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Free family concert photos

The free family concert this past Saturday was fabulous! Lots of kids and parents turned out - more than 75! - and enjoyed songs about animals, including Peter and the Wolf. The best part was when the kids played along with us on kazoos and hand percussion. Enjoy the photos!

May podcast

In the 1910s, having achieved great eminence in his home country, Debussy worked on his opera The Fall of the House of Usher, which remained unfinished at his death, the cantata Ode à la France, also unfinished, and other large-scale works. He also projected a series of six “sonatas” for various instrumental combinations, only three of which he completed. The first was the Cello Sonata (1915), followed by the Sonata for flute, viola, and harp, and the Violin Sonata. A fourth was to have been for oboe, horn, and harpsichord, which like the Sonata for flute, viola, and harp suggests that the composer was comparing musically the potential of the traditional versus the non-traditional ensemble. (From the program note by Robert Kirzinger)

DEBUSSY Sonata for flute, viola, and harp (recorded live 5/2/09)
Sarah Brady, flute
Sergey Tarashchansky, viola
Ina Zdorovetchi, harp
Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider a contribution. Gifts of all sizes are appreciated!

Where is Killian Hall?

Killian Hall can be tricky to find. After a request to add a photo of Killian Hall from the exterior to our site, we decided to take it a step further and give you turn-by-turn pictorial directions from 77 Mass Ave and from Memorial Drive. Check out our new Flickr photostream here. Enjoy!

Directions from Mass Ave

Directions from Memorial Drive

Special thanks to our intern extraordinaire Liz for taking these great snapshots.

March podcast

Brahms’s String Quintet No. 1 in F, Opus 88, is a relatively late piece. He wrote it in spring 1882, immediately after completing his Piano Trio in C, Opus 87; the two pieces were premiered together in Frankfurt on December 29, 1882. Why did Brahms turn to the genre of the quintet of two violins, two violas, and cello, having in his youth (pre-Symphony No. 1) written two masterful works for string sextet along with three string quartets? It may be that Mozart’s great works for string quintet suggested the choice; like Mozart, Brahms seemed to have a fondness for the added inner voice and the richness of texture that that provided. (From the program note by Robert Kirzinger)

BRAHMS String quintet in F, Op. 88 (recorded live 3/7/09)
Jae Young Cosmos Lee, violin
Jesse Irons, violin
Stephanie Fong, viola
Marcus Thompson, viola
Miriam Bolkosky, cello
Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider a contribution. Gifts of all sizes are appreciated!

Two nice reviews

We received two nice reviews today, one from the new online magazine the Boston Music Intelligencer, and one from the Boston Globe.

Let the bidding begin!

Radius's 2009 Benefit Auction is now LIVE!