Fast, Furious, Fortissimo

Fast, Furious, Fortissimo

Author: Joshua Weilerstein April 12, 2024 Duration: 46:31

Very often, when I tell people that I'm a classical musician, I am told, "wow, I love classical music! It's so relaxing!" I think almost all classical musicians have heard that before, and you know what? Sometimes, it's true! Classical music can be relaxing! But sometimes, and actually pretty often, classical music is NOT relaxing. It is exciting, emotional, passionate, and can make your heart race!  Don't believe me? Today's show is all about proving that to you. I'm going to share with you some of the most thrilling, powerful,  and well, some of hte loudest music in the history of classical music. I should say SOME OF, because what we are going to play for you today is absolutely not an exhautive list. If you like what you hear today, there is so much more where that came from. What we're going to do today is to take you through a kind of musical time machine of fast and furious symphonic music, trying to cover as many different styles and eras of classical music as possible.

NOTE: What will appear on the podcast feed is a shortened version of a full live concert I did with the Aalborg Symphony a few weeks ago. I highly recommend listening to that version as well, which features full length performances of many of the pieces I'm talking about on the show. You can find that here:

https://www.dr.dk/lyd/p2/p2-koncerten/p2-koncerten-2024/p2-koncerten-fuld-pedal-det-er-vildt-det-er-hoejt-det-er-weilersteins-stoerste-hits-12422443145

Enjoy!


There’s a particular kind of curiosity that draws people to classical music, but the sheer scale of the repertoire can feel overwhelming. Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast, hosted by conductor Joshua Weilerstein, meets that curiosity right where it is. Think of it as a series of open conversations about the music itself, designed to be equally engaging for someone hearing a symphony for the first time and for a lifelong devotee. Episodes might feature a thoughtful interview with a performing artist, offering a glimpse behind the curtain, or they could focus entirely on a single piece, peeling back its layers to explore why it resonates. Weilerstein guides these explorations with clarity and enthusiasm, moving seamlessly from foundational concepts to more nuanced details about different musical eras. The entire premise of this podcast is built on a genuine belief that this music belongs to all of us. It’s about replacing any sense of intimidation with connection and understanding. While past seasons are gradually being re-released, each episode stands as its own invitation to listen more deeply.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 284

Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast
Podcast Episodes
Ravel and Falla: Echoes of Spain [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:49
Nowadays it's hard to imagine Maurice Ravel as a "bad-boy" revolutionary, a member of a group whose name can be loosely translated as The Hooligans. To most listeners today, Ravel's music is the very picture of sumptuous…
Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 LIVE w/ The Aalborg Symphony [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:38
Longtime listeners of Sticky Notes know that Shostakovich's 10 symphony was the inaugural piece covered on the show. It's been 8 years(!) since that show, so I've totally re-written the episode and had the privilege of p…
Barber Violin Concerto [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:26
There are so many great apocryphal stories in the long history of classical music, from the reason Tchaikovsky wrote his Sixth Symphony to what famous composers supposedly said on their deathbeds, to my favorite story: h…
100 Years of Beethoven's Eroica (recordings) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:53
One of my favorite things about having Patreon sponsors is that they often suggest the most fascinating pieces and topics for shows. Adrian, who sponsored a show last year, gave me one of my favorite prompts when he sugg…
The Life and Music of Grazyna Bacewicz [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:46
The great Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski said this after the premature death of his contemporary Grazyna Bacewicz: "She was born with an incredible wealth of musical talent, which she succeeded to bring to full flour…
Sticky Notes meets You'll Hear It [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:10:04
I had such a wonderful time joining the jazz podcast You'll Hear It! We talked about the meeting of jazz and classical music, a topic I've explored before, but never in this much depth and never with so much input from j…
Impressions in Blue: Ravel & Gershwin [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:34
In the mid-1920s, Maurice Ravel wrote a letter to the legendary composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. Boulanger's class was a mecca for composers, both young and old, and musicians from all over the world vied to study wi…
Weill: The Seven Deadly Sins [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00:01
The collaboration between Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht is rightly legendary. The two men could not have been more different from each other, and like the Brahms/Joachim relationship I mentioned in my recent show about t…