Start Your Thanksgiving with Rachmaninoff

Posted at 2:43 PM on November 24, 2009 by Ward Jacobson
Filed under: Programs

Okay, it may be a tad early, but I'm guessing some of you might be up late Wednesday (or up early Thursday for that matter!) preparing for Thanksgiving.

This week's Euro Classic (bright and early at 12:05am Thanksgiving day!) features Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. The concerto was dedicated to a fellow named Nikolai Dahl, who was experimenting with hypnosis therapy. It was Dahl who helped the composer emerge from depression and a creative funk following the critical rejection of his First Symphony. Rachmaninoff completed the Second Piano Concerto shortly thereafter. Pianist Peter Donohoe joins the Hong Kong Sinfonietta in a concert recorded live in May, 2008.

Saturday night, while you're enjoying yet another turkey sandwich, we'll supply a little french pastry with another Euro Classic - Francis Poulenc's Sept Chansons. I Fagiolini was recorded live last July in a concert from Castle Montabaur in Germany. Be listening around 8:05pm Saturday.

......and good luck in the kitchen this week!