Explore the Symphony
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Explore the Symphony
A classical music podcast. Join the National Arts Centre Orchestra's Marjolaine Fournier and one Canada's foremost music journalists, Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer, as they explore the symphonic form from Haydn to Shostakovich.
Neueste Episoden
69 Episoden
Carl Nielsen’s De fire Temperamenter
Jean-Jacques Van Vlasselaer and Marjolaine Fournier study The Four Temperaments, the second symphony by Carl Nielsen. The hosts find this Danish compo...
Mozart and Religion
Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer discuss the role of religion in Mozart’s life and music. This in depth conversation focuses on Moz...
Edvard Grieg
Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer describe the music of Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt, his A minor Piano Concerto, and his C minor Sympho...
Béla Bartók and Witold Lutosławski
Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer talk about two Concertos for orchestra: one by Béla Bartók and the other by Witold Lutosławski. Th...
Verdi’s Requiem
Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer and Marjolaine Fournier discuss Verdi’s Requiem, first performed in Milan in 1874. The text for this was written in about...
Claude Vivier
Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer discuss the masterful Claude Vivier, composer from Québec. His music, which can be characterized a...
Brahms’ and Schumann’s first symphonies
Marjolaine Fournier and Jean Jacques van Vlasselaer compare Brahms’ and Schumann’s first symphonies. They explore the relationships between the two co...
Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem
Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer discuss Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. How much do you know about Benjamin Britten? There is fury...
Schubert's Ninth Symphony
John Storgårds will conduct the NAC Orchestra on October 10 and 11, 2018, in their performance of Schubert’s ninth and final symphony.
Marjolain...
You don’t have to be a music-lover to love Beethoven
Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer prepare us for the Festival Focus 2018 featuring all nine Beethoven symphonies. Did he really inve...
Anton Bruckner’s eighth symphony with the TSO
Bruckner scholars seem to focus on psychoanalysis rather than closing their eyes and listening to the music. To listen to Anton Bruckner’s eighth symp...
Kaija Saariaho, Violin Concerto Graal théâtre
Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer and Marjolaine Fournier talk about Saariaho’s violin concerto which was featured as part of the 2017 Ideas of North festiv...
Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade
This work opens many doors to wonderful and exciting musical study. It is a fine example of Orientalism and our perception of “the other”. Jean-Jacque...
Shostakovich Violin Concerto No 1 in A minor Op 77
Your hosts Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer and Marjolaine Fournier talk about Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77, which will be perfo...
Sibelius’ Symphonic Poems
Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer and Marjolaine Fournier present part two of their 2017-2018 podcasts on Sibelius. In this episode, hear them trace the tra...
Jean Sibelius' First Symphony
Jean Sibelius , born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius, was a Finnish composer and violinist of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely...
Harry Somers - Louis Riel
The story of the polarizing Métis leader and Canada’s westward expansion is told in this landmark work. Composed by Harry Somers for our nation’s cent...
Sibelius' Majestic 2nd and 6th Symphonies
Jean Sibelius, born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius (8 December 1865 – 20 September 1957), was a Finnish composer and violinist of the late Romantic a...
Robert and Clara: The whirlwind love affair of Robert Alexander Schumann and Clara Josephine Wieck
Robert Schumann[1] (8 June 1810 – 29 July 1856) was a German composer and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest compo...
Richard Strauss - Also sprach Zarathustra
Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his...
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky: Pulcinella
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composer...
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphonies no. 5 & 6
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer of the late-Romantic period, some of whose works are among the most popular music in the classical rep...
Wilhelm Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is primarily known for his operas. Unlike most opera com...
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: The Man Who Changed Movie Scores Forever
"Treating each film as an 'opera without singing' (each character has his or her own leitmotif) Korngold created intensely romantic, richly melodic an...
The Music of George Gershwin
By far the bulk of Gershwin’s output is devoted to songs – more than five hundred of them, most of which come from his more than four dozen works for...
Episode 43: Mahler Symphony No. 4
In the first of the 2015-16 season's "Explore the Symphony" podcasts, the NAC Orchestra's assistant principal double bass Marjolaine Fournier and one...
Episode 42: Anton Bruckner and his Ninth Symphony
Words like “epic” and “timeless” are regularly applied to Bruckner symphonies. They have a pace of their own. But let yourself get in synch with their...
Episode 41: Maurice Ravel and his two Piano Concertos
Join Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques Van Vlasselaer for an intriguing look into Maurice Ravel's life and his two piano concertos.
Episode 40: Jean-Marie Beaudet, founding father of the NAC Orchestra
A conversation with Josée Beaudet, the author of Jean-Marie Beaudet, l'homme orchestre. Beaudet was the very first music director at the NAC - he fou...
Episode 39: Schumann and the Rhine
Marjolaine and Jean-Jacques reveal Schumann's relationship with the Rhine.
Episode 38: Brahms' Symphonies
In this week’s Explore the Symphony, Marjolaine and Jean-Jacques dig into not one, but all four of Brahms’ symphonies!
Musical Excerpt:
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Episode 37: Hindemith
In this episode of Explore the Symphony, Marjolaine and Jean-Jacques discuss Symphonic Metamorphoses of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber by Paul Hindemi...
Episode 36: Shakespeare
In this Explore the Symphony, Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer talk about Shakespeare, Nicolai, Korngold and Mendelssohn.
Episode 35: Fauré
In this episode, Marjolaine and Jean-Jacques delve into Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, once called, “a lullaby of death” and “a Requiem without the Last Jud...
Episode 34: Schoenberg
In this Explore the Symphony, Marjolaine Fournier and Jeans-Jacques van Vlasselaer talk about the life of Arnold Schoenberg and his string sextet, Ver...
Episode 33: Bruckner (Symphony no. 2)
Today on Explore the Symphony Marjolaine and Jeans-Jacques discuss Anton Bruckner and his second symphony.
Episode 32: Shostakovich and his 10th Symphony
Marjolaine and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer sit down and discuss Dmitri Shostakovich and his 10th Symphony.
Episode 31: Hector Belioz
Marjolaine and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer sit down and discuss Hector Berlioz and his Symphonie Fantastique.
Episode 30: Richard Strauss
Marjolaine Fournier and Dr. Jean-Jacques Van Vlasselaer dive into the 2013-2014 season with Richard Strauss. They discuss his life, and focus on "Also...
Episode 29: Sibelius
Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer discuss Jean Sibelius, his life, his struggle with depression, alcoholism, and his 3rd Symphony.