New Classical TracksTM with Julie Amacher

About the Program

Host Julie Amacher provides an in-depth exploration of a new classical music release each week.

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MPR Classical Music

About Julie Amacher

Recent Episodes

New Classical Tracks - Air, The Bach Album
On Anne Akiko Meyers' latest release, titled, "Air, A Bach Album," which celebrates the music of Bach, she experimented with a technique familiar to the world of popular music.
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New Classical Tracks - An Evening at Versailles
The group Trio Settecento has a new disc, exploring the French Baroque - Rameau, Couperin, and their contemporaries. The group's founder, violinist Rachel Barton Pine, relishes the intimacy and expressiveness of this music.
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New Classical Tracks - Sibelius from Minnesota
Conductor Osmo Vanska has begun recording the Sibelius symphonies with the Minnesota Orchestra. Though he's been intensely involved with the composer's music for years, he finds it as compelling as ever.
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New Classical Tracks - Tchaikovsky, Played with Commitment
In which violinist James Ehnes talks about Tchaikovsky, working with a celebrated pianist-conductor, nerdiness, and "Magnum P. I."
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Why Is Ravel's Violin Sonata like a Croissandwich?
On a new disc, Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk share their insights into French music for violin and piano, from the days of Impressionism, to the Jazz Age.
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New Classical Tracks - Spanish Masters, in the Past and Present
The Spanish composers Falla, Granados and Albeniz were also performers who made recordings in the era of cylinders and 78s. Thanks to new technology, we can now hear them perform in modern sound, alongside musicians of our day.
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New Classical Tracks - "Must-Have" Discs of 2011
Julie Amacher and Valerie Kahler look back at the best new releases from 2011.
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New Classical Tracks - Colors of Christmas
John Rutter: his name is synonymous with Christmas. Every year, his recordings appear on the radio and choirs around the world sing his arrangements and original carols.
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New Classical Tracks - A Fiddler's Christmas
Fiddler Mark O'Connor is a musician and a composer who has been stretching the boundaries of music for years. And with this new recording, he does it yet again: traditional holiday favorites re-worked in his signature Americana style.
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New Classical Tracks - Grand Piano Christmas
Why should choirs have all the fun? Jeffrey Biegel's new disc celebrates Christmas at the piano. He serves up a bit of everything—carols, classical repertoire, and some arrangements that combine the two.
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New Classical Tracks - From Diva to Diva
Angela Gheorghiu is one of the leading stars in the opera world of today. Her new disc of arias pays tribute to an earlier soprano whose star still burns brightly - Maria Callas.
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New Classical Tracks - In the Moment with a Musical Rodeo
Improvisation, rhythm and musical dialogue reign supreme for cellist Yo-Yo Ma and three very musical friends. Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, and Stuart Duncan join Ma for "The Goat Rodeo Sessions," a new recording of music that transcends any kind of specific categorization and proves that great things happen when you make yourself live in the moment.
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New Classical Tracks - Taking a Chance with Mozart
A new, unplanned and exciting take on some of Mozart's piano concertos. Over the past 25 years, French pianist Hélène Grimaud has released something like 20 CDs - but only now, and only after a little controversy about cadenzas and conductors, has she released her first full Mozart recording.
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New Classical Tracks - The Vivaldi Connection
A new disc shows the appeal of Antonio Vivaldi’s music in transcriptions old and new. Among the offerings: Bach arranging Vivaldi for four harpsichords, and a modern concerto blending baroque inflections with tango.
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New Classical Tracks - Charlie Siem: Keeping It Fresh
Whether it's a beloved standard concerto or some less-familiar repertoire, young violinist Charlie Siem always aims at bringing out the full color and energy of the music he performs.
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Program Schedule