Story Archives of 'Classical Music'

New Hampshire resident and concert pianist Frederick Moyer has discovered and recorded an unfinished piano sonata from Robert Schumann.

As anyone who lives near a bridge will tell you, they make noise. But listen to the sound of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge, often called the Mid-Hudson River Bridge in Poughkeepsie, New York. Composer and musician Joseph Bertolozzi embarked on an audacious plan to turn the monumental bridge into the world’s largest percussive instrument.

With the help of the New York State Bridge Authority, sound engineers, mallets, steel shot, and a herd of true believers, he recorded hundreds of sounds on the bridge’s surface to make "bridge music."

The ten-movement suite is available on CD, and a sound installation launched over the weekend to mark the 400th anniversary of Hendryk Hudson’s voyage up the river that is now his namesake. There are listening stations surrounding the bridge and a dedicated radio frequency for the public to hear tracks like "Bridge Funk." And Joseph Bertolozzi is on the line to tell us about what we’re hearing.

(Photo by Spencer Ainsley for The Poughkeepsie Journal)

In 1996, six young musicians at Oberlin College came together to play chamber music. Rather than calling themselves The Oberlin Sextet, they wanted to come up with a more creative name. Red Wheelbarrow and Tastes Like Chicken were contenders. Fortunately, they kept looking. Violinist Matt Albert suggested eighth blackbird, inspired by a Wallace Stevens’ poem, and it fit. The group has since won a Grammy Award and comissioned a piece from composer Steve Reich that went on to win a Pulitzer Prize this year.

Unlike many chamber groups who sit politely behind their music stands, eighth blackbird memorizes its music and moves around the stage. They've even worked with choreographers like Susan Marshall.

eighth blackbird will bring their vibrant and evocative chamber music to the Hopkins Center this Friday as part of a week-long residency at Dartmouth College. Today we’re joined by pianist Lisa Kaplan and flutist Tim Munro.

(Photo by Luke Ratray)

Cellist Matt Haimovitz wants to bring a new audience to classical music. As a child prodigy, he played next to some of the world's finest musicians in Carnegie Hall. As an accomplished adult, he's just as likely to be found performing in a rock club or a coffee shop. Tonight, he'll join us on the Front Porch to talk about his incredible career so far and to perform some songs from his vast repertoire, which ranges from Bach to Hendrix.