
- Program List
Below are many of the more than 200 five-hour 'weeks' of Exploring Music that have been created since 2003. The first seven minutes of every program are free to sample. Several entire 5-hour programs are also free to listen (marked 'free' below). For complete access to all of the shows, click here to become a subscriber. To sort through the shows by composers Click Here. To see the Playlist for a given show, click on the show and then on the 'playlist' button beneath any of the five one-hour programs.
AAmerican Masters, Part I American Masters, Part II American Masters, Part IIIAmerican Masters, Part IVAmerican Masters, Part V An Intelligent Conversation: String Quartets Arias & BarcarollesArtists in Exile, Part IArtists in Exile, Part II Autumn Leaves Autumnal Masterpieces BBach Sleeps in on SundaysBach to Beethoven Bach's Christmas Oratorio Bach's Not-So-Minor B-Minor MassBallad of East and West Baltic MusicBarber, SamuelBartok, BelaBeethoven and that Danged MetronomeBeethoven and the PianoBeethoven at Parnassus, Part IBeethoven at Parnassus, Part IIBeethoven Piano Sonatas (FREE)Beethoven Quartets Berlioz, HectorBernstein, LeonardBill's Keepers Boulanger, NadiaBrahms, Johannes, Part IBrahms, Johannes, Part II Britten, Benjamin Bruckner, Anton CCall for ScoresCarnegie Hall, Part 1 (FREE)Carnegie Hall, Part 2 (FREE)Cello Concertos Child's PlayChopin, FredericClash of the Titans Clowning AroundCopland, Aaron Corigliano, JohnCzech out those Bohemians DDebussy, Claude Demons, Spooks and Other Things That Go Bump in the NightDirector's ChoiceDistant Neighbors Don't Shoot the Piano PlayerDvořák, AntoninDvorak, Tchaikovsky & Borodin String Quartets EElgar, EdwardEmotion and Meaning in MusicEnescu, GeorgesEspanaFFamilies of Instruments Family Matters: All in the FamilyFauré, GabrielFit for a KingFour SeasonsFranck, CésarFrom This Mighty River: Music of the Children of J.S BachGGame of Pairs, Part I Game of Pairs, Part IIGershwin, GeorgeGet the PictureGitana: Gypsy Music and Its InfluencesGreen and Pleasant Land Grieg and SibeliusHHandel, George FridericHaydn and Mozart QuartetsHaydn SymphoniesHidden Gold, Part IHidden Gold, Part IIHHindemith, PaulHit or MythHoliday CelebrationHomageHow Strange the Change from Major to Minor, Part IHow Strange the Change from Major to Minor, Part IIII Didn't Know About YouI Hear a Rhapsody I Hear America Singing I Lost it at the MoviesIn a Family WayIncidentally SpeakingIntimate Conversations: Conversations with Samuel Rhodes and David FinckelInvitation to the Dance, Part IInvitation to the Dance, Part II Invitation to the Dance, Part IIIIt Takes Two to TangoIt Was a Lover and His Lass Italian SouvenirsJJanáček, LeošKKeyboard SmorgasbordLLatin CarnivalLes Cinq PlusLes SixLife Among the Dead: Requiem MassesListener's Choice, Part IIListener's Choice, Part III Liszt, FranzLittle Night Music Little Traveling Music, Please London, The Music of, Part 1London, The Music of, Part 2MMaestro, Part IMaestro, Part IIMagnificent MagyarsMahler, Gustav, Part IMahler, Gustav, Part IIMaiden Voyages Mendelssohn, FelixMendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms String QuartetsMerrie EnglandMozart at his ZenithMozart Piano ConcertosMozart's Birthday BashMozart: Bright Lights, Big CityMusic for the MassesMusic from the Magic Box Music in 19th Century Paris: Waterloo to Bismarck Music in the Time of WarMusic of ScandinaviaMusical CryptogramsMusical LandscapesNNationalismNew Releases, Part INew Releases, Part IINew Releases, Part III, week 1 of 2New Releases, Part III, week 2 of 2 New Wine in Old Bottles Nielsen, Carl Ninth SymphoniesNobody Ever Builds a Statue to a CriticOOrpheus in the New World Outward BoundPPastoral SymphoniesPiano ConcertosPolandPorts of Call, Part I Ports of Call, Part II Poulenc, FrancisProkofiev, SergeiProud Tower, Part I (FREE)Proud Tower, Part IIRRachmaninoff, SergeiRavel, Maurice Respighi, OttorinoRimsky-Korsakov and His PupilsRoaring 20's Russian Five: The Mighty Handful SSchool DaysSchubert String QuartetsSchubertiade, Part ISchubertiade, Part IISchuman, WilliamSchumann, Robert Shakespeare Shostakovich, Dmitri, Part I Shostakovich, Dmitri, Part IISlipped Through the Cracks Sounds of the City of Lights SoundtracksSpanish SchoolSpring is Here St-Saëns, Camille St. Matthew