Classical Music Playlist, March 12, 2025
Louise Farrenc in 1835 by Luigi Rubio
This Women's History Month CapRadio highlights a different woman in music each weekday. Today's classical spotlight is on 19th century French composer Louise Farrenc.
- Composer, pianist and teacher Louise Farrenc was born in Paris in 1804 into a family of artists.
- Her musical talent was apparent early on and took private piano lessons from two of the period's most famous pianists. At age 15 in 1819 she enrolled at the Paris Conservatory where she studied piano. Women were not allowed to study composition at the Conservatory until 1870, so she studied this privately with Antonín Reicha.
- At age 17 in 1821 she married artist Aristide Farrenc who encouraged her to compose. They toured as a piano and flute duo and they later established what would become one of the leading music publishing houses in France that also printed her own compositions.
- From the mid 1820s she embarked on a concert career and by the 1830s had become famous.
- In 1842 Farrenc was appointed professor of piano at the Paris Conservatory, a position she held for 30 years. Though she was permitted only to teach women, she would be the only female tenured professor through the 19th century at the Paris Conservatory.
- For nearly ten years at the Conservatory she was paid significantly less than her male counterparts. That is, until the smashing success of her Nonet in 1850 after which she demanded, and won, equal pay.
Louise Farrenc’s final orchestral work, her Symphony No. 3 completed in 1847, is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
6:00 a.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Italian Concerto in F major BWV 971
Andras Schiff, piano
6:13 a.m.
Carel Anton Fodor
Symphony No. 2 in G major Opus 13
Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra; Anthony Halstead, conductor
6:39 a.m.
Tielmann Susato
Rondes
New London Consort; Philip Pickett, conductor
6:51 a.m.
Camille Saint-Saens
Romance Opus 67
NDR Symphony Orchestra of Hamburg; Christoph Eschenbach, conductor Steven Isserlis, cello
7:00 a.m.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Russian Easter Festival Overture Opus 36
New York Philharmonic; Yuri Temirkanov, conductor
7:17 a.m.
Louise Farrenc
Sextet in C minor Opus 40
Linos Ensemble
7:43 a.m.
John Williams
Summon the Heroes
Boston Pops Orchestra; John Williams, conductor
7:50 a.m.
Jean Sibelius
Finlandia Opus 26
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Yoel Levi, conductor
8:00 a.m.
George Enescu
Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A major Opus 11
National Orchestra of France; Cristian Macelaru, conductor Alice Sara Ott, piano
8:15 a.m.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake Suite Opus 20
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Herbert Von Karajan, conductor
8:42 a.m.
Gioachino Rossini
THE ITALIAN GIRL IN ALGIERS: Overture
Chamber Orchestra of Europe; Claudio Abbado, conductor
8:51 a.m.
Pietro Mascagni
CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA: Intermezzo
National Philharmonic Orchestra; Gianandrea Gavazzeni, conductor
8:55 a.m.
Giacomo Puccini
TURANDOT: Nessun dorma
London Philharmonic Orchestra; Zubin Mehta, conductor Luciano Pavarotti, tenor
8:59 a.m.
Louise Farrenc
Symphony No. 1 in C minor Opus 32
North German Radio Symphony; Johannes Goritzki, conductor
9:36 a.m.
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Prelude in C-sharp minor in C# minor Opus 3/2
Sergei Rachmaninoff, piano
9:41 a.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Bassoon Concerto in A minor in A minor RV 497
Arion Mathieu Lussier, baroque bassoon
9:53 a.m.
Felix Mendelssohn
Athalia: March of the Priests Opus 74
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Christoph Von Dohnanyi, conductor
10:00 a.m.
Arcangelo Corelli
Concerto Grosso No. 9 in F major Opus 6
Tafelmusik; Jeanne Lamon, conductor
10:10 a.m.
Astor Piazzolla
Five Pieces for Guitar: 2. Romantico
Franz Halasz, guitar
10:15 a.m.
Louise Farrenc
Piano Trio No. 1 in Eb major Opus 33
Neave Trio
10:51 a.m.
Carl Maria Von Weber
DER FREISCHUTZ: Overture Opus 77 J 277
Tapiola Sinfonietta; Jean Jacques Kantorow, conductor
11:01 a.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major BWV 1066
American Bach Soloists; Jeffrey Thomas, conductor
11:24 a.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto for four mandolins in B minor Opus 3/10 RV 580
Il Giardino Armonico; Giovanni Antonini, conductor Avi Avital, mandolin
11:32 a.m.
