The Joy of Classical Music

Andrew Johnstone
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The Joy of Classical Music

Exploring classical music in all its glories and complexities. From the sweetest melodic to the cutting edge of the avant-garde... from the deep past to the freshest contemporary. All of it. The joy of classical music.

  1. 1D AGO

    The Joy of Classical Music – Ep 110 - Leftovers - 07-07-2025

    The previous episode started out as Four Australian Women but ended up as three because I ran out of space for number four, composer, pianist, teacher and poet Miriam Hyde. In Episode 110 we catch up with Miriam along with a number of other composers whose music I’d selected for previous episodes but had to leave out because of time. Miriam Hyde - Five Solos for Flute and Piano: Beside the Stream Miriam Hyde performs The Fountain on Sunday Afternoon with Peter Ross ABC Australia (1991) Rachmaninoff plays Rachmaninoff – Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. Mikhail Matyushin - Victory over the Sun Leonard Mark Lewis - Warm Summer Sun The Kronos Quartet performs Terry Riley - Sun Rings: One Earth, One People, One Love Jeremy Denk and Stephan Jackiw - Ives' Violin Sonata No. 2: II. In the Barn Heitor Villa-Lobos - String Quartet No. 12: 1 George Antheil – Symphony No. 5 Joyous: 1

    58 min

  2. JUN 30

    The Joy of Classical Music Ep 109 - Three Australian Women - 30-06-2025

    Episode 109 of The Joy of Classical Music explores the music of three Australian Women: Dulcie Holland, Peggy Glanville Hicks and Anne Boyd. Jeanell Carrigan performs Dulcie Holland - Nocturne The Chamber Choir Kammerchor Stuttgart performs Anne Boyd - As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra performs Peggy Glanville-Hicks - Sinfonia da Pacifica Anne Boyd - Goldfish Through Summer Rain Ronan Apcar performs Dulce Holland - Sonata for Piano A radio show and podcast created and first aired at Free FM 89.0, a member of the Community Access Media Alliance Aotearoa/New Zealand. Supported by NZ on Air. freefm.org.nz and @freefm89 on Facebook and Instagram

    56 min

  3. JUN 23

    The Joy of Classical Music – Ep 108 - David Farquhar, From Cambridge With Love - 23-06-2025

    Episode 108 of The Joy of Classical Music is a special extra long edition dedicated to Cambridge born composer David Farquhar, and by Cambridge, I mean Cambridge NZ, the cultural and sporting epicentre of the bucolic Waipa District. In this episode we explore David’s life and work with a special emphasis on 1964’s Cambridge Ode, a work commissioned to celebrate the towns centenary. David Farquhar - Tom, he was a piper's son & Lavender's blue David Farquhar - Ode For Piano performed by Georgina Zellan- Smith The Auckland Youth Orchestra performs David Farquhar - Harlequin Overture Pianist Jian Liu and violinist Martin Riseley perform David Farquhar’s Ring around the Moon The Concord Brass performs David Farquhar - Homage to Stravinsky for Brass Quintet Gunter Herbig performs David Farquhar - Prospero Dreaming David Farquhar - Third Symphony: Remembered Songs The Alex Lindsay Orchestra performs David Farquhar - Ring Around the Moon

    1h 39m

  4. JUN 16

    The Joy of Classical Music - Ep 107 - We Don't Know How Lucky We Are - 16-06-2025

    Episode 107 of The Joy of Classical Music is a celebration of all things Aotearoa NZ and besides some joyous and uplifting music, there’s a bit of nostalgia as well. John Clark - We Don’t Know Lucky We Are Jenny McCloud - A & P Show, the 3rd Movement from 1986 orchestral suite Celebrations The Tower Voices NZ performs David Hamiltons - Lux Aeterna. Ron Goodwin conducts the NZ Symphony Orchestra - Aotearoa (Land of the Long White Cloud) from his NZ Suite. Douglas Lilburn - Aotearoa David Farquhar – Ring Round the Moon Ron Goodwin and the NZ Symphony Orchestra - Milford Sound from his NZ Suite Henry Wong Doe performs Victoria Kelly - Goodnight Kiwi Kiri Te Kanawa - Hine e Hine

    58 min

  5. JUN 9

    The Joy of Classical Music - Ep 106 - In Search of the Cloud Atlas Sextet - 09-06-25

