BSO Encore, Powered by PNC
Before the official kick-off of The Marin Festival, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra returns to WBJC radio for a special celebration of Music Director Marin Alsop! Tune in to WBJC each week for the return of BSO Encore. Each two-hour program features never-before-released recordings from Marin’s tenure including signature repertoire, BSO commissions and world premieres, community collaborations, and BSO musicians as soloists.
These broadcasts, made possibly with generous support from PNC, feature WBJC Hosts Jonathan Palevsky and Kati Harrison in conversation with Marin and BSO musicians about the pieces performed and their most-treasured moments over the past 14 years under Alsop’s leadership.
Tune in at 1 pm on Sundays to 91.5 FM or online at WBJC.com.
Past Broadcasts
Sunday, March 7
Jonathan Carney, violin
Madeline Adkins, violin
Lisa Steltenpohl, viola
BSO Soloists
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat Major
This is the glory of the Baroque. The glory of Bach. Experience all six of Bach’s supreme Brandenburg Concertos with soloists drawn from the BSO.
Recorded March 2014
Listen Like a Musician with Gabrielle Finck
Gabrielle Finck shares a preview of the week’s BSO Encore, Powered by PNC broadcast. Here’s how to listen like a musician!
Sunday, March 14
Marin Alsop, conductor
Katherine Needleman, oboe
BATES Mothership
PUTS Moonlight Concerto
COPLAND Symphony No. 3
This all-American program features two composers of today alongside Aaron Copland, the dean of American composers. Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man is featured prominently in the finale of his Third Symphony. Influenced by Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, Kevin Puts’ Moonlight Concerto, a BSO commission, shines the spotlight on BSO Principal Oboe Katherine Needleman.
Recorded November 2018
Listen Like a Musician with Katherine Needleman
Katherine Needleman shares a preview of the week’s BSO Encore, Powered by PNC broadcast. Here’s how to listen like a musician!
Sunday, March 21
Marin Alsop, conductor
Wordsmith, narrator
Lura Johnson, piano
Michael Sheppard, piano
James Wyman, timpani
Jauvon Gilliam, timpani
SAINT-SAËNS Carnival of the Animals
GLASS Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra
DEBUSSY La mer
RAVEL La valse
Marin Alsop brings Carnival of the Animals into the 21st century with Baltimore hip-hop artist, Wordsmith. Baltimore native Philip Glass creates rhythmic power with his Concerto in the hands of Principal Timpanists James Wyman of the BSO and Jauvon Gilliam of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Recorded January 2018
Listen Like a Musician with James Wyman
James Wyman provides a quick run down of Philip Glass’ Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra, which calls for 12 timpani in total!
Sunday, March 28
Marin Alsop, conductor
Jamie Barton, mezzo soprano
Baltimore Choral Arts Society, women’s chorus
Peabody Children’s Chorus, children’s choir
MAHLER Symphony No. 3
No symphony ever written conveys a broader expressive range than Mahler’s paean to the power of nature. From the frightening and the awesome to the tender and lovely, Marin Alsop and the BSO take you on an unforgettable voyage of discovery.
Recorded January 2015
Listen Like a Musician with Aaron LaVere
Aaron LaVere discusses the trombone solos of Mahler’s Third Symphony ahead of this weekend’s broadcast on WBJC.
Sunday, April 4
Marin Alsop, conductor
Alisa Jordheim, soprano
Diana Moore, mezzo soprano
Benjamin Butterfield, tenor
Michael Dean, bass
University of Maryland Concert Choir, chorus
ROUSE Berceuse Infinie
MOZART Requiem in D Minor
The power and mystery of Mozart’s final masterpiece has inspired audiences for centuries. Experience the Requiem and Christopher Rouse’s Berceuse Infinie. Maestra Marin Alsop has praised Rouse’s work as “relevant, visceral, moving and thrilling — music that can change people, music that makes time stop.”
