Your Classical Coffee Break Somers/Herron

We're taking a brief hiatus, and hope to be back by June. You can still contact us at mauriceriverpress.com. Thanks for your support. Stay well.

This coffee break wraps up the discussion on hidden messages or symbols in music. In a whirlwind, we check out the music of Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Modest Mussorgsky, and Mr. Somers himself to investigate the story behind the music. Sometimes the message is an homage to another composer and sometimes it is a thumbing the nose to critics. We also check out some sudden and surprising endings. "Niagara Falls, slowly I turned, step by step..."
contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break circles back to Bach, always a wonderful thing, to explore additional hidden signatures in his Mass in B Minor. We listen to the Credo, Gloria, 0 and Et in terra pax to hear how the structure of the composition reflects his religious beliefs. Mr. Somers switches focus to The Magic Flute to dissect how the composition reflects Mozart's belief in Freemasonry. We sample Mozart's Symphony #39 and investigate the significance of this piece written in E Flat.
Contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

This coffee break continues its discussion about composers hidden signals or messages (Easter Eggs) in their compositions. We take a close look at JS Bach and the Art of the Fugue and listen to his signature name in the piece. We question why he often used the numbers 14 or 41 as another way of identifying him as composer in St. Matthew Passion. Why was the note E so important to this piece? And why does he use the technique of "crossing voices" in the Passion? And what are all the hidden signifiers in his Mass in B minor? All questions will be answered...or at least some.
Contact the show at yccb@mauriceriverpress.com

Was there a message hidden in a phrase of Tchaikovsky's Symphony #6 in B Minor? Was there a connection with this hidden phrase and the composer's death only 9 days after he conducted the piece? This coffee break tries to answer those questions as well as investigate the unique signature hidden in Sibelius' Finlandia and Symphony #2. Take a listen to the Hi-Phi Nation podcast that spurred this discussion:
https://hiphination.org/season-3-episodes/s3-episode-9-the-illusionist-jun-8-2019/

This coffee break wraps up our discussion on the challenges of appreciating opera. This time we listen to music which helps underscore the action and see how it adds another layer to the opera experience by listening to excerpts from Bellini's Norma. We briefly discuss Wagner's philosophy of the balance of the orchestra and singers' voices before we hunker down with an except from Brunhilde's Immolation. We wrap up with 5 operas that opera haters should check out.
Here's Renee Fleming in an aria from A Streetcar Named Desire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGOgXaTgbCw
contact the show at YCCB@mauriceriverpress.com