For Episode No. 274 of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys, The Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler creates a mini-recital featuring four diverse and substantial works.
The program begins with an early work by the imminent Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, her Children’s Suite, performed by Morta Grigaliūnaitė. Next, one of the most captivating and original of Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas, No. 13 in E-flat Major Op. 27 No. 1, in a performance by the Ukrainian/Austrailian pianist Jascha Spivakovsky (1896-1970). “Although he made no commercial discs, there is a large treasure trove of live performances, radio broadcasts and home recordings that attest to Spivakovsky’s extraordinary pianism and musicianship,” Distler says.
Former Between the Keys guest pianist Ursula Oppens commissioned and premiered Anthony Davis’s riveting and volatile Middle Passage back in 1983, and her splendid recording of it is the reference version. It will be followed by a live and unedited performance by Vladimir Horowitz of Liszt’s Vallée d’Obermann, recorded by Columbia Masterowkrs at Carnegie Hall, December 10th 1966.
Tune in this Tuesday at 10 PM for Between the Keys, with a rebroadcast Wednesday at noon, exclusively on The Classical Network and WWFM.org.