The program begins with chamber music by 20th-century Spanish composer Joaquin Turina. He was one of the last to compose in the Romantic style that dominated European music in the 19th century, and because he did not go where such composers as Debussy and Ravel and Stravinsky and Schonberg went, he is little remembered today. His music is still well worth listening to, however.
Then it's Marcel Dupre's organ and brass tribute to the dead of the World War I Battle of Verdun, one of the costliest in history; Samuel Barber's settings of three poems by Irish Bard James Stephens; and a charming little set of Variations on the Marseillaise for harpsichord written by the man who was organist at Notre Dame during the French Revolution (and who may have come to an unhappy end during the Reign of Terror).
Jascha Heifetz and Fritz Reiner conclude our series of the great violin concerti with the Tchaikovsky Concerto in D, and we wrap up the visit to the attic with music of Richard Wagner.
Only on WFIT 89.5 FM and streaming live at WFIT.org