Recorded December 2017
Sunday, April 11 at 1 PM
Marin Alsop, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin
SMITH Star-Spangled Banner
GERSHWIN Cuban Overture
BERNSTEIN Suite from West Side Story
KUSTER Moxie
BATES Mothership
RAVEL Boléro
In this recording Marin Alsop, the BSO and superstar violinist Joshua Bell celebrate the centennial of the BSO — 100 years of music, inspiration, and commitment to the community.
Recorded February 2016
Listen Like a Musician with Brian Prechtl
Brian provides a glimpse inside the percussion section ahead of this week’s BSO Encore, Powered by PNC broadcast. Sunday, April 11 at 1 pm on WBJC!
Sunday, April 18 at 1 PM
Marin Alsop, conductor
Valentina Peleggi, conductor
Hayden Spitzer, child soprano
Georgia Pickard, child soprano
University of Maryland Concert Choir, chorus
ROXANNA PANUFNIK Across the Line of Dreams
COPLAND Suite from Appalachian Spring
BERNSTEIN Chichester Psalms
VILLA-LOBOS Chôros No. 10
Marin Alsop conducts the world premiere of a BSO commission for orchestra and chorus by popular British composer Roxanna Panufnik. The chorus is also featured in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, which includes one of his most haunting melodies, and Villa-Lobos’ Chôros No. 10, a colorful and rhythmically propulsive work inspired by popular Brazilian music. Copland’s Appalachian Spring, created as ballet music for Martha Graham, remains one of the most beloved expressions of the American spirit.
Recorded March 2019
Listen Like a Musician with Amal Gochenour
This week’s BSO Encore, Powered by PNC broadcast on WBJC includes Roxanna Panufnik’s Across the Line of Dreams, which splits the orchestra in two! Learn how to “Listen Like a Musician” with Amal Gochenour.
Sunday, April 25 at 1 PM
Marin Alsop, conductor
ANNA CLYNE Abstractions
STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring
A piece of music so wild, so barbaric, and yet so brilliant that it incited a riot, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring is terrifying, beautiful, and awe-inspiring. Also on the program is Anna Clyne’s Abstractions, a suite of five movements inspired by five contrasting contemporary artworks from the Baltimore Museum of Art and from the private collection of Rheda Becker and Robert Meyerhoff, whom this music honors.
Recorded February 2018
Listen Like a Musician with Schuyler Jackson
With its famous opening bassoon solo, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring is featured in this week’s BSO Encore, Powered by PNC broadcast on WBJC, airing Sunday, April 25 at 1 pm. Schuyler Jackson gives a quick run down of his favorite bassoon moments so that you’ll be ready to listen like a musician this weekend!
Sunday, May 2 at 1 PM
Marin Alsop, conductor
Jonathan Carney, violin
ROUSE Rapture
SCRIABIN Symphony No. 4, “The Poem of Ecstasy”
STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben
In his grandiose, tongue-in-cheek, autobiographical tone poem Ein Heldenleben, Strauss expresses his devotion to his wife Pauline in lush melodies and orchestral writing, while waging war with his nemeses, the music critics. Both Rouse’s Rapture and Scriabin’s most famous and transcendent “The Poem of Ecstasy” are bathed in spiritual intensity. Indulge yourself!
Recorded October 2014
Listen Like a Musician with Qing Li
Qing Li provides insight into our next BSO Encore, Powered by PNC broadcast so that you’ll be ready to ‘Listen Like a Musician’!
Sunday, May 9 at 1 PM
Marin Alsop, conductor
Barry F. Williams, narrator
Johannes Moser, cello
LESHNOFF Dancing Blue Crabs! (Centennial Commission)
BARBER Symphony No. 1
COPLAND Lincoln Portrait
DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto
Marin Alsop, a champion of American music, pairs Samuel Barber’s unabashedly romantic First Symphony with Copland’s dramatic evocation of the nation’s 16th President. And the greatest concerto in the cello literature, an exquisite tribute to a dying first love, was also written in America, after the Czech composer Antonin Dvořák moved here from his native Moravia. Johannes Moser brings this concert to a rousing conclusion.