PassionStrauss, RichardStravinsky, IgorString Quartets from Fibich to SibeliusStrings Plus OneSweet Home Chicago Symphony, Part 01Symphony, Part 02Symphony, Part 03Symphony, Part 04Symphony, Part 05Symphony, Part 06 (French)Symphony, Part 07 (Russian)Symphony, Part 08Symphony, Part 09Symphony, Part 10Symphony, Part 11TTchaikovsky, Peter, Part I (FREE)Tchaikovsky, Peter, Part II (FREE)The Big Five I: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Part IThe Big Five II: New York Philharmonic, Part IThe Big Five II: New York Philharmonic, Part IIThe Gathering Storm: Music from the Great Depression to WWIIThrough the Mail SlotTo the Finland Station, Part ITo the Finland Station, Part IITone Poems Too Darn BigTriple PlayTudor MusicTwo Very Different Worlds Delius and HolstUUnder the Hood, Part IUnder the Hood, Part II Unfinished Symphonies VVariationsVaughan Williams, RalphVenice: The Glories ofVerdi, Giuseppe, Part IVerdi, Giuseppe, Part IIVienna, Part IVienna, Part II ViolaViolin Concerto Virtuoso, The World ofVoices from the East WWagner's Ring CycleWagner, RichardWalton, WilliamWater MusicWhat Else Ya Got?Wind QuintetsWunderkinder, Part IWunderkinder, Part IIYYin and Yang: The Play of Opposites, Part 1Yin and Yang: The Play of Opposites, Part 2You and the Night and the Music
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Shakespeare Purchase Now
We’ll sample from the wealth of music inspired by the Bard’s verse, including a suite from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and excerpts from William Walton’s score to the film Henry V. Bill also finds time to fit in a few different musical interpretations from the timeless legend of Romeo and Juliet.
Rather than examine music within Shakespeare’s works, Bill takes a look at pieces inspired by the Bard’s masterpieces, beginning with one of Mendelssohn’s first masterpieces, his overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Mendelssohn: Overture & excerpts from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
Berlin Phil/Abbado; Branagh, nar.
Sony 62826
11:40, 14:43, 22:20
Purchase
Bill continues with Dvorák and Verdi's musical interpretation of Othello, and concludes with Verdi's tribute to Falstaff.
Bill opens with music and lines from the film Henry V from 1944, then continues with music from Purcell, Handel and Vaughan Williams, and includes music from an American composer, Amy Beach.
Walton: Henry V (excerpts fr. film suite)
Philharmonia Orchestra/Walton; Olivier, nar.
EMI 65007
3:36, 13:18
Purchase
Purcell: The Fairy Queen (excerpt)
2:53
Purchase
Handel: “E Pur Cosi… Piangero” fr. Julius Caesar
London Phil/Welser-Most; Amanda Roocroft, s.
EMI 555090
7:03
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Vaughan Williams: “Full Fathom Five”, “The Cloud-Capped Towers” and “Over Hill, Over Dale”
Cambridge Singers/Rutter
Collegium 505
3:16, 2:22, :58
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Finzi: “Who is Sylvia?”, “Fear No More the Heat o’ the Sun” and “It was a Lover and his Lass” from Let us Garlands Bring
Bournemouth Symphony Orch/Handley; M. George, bar.
Conifer 51285
1:34, 5:02, 2:34
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Beach: “O Mistress Mine” & “Take, O Take Those Lips Away”
Emma Kirkby, s; James Lisney, p.
BIS 1245
2:27, 1:32
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Romeo and Juliet is the focus for this program, and Bill includes music from Charles Gounod, Hector Berlioz and ends with Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.
Gounod: Queen Mab scene from Romeo and Juliet
Toulouse Capitole Orchestra/Plasson
EMI 40700
2:38
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Berlioz: Romeo and Juliet (excerpts)
Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique & Monteverdi Choir/Gardiner; Fouchcourt, ten.
Phil 454454
1:29, 7:17, 14:53
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Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
NY Phil/Bernstein
Sony 63085
20:49
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The theme of Romeo and Juliet continues with Bill’s examination of compositions by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, neither of whom use Shakespearian language but instead use the story of Romeo and Juliet to build great works of music.