April 22-23, 2017: One of my all-time favorite pieces of classical music has been the orchestral suite ‘Scheherazade’, by Russian composer Nicolai Rimsky Korsakov. Scheherazade is the musical telling of the Arabian Nights, and how the young Scheherazade became queen by telling her king a story that lasted 1001 nights. In 2012, composer John Adams attended an exhibition on Scheherazade, which inspired him to write a modern day version of the famous legend. In this edition of Intermountain Classics, I am pleased to present a brand new recording of Adams’ beautiful new work, Scheherazade.2. And during the second hour of the program will be a wonderful tribute to Johann Sebastian Bach, with music featuring strings, piano and a beautiful choral cantata for soprano and trumpet.
Intro Commentary: John Adams on Scheherazade.2 (John Adams, composer) [4.07]
John Adams-Scheherazade.2 (St. Louis Symphony/David Robertson, Leila Josefowicz, violin) [48.49]
I. Tale of the Wise Young Woman-Pursuit by the True Believers
II. A Long Desire (Love Scene)
III. Scheherazade and the Men with Beards
IV. Escape, Flight, Sanctuary
Hour 2: The Splendor of Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg Cto. No. 3 (Freiburg Baroque Orchestra/Hans Hadull) [10.21]
Piano concerto in D minor (The Mariinsky String Orchestra/Anton Gakkel, Polina Osetinskaya, piano) [22.35]
Cantata No. 51: Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen: "Exult in God in every land" (English Baroque Soloists/Sir John Eliot Gardiner with Emma Kirby, soprano and Crispian Steele-Perkins, trumpet) [15.36]