Recorded February 2017
Listen Like a Musician with Matt Barker
Matt Barker demonstrates a few highlights from Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, including the trumpet’s noble solo, ahead of this week’s BSO Encore, Powered by PNC broadcast. Listen to the full performance this Sunday at 1 pm on WBJC!
Sunday, May 16 at 1 PM
Marin Alsop, conductor
SCHUMANN (arr. Mahler) Manfred Overture
SCHUMANN (arr. Mahler) Symphony No. 1, “Spring”
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 2
This program includes two of Schumann’s pieces re-touched by Mahler, and perhaps his most well-known orchestral works, the First and Second Symphonies. Paired with his Manfred Overture, these two great symphonies reflect Schumann’s sheer genius for melody—romantic and colorfully chromatic.
Recorded May 2011
Listen Like a Musician with Gregory Kuperstein
First Violin Gregory Kuperstein discusses and demonstrates Schumann’s Second Symphony, which was greatly influenced by Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” Listen to the full performance on WBJC as part of this week’s broadcast of BSO Encore, Powered by PNC.
Sunday, May 23 at 1 PM
Marin Alsop, conductor
Barry F. Williams, narrator
Elijah Cummings, narrator
JOSEPH SCHWANTNER New Morning for the World
RACHMANINOFF Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3, “Eroica”
Marin Alsop conducts Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony, a work that changed the course of music history. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Joseph Schwantner wrote his New Morning for the World for orchestra and narrator, capturing some of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s most eloquent words. Pianist Garrick Ohlsson plays Rachmaninoff’s scintillating Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
Recorded September 2018
Sunday, May 30 at 1 PM
Marin Alsop, conductor
University of Maryland Concert Choir, chorus
PÄRT Credo
STRAVINSKY Symphony of Psalms
RACHMANINOFF Symphony No. 2
Maestra Alsop presents a program of spiritual reflection and sacred inspiration from the Eastern Orthodox Church. Influenced by Bach’s cantata Es ist genug and by Latin mass text, Credo is Arvo Pärt’s merging of the worlds of love and hate to offer healing. Stravinsky’s austerely beautiful and moving Symphony of Psalms employs a large chorus and orchestra (without violins and violas) to recreate the dark, mysterious ritual atmosphere of the church. Finally, Rachmaninoff’s lush Symphony No. 2 was prompted by his exile from Russia as he grappled with history and faith.
Recorded April 2017
Listen Like a Musician with Jane Marvine
Jane Marvine discusses the brilliance of Rachmaninoff ahead of this week’s BSO Encore, Powered by PNC broadcast, featuring Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2.
Sunday, June 6 at 1 PM
Marin Alsop, conductor
Colin Currie, percussion
HANDEL Music for the Royal Fireworks
MACMILLAN Percussion Concerto No. 2
ELGAR Enigma Variations
The riddle that Edward Elgar built into his Enigma Variations remains unsolved, but no answer is needed to appreciate the spirit and inventions of Elgar’s masterpiece. Scottish solo percussionist Colin Currie brings power and musicality to James MacMillan’s percussion concerto.
Recorded February 2016
Sunday, June 13 at 1 PM
Marin Alsop, conductor
Layla Claire, soprano
Susan Platts, mezzo soprano
Baltimore Choral Arts Society, chorus
MAHLER Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”
Mahler’s most popular symphony, it is also his most personal, embodying his belief in the beauty of the afterlife. There are few musical moments more sublime (or uplifting) than the final movement, which culminates in a thunderous outpouring of voices celebrating hope and redemption.
Recorded September 2011
Listen Like a Musician with Aubrey Foard
Aubrey Foard shares his favorite moment for the tuba in Mahler’s Second Symphony, so that you can be ready to “Listen Like a Musician” before this week’s BSO Encore, Powered by PNC broadcast!
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