Ernest Chausson
Poeme
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; Mikko Franck, conductor Hilary Hahn, violin
11:50 a.m.
Antonin Dvorak
Symphony No. 8: IV. Finale in G major Opus 88
Los Angeles Philharmonic; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor Bruce Liu, piano
11:54 a.m.
Dmitri Shostakovich
Suite for Variety Orchestra: Waltz No. 2
Concertgebouw Orchestra; Riccardo Chailly, conductor
11:59 a.m.
Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 88 in G major
Tafelmusik; Bruno Weil, conductor
12:19 p.m.
Gabriel Olafs
Islandus: Flora II "The Lily"
Reykjavik Orchestra; Viktor Orri Arnason, conductor Gabriel Olafs, piano
12:24 p.m.
Louise Farrenc
Piano Trio No. 2 in D minor Opus 34
Linos Ensemble
12:52 p.m.
Gabriel Faure
Pavane Opus 50
Minnesota Orchestra; Eiji Oue, conductor
12:59 p.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 31 "Paris" in D major K 297
English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
1:18 p.m.
Philip Glass
Etude 2
Vikingur Olafsson, piano
1:24 p.m.
Carl Nielsen
Masquerade Overture
San Francisco Symphony; Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
1:29 p.m.
Ottorino Respighi
Ancient Airs and Dances: Suite No. 2
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Neville Marriner, conductor
1:48 p.m.
Michael Torke
Sky: I. Lively
Albany Symphony Orchestra; David Alan Miller, conductor Tessa Lark, violin
2:00 p.m.
Louise Farrenc
Symphony No. 3 in G minor Opus 36
North German Radio Symphony; Johannes Goritzki, conductor
2:31 p.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
2 Gavottes in G minor BWV 995
Sharon Isbin, guitar
2:35 p.m.
Niels Gade
Hamlet Overture Opus 37
Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Dmitri Kitayenko, conductor
2:47 p.m.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Symphony No. 3 "Eroica": IV. Finale: Allegro molto in Eb major Opus 55
Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
2:59 p.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Oboe Concerto No. 12 in C major RV 449
The English Concert; Trevor Pinnock, conductor Paul Goodwin, oboe
3:09 p.m.
Enrique Granados
Danzas espanolas No. 5 "Andaluza"
Narciso Yepes, guitar
3:15 p.m.
Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 3: I. Kraftig in D minor "powerful"
New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor
3:51 p.m.
Antonin Dvorak
Slavonic Dance No. 16 in Ab major Opus 72
Cleveland Orchestra; Christoph Von Dohnanyi, conductor
4:00 p.m.
Arcangelo Corelli
Concerto Grosso No. 2 in F major Opus 6
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra; Nicholas McGegan, conductor
4:10 p.m.
Louise Farrenc
Etude No. 10 in F# minor Op 26/10
Lang Lang, piano
4:17 p.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter" in C major K 551
Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Jukka-Pekka Saraste, conductor
4:52 p.m.
Emmanuel Chabrier
Festive Polonaise (Le Roi Malgre Lui: Fete Polonaise)
Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
5:00 p.m.
Frederic Chopin
Piano Concerto No. 1: III. Rondo in E minor Opus 11
Mahler Chamber Orchestra; Mikhail Pletnev, conductor Daniil Trifonov, piano
5:10 p.m.
Erkki Melartin
Festive March Opus 22
Turku Philharmonic; Jorma Panula, conductor
5:15 p.m.
William Grant Still
Wood Notes: I. Singing River
Fort Smith Symphony; John Jeter, conductor
5:23 p.m.
Carl Nielsen
Symphony No. 2 "Four Temperaments" Opus 16
Royal Scottish Orchestra; Bryden Thomson, conductor
5:54 p.m.
Frederick Delius
KOANGA: La Calinda
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Christopher Seaman, conductor
6:00 p.m.
Louise Farrenc
Trio for clarinet, cello, and piano in Eb major Opus 44
Linos Ensemble
6:24 p.m.
Zoltan Kodaly
Concerto for Orchestra
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Yan Pascal Tortelier, conductor
6:41 p.m.
Franz Schubert
Impromptu No. 3 in Gb major Opus 90/3 D 899
Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano
6:46 p.m.
Maurice Ravel
Water Games (Jeux d'eau)
Philharmonia Orchestra; Geoffrey Simon, conductor
6:52 p.m.
Traditional Japanese
Sakura sakura cherry blossom
Xuefei Yang, guitar
