Between the Keys with Jed Distler

The Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler devotes this week’s episode (No. 225) of Between the Keys to the vibrant world of today’s great Italian pianists. Featured artists include Maria Tipo, Massimo Giuseppe Bianchi, Emanuele Arciuli, Roberto Prosseda and Alessandra Ammara, Maruzio Pollini, Giusy Caruso, Carlo Grante, Luca Ciammarughi, Beatrce Rana and Vanessa Benelli Mossel.

Tune in Tuesday at 10:00 PM for Between the Keys, an exclusive production of The Classical Network and WWFM.org.

The Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler devotes this week’s episode of Between the Keys (Episode No. 224) to the artistry of Grigori Sokolov, one of today’s most revered and enigmatic artists.

For this week’s edition of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys, the Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler has put together a program of new piano releases.

For this week’s edition of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys, the Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler has put together an interesting program, divided into two parts.

“We start with a monumental work by the composer/jazz pianist Fred Hersch, a set of variations based on a Tchaikovsky theme,” says Distler.  “Fred wrote it for a wonderful pianist, Natasha Paremski, who recently recorded the work for the Steinway & Sons label, and I thought I’d share this terrific new release with listeners.”

The late Uruguayan-born pianist Dinorah Varsi (1939-2013) would have turned eighty this year, and to celebrate this milestone, the Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler devotes this week’s episode of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys to Varsi’s artistry, with special guest Alberto Reyes, a fellow Uruguayan-born pianist who was Varsi’s lifelong colleague and friend.

“It’s one of those weeks where I’m too lazy to think of a subject for this week’s episode of Between the Keys,” says the Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler, “but I think I’ve got a pretty inspired play list. At least it’s unusual!”

Tune in this Tuesday night at 10 for Between the Keys to hear pianists like Roman Rabinovich, Mary Louise Boehm, Wilhelm Backhaus, Jeffrey Biegel, Konstantin Scherbakov, Alfons and Aloys Kontarsky, and more.

The Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler devotes this week’s edition of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys to the art of musical portraiture.

The Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler devotes this week’s edition of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys to Webster Aitken (1908-1981), a pianist not well-known to the general public, yet one whose artistry significantly contributed to American piano culture.

 The Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler offers a cool program guaranteed to take the sweltering edge off of a hot August night, this week on the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys. Featured performers include Alison Brewster Franzetti, Amy X. Neuberg, Jerry Kuderna, Eileen Joyce, Jascha Spivikovsky, Ignace Jan Paderewski, Alberto Reyes, Rob Schwimmer, Ingrid Haebler, Feona Lee Jones, Joshua Fried and Jed Distler himself. 

On this week’s episode of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys, the Classical Network’s Artist in Residence Jed Distler explores piano sonatas written in a single, uninterrupted movement, with works by C.P. E. Bach, Alexander Scriabin, Jean Raats, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Nicolai Medtner and Konstantin Eiges.

Tune in this Tuesday at 10:00 PM for Between the Keys, an exclusive production of the Classical Network and WWFM.Org.

Donald Manildi returns to the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys with treasures from the International Piano Archives at the University of Maryland, which has flourished in size, scope and importance under his curatorial watch since 1993.

During the last two weeks in July, scores of world class pianists from seasoned veterans to emerging young competition winners descend upon New York City to participate in concerts, master classes, lectures and meetings with private students. Now in its 21st year, the International Keyboard Institute and Festival Music has long established itself as both a tradition and an institution, attracting pianophiles from all over the world, spearheaded by the pianist and IKIF Artistic Director Jerome Rose and Festival Director Julie Kedersha.

Franz Liszt’s music dominates this week’s edition of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys, hosted by the Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler.

“We haven’t had an all-Liszt program for some time,” says Distler,” so I decided to pour through my collection and put together a play list of terrific performances by some of the best ‘Liszt Makers’ on record.”

What makes a grand finale grand?

A grand finale can be combative and defiant, like the fugue from Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata, especially when Claudio Arrau delves into the music, leaving no stone unturned. A grand finale can be a vast, rugged landscape, as in Charles Ives’ First Sonata, navigated by its premier explorer, William Masselos. In the capable hands of Leonard Pennario, the finale of Robert Schumann’s Piano Sonata No. 1 runs wild yet never loses control.

The new, the old and the unexpected take center stage this week on the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys.

On this week’s episode of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys, The Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler examines the legacy of legendary 19th century piano pedagogue Thedor Leschetizky through recordings by his students, both famous and obscure.

On this week’s episode of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys, The Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler surveys a wide berth of American piano concertos.

“I’m always amazed at how piano concertos by American composers are so eclectic and stylistically far-ranging,” says Distler. “The composer roster I’ve put together for this episode speaks for itself.”

Featured composers include George Antheil, Victoria Bond, Amy Beach, George Gershwin, Edward Macdowell, Philip Glass and Paul Schoenfield.

Christmas in May? “Well, why not,” says The Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler.

Each Christmas season, Jed usually offers an all-Scarlatti episode on his ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys. However, this week, Jed decided to indulge in a Scarlatti binge many months in advance, breaking with tradition.

This week’s edition of the ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award Winning program Between the keys zeros in on the piano quintet genre, in an episode whimsically entitled “Party of Five.”

Hosted by the Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler, this week’s episode of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys goes all over the pianistic map for Episode No. 203, "Listening Out Loud."

“Even by our usually eclectic standards, this week’s offerings turn out to be more wide-ranging than usual, and I think I’ve come up with a play list that’s both stimulating and satisfying,” says Distler.

On this week’s edition of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys, host and producer Jed Distler (who is the Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence) presents a “1920s Grab Bag”

This week’s episode of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys is devoted to the artistry of legendary Swiss pianist Edwin Fischer (1886-1960).

“Fischer was a genius,” says The Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler, who writes, produces and hosts Between the Keys. “His best recordings are just otherworldly, as if some musical spirit inhabited his fingers, and the piano’s hammers were replaced by lungs and vocal chords. His music making simply transports you. I envy those who'll be hearing him for the first time!".

The ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys airs its 200th program this week.

Shall we dance?

That’s the musical question this week on the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys, hosted by The Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler.

Composers include Satie, Halffter, Dvorak, Grieg, Mozart, Bach, Schoenberg, Schubert, William Davis, Franco Casavola and Robert Helps.

Tune in this Tuesday April 16th at 10 PM for Between the Keys, proudly sponsored by Jacobs Music Company. This program  is an exclusive production of The Classical  Network and WWFM.Org.

This week’s episode of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Virgil Thomson Award winning program Between the Keys features The Classical Network’s Artist-in-Residence Jed Distler and special guest co-host Nadia Shpachenko, exploring Chopin’s Mazurkas in comparative performances.

“More than any of Chopin’s works, the Mazurkas seem to lend themselves to a wide variety of valid interpretive styles and options,” says Distler. “As a consequence, hearing two pianists playing the same Mazurka is like experiencing night and day in the same city.”