    At the heart of David Mitchell’s 2004 novel Cloud Atlas is a composition called The Cloud Atlas Sextet. What would it actually sound like? We listen to The Cloud Atlas Sextet as imagined by the creators of the 2012 film adaptation then compare it to the composition as described by the book. From the Cloud Atlas Film Soundtrack - The Cloud Atlas Sextet for Orchestra. Alexander Scriabin - White Mass Leonard Bernstein and the Israeli Symphony Orchestra perform Igor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring, movements 1 and 2 Maria João Pires performs Debussy - Clair de Lune Miwa Yuguchi performs Toshi Ichiyanagi - Cloud Atlas II Two Aquarelles - Music by Fredrick Delius, arranged for strings by Eric Fenby National Hungarian Radio Orchestra performs Alessio Elia - Dimensioni Nascoste

    58 min

  6. JUN 2

    The Joy of Classical Music - Ep 105 - A Bit of This and a Bit of That - 02-06-25

    There are no overarching themes for Episode 105 of The Joy of Classical Music, just a bit of this and a bit of that, an eclectic mix of some of the music I’ve been enjoying and wanting to share with you. Ivor Cutler - Beautiful Cosmos Emily D’Angelo performs Freezing - Music Philip Glass, Words Suzanne Vega Allan Starrett - Berceuse Michael Habberman performs Kaikhosru Sorabji - Fantaisie Espagnole Carolyn Mills - Alkermes: I Alan Starrett - Romanza Ivor Cutler - Looking For Truth With A Pin. Peter McAleer - Funky Poly scherzo for orchestra

    54 min

  7. MAY 26

    The Joy of Classical Music - Ep 104 - 1950 Formal Art Music in Transition - 26-05-25

    It is often said that the 1950s was an era of bland conformity as a war ravaged world sought healing through normality and in many ways the 1950s were just that but the undercurrents of unease were strong and everywhere creatives were looking for new ways to examine the shifting tides of a rapidly changing world and in this episode we’ll be exploring some of the musical trends and experiments that were redefining the world of formal art music in 1950. Leroy Anderson - The Typewriter Benjamin Britten - Lachrymae, Reflections on a Song of John Dowland Herbert Howells - I Heard a Voice from Heaven - The 5th movement from Hymnus Paradisi Aaron Copland - Old American Songs: Set I No. 4, Simple Gifts (the Shaker Song) Dawn Upshaw performs Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 Lou Harrison - Entrance of the Moon Bull from Solstice John Cage - Quietly Flowing Along (Summer) from String Quartet in Four Parts Henri Pousseur - 3 Sacred Songs Herbert Eimert - Klangstudie I Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry - The Scherzo from Symphony for One Man Only. Dmitri Shostakovich - The People of Stalingrad Go Forth from Song of the Forest.

    56 min

  8. MAY 19

    The Joy of Classical Music - Ep 103 - May the Sun Rise up to Meet You - 19-05-25

    Episode 103 of The Joy of Classical Music - May the Sun Rise Up to Meet You is an ode to the brightness, warmth, wonder of the sun and the wild, enduring joy of living in its light. Mary Oliver’s poem The Sun Jospeh Haydn - Sunrise, the first movement from his String Quartet No.4 Westminster Williamson Voices perform The Spheres, the first movement from Ola Gjeilo's Sunrise Mass. Víkingur Ólafsson performs Debussy - The Girl With The Flaxen Hair John Luther Adams - Sky with Four Suns, the first movement from Canticles of the Sky Martha Argerich performs Maurice Ravel’s Fountains Peter Sculthorpe -Sun Song Max Richter - On the Nature of Daylight Fear No More The Heat o’ The Sun by William Shakespeare, read by Lyn Redgrave Einojuhani Rautavaara – Melancholy, the second movement from from Cantus Arcticus Jessye Norman and the Leipzig Symphony Orchestra perform Richard Strauss - At Sunset

    57 min
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About

Exploring classical music in all its glories and complexities. From the sweetest melodic to the cutting edge of the avant-garde... from the deep past to the freshest contemporary. All of it. The joy of classical music.

Information

  • Creator
    Andrew Johnstone
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    111
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © (C)Free FM
  • Show Website
    The Joy of Classical Music

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