For me, it is one of Shostakovich’s most Beethovenian works, in its lean power and its obsession with a single motive. Today on this fundraiser sponsored show, we’ll talk through this fantastic concerto, and explore just what makes its momentum so inevitable and so thrilling from start to finish. Join us!</p>
WETA Classical
WQXR & The Metropolitan Opera
Jacke Wilson / The Podglomerate
BBC Radio 4
The New York Times
BBC Radio 4
WNYC Studios and The New Yorker
WNYC Studios and The New Yorker
IAI
New York Times Opinion
Jeremy Burns, Matthew Scott Phillips
WNYC Studios and The New Yorker
CBC
CBC
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