Hat in hand, tin cup, on one knee - beggin' beggin' beggin'. Day Number 3 of the Newstalgia Fund Drive. It's going to a completely worthy (and, somewhat noble I might add) cause; keeping the Archives alive and keeping Newstalgia up and running. The costs are horrific and the bills are mountainous. We're broke and history can be expensive.

I wish I had coffee mugs and t-shirts like our sister site C&L has, but no. Newstalgia can't offer anything but more rare stuff, more complete news and speeches (not like the clips you hear everywhere else - a big 30 seconds worth), and more stuff you just won't hear anywhere else, maybe on the planet.

Let's put it this way - where else can you go where you can hear Adlai Stevenson and Father Coughlin Monday through Friday, some Mahler on Wednesday, Radiohead on Saturday and Miles Davis on Sunday?

Yeah, I thought so - no place. That's what Newtalgia is all about. Trying in our weird way to make your life a little more interesting, a little more involved and a little more informed.

But I really need your help doing that. Anything you can do is appreciated. And a big round of applause to the people who have already made contributions. You're making a difference and I'll be around as long as you're around.

And while you're mullin' it over and kickin' the tires, Roscoe has a word or two . . .

Update: We are slowly inching towards the half-way mark. With gracious donations and your kind words about Newstalgia, we may have a shot at reaching our goal. But I still need your help. Half way is still half-way and unfortunately I can't talk the landlords into half the amount needed in order to take off the lien. And so, I keep appealing for whatever amount you can give - any amount at all, in order to save Newstalgia (and the archive) from extinction. I know these times are tough and the future is, at best, uncertain. And I don't want to cause anyone any hardship - if you can't afford to donate, you can't and I would rather have you use one of my posts for your history class than to have you leave and not come back. But if you can afford it, please consider making a donation. As I said, any amount is a great amount to me and to helping save something I hope you feel is worthwhile. We can do it - we're doing it. You're making a difference!

Over to Neuss Germany this week for a chamber concert featuring The Ebène Quartet in music of Mozart, Borodin and Schubert. It was recorded on December 4, 2011 by WDR.

Hard to imagine the Ebène Quartet have only been together since 1999, as they sound like an ensemble who have been together for at least twice that long. They have been characterized in the press as "taking the music world by storm" and gaining a huge audience in the process.

The concert has been broken up between two players - the top player fetures the Mozart and Borodin and the bottom player features the Schubert.

For you note keepers:

wdr 3 Kammerkonzerte in NRW

wolfgang amadeus mozart: Divertimento D­dur KV 136

alexander borodin: Streichquartett Nr.2 D­dur

franz schubert: Quintett C­dur für zwei Violinen Viola und zwei Violoncelli D 956

Quatuor Ebène
Pierre Colombet · Violine
Gabriel Le Magadure · Violine
Mathieu Herzog · Viola
Raphaël Merlin · Violoncello
und Nicolas Altstaedt · Violoncello

Aufnahme vom 4. Dezember 2011 aus dem Zeughaus, Neuss

Since it is Anti-Road Rage Wednesday, I think it's a safe bet this one works for that.

Relax, the week is almost over.

Over to Prague this week, by way of Madrid, for a broadcast concert featuring the venerable Czech Philharmonic, conducted by the equally venerable Jiri Belohlavek.

The program consists of music by Martinu, Novak, Ancerel (Karl Ancerel who was Music Director of the Czech Phil for many years) and Antonin Dvorak and is part of the 100 year anniversary celebration of the Czech Conservatory.

Here are the program notes from Radio Nacional Espana:

100 aniversario del Conservatorio de de Praga. Concierto celebrado en el Rudolfinum de Praga el 28 de abril de 2011. Grabación de la CR, República Checa.

(Top Player) MARTINU: Obertura (6‟18”).
K. ANCERL: Sinfonietta(19‟05”).
(Bottom Player) - NOVAK: Suite morava, Op. 32 (27‟51”).
DVORAK: La rueca dorada, Op. 109 (22‟02”). Orq. Fil. Checa. Dir.: J. Belohlavek.

Great concert, and the Czech Philharmonic certainly lives up to their reputation. Nice Anti Road-Rage Wednesday (Thursday) music.

Enjoy.

Even though the drive is more or less officially over, I know there are some who didn't get a chance to donate while we were in crisis mode. If you care to, that would be wonderful, as running Newstalgia is an every day effort. I'll leave the Donate button up until the end of the week so if you didn't get a chance before, now's your opportunity.

This is the first of what I hope will be new weekly weekend series devoted to plays, contemporary and historic and running the gamut from Great American Plays to Experimental World Stage.

As many of you know, the idea of doing a stage play for radio is something that still happens regularly all over the rest of the world, but not here in the U.S. - not anymore anyway. The idea of doing plays for radio gets lumped into the somewhat quaint stereotype of "Old Time Radio Drama" which this is not and won't be.

The object here is to present plays that are famous in history, revolutionary in their concept and engaging in their execution. I'm busily digitizing a pile of plays going back to the 1950's and plan on doing these once a week, as a respite from the barrage of Weekend Talkshows, Pundits and Spinning heads.

Some of you responded when I asked a few weeks ago about adding plays to the eclectic mix on Weekend Newstalgia. So we're going to give it a shot and see what happens.

For the first one, I thought I would run something that is of recent vintage via the BBC. Kafka The Musical is a new production from playright/composer Murray Gold and it stars David Tennant (last seen as Dr. Who) in the title role.

Here is a rundown and cast list via the BBC site:

Murray Gold's new play starts from the suitably Kafkaesque premise that Franz Kafka finds he has to play himself in a musical about his own life. The play - or is it the musical? - introduces Kafka and the audience to some of the key characters in his life, Milena Jesenska, Dora Diamant and Felice Bauer.

Franz Kafka ..... David Tennant
Father ..... David Fleeshman
Mother ..... Joanna Monro
Milena ..... Naomi Frederick
Felice ..... Jessica Raine
Dora ..... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Barman / Singer / Doctor ..... Trevor Allan Davies
Newspaper Seller / Man ..... Brian Bowles
Music by Murray Gold
Directed by Jeremy Mortimer

Murray Gold's first radio play Electricity won the Richard Imison award for best new play after its broadcast on Radio 3 in 2001. It subsequently transferred to the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2004 and was performed with Christopher Eccleston in the lead role. Other plays include 50 Revolutions performed by the Oxford Stage Company at the Whitehall Theatre, London in 2000 and Resolution at Battersea Arts Centre in 1994, and Little Joe and His Struggle Against the World (Radio 3 2005). Murray Gold has been nominated for a BAFTA four times in the category Best Original Television Music, for Vanity Fair (1999), Queer as Folk (2000), Casanova (2006) and Doctor Who (2008). He wrote the theme tune for the Channel 4 series Shameless and scored the period drama The Devil's Whore. More recently Murray Gold scored another David Tennant series, BBC1's Single Father.

It won't be for all tastes, and this production got some pretty mixed reviews a few weeks ago. But if you've never heard something like this before, here's a great excuse to check it out. It's a little under 90 minutes so it's all on one player.

Come back here for our next installment next week. But in the meantime, I would urge you to check out the treasure-trove of amazing material via the BBC Site. It's a good place to start, especially if you've overdosed on ersatz TV this week.

Enjoy.

Over to Austria this week for a concert from the 2011 Carinthian Summer Festival featuring Clarinetist Sabine Meyer, Cellist Heinrich Schiff and Pianist Martin Helmchen in a program of works by Beethoven, Berg, Shostakovitch and Brahms.

Here's the rundown:

Festival d'été de Carinthie : Beethoven, Chostakovitch, Berg, Brahms

Part 1 - Ludwig van Beethoven

Trio avec piano N°4 en si bémol majeur Op.11, Gassenhauer (1797)

1- Allegro con brio
2- Adagio
3- Tema con variazioni. Allegretto. Allegro

Dmitri Chostakovitch

Sonate pour violoncelle et piano en ré mineur Op. 40 (1934)

1- Allegro non troppo
2- Allegro
3- Largo
4- Allegro

Part 2 - Alban Berg (1885-1935)

4 Pièces pour clarinette et piano Op.5 (1920)

1- Mässig
2- Sehr langsam
3- Sehr rasch
4-Langsam

Johannes Brahms

Trio avec piano en la mineur Op.114 (1891)
1- Allegro. Poco meno allegro
2- Adagio
3-Andantino grazioso. Un poco sostenuto
4- Allegro

Sabine Meyer, Clarinette
Heinrich Schiff, Violoncelle
Martin Helmchen, Piano

Concert donné le 12 juillet 2011 en la Stiftskirche d’Ossiach dans le cadre du Festival d’été de Carinthie.

Great concert, relayed from Paris so the announcements are in French - but it's all Road-Rage Wednesday, if you ask me. And it is Summer Festival Season.

Enjoy.

Since it's a holiday weekend, I thought I would toss an extra concert into the mix. This time it's via RAI Radio 2 and a concert recorded on October 14, 2011 from the Iceland Airwaves Festival featuring Sinead O'Connor.

After an auspicious and somewhat controversial start, O'Connor has been bubbling under the radar for a number of years. And truths to tell, I hadn't heard anything about her in a long time, so I thought she had simply left the scene and quietly returned to normal life.

And then a few weeks ago I saw her on BBC America's Graham Norton show and realized she was still a potent and vital singer, with boundless energy and passion, who was in the midst of touring, had a new album out and it was as if she never left in the first place.

This past Friday, as part of their Radio 2 Live series, RAI ran a concert she performed during the Iceland Airwaves Festival in 2011 and the simmering intensity that so typified Sinead O'Connor's performances was very much in evidence.

So it seemed like a good idea to share the experience as a sort of Holiday Weekend Bonus and offer a full hour of Sinead O'Connor in top form.

One thing though - RAI Radio loves to talk - and there is a very chatty announcer who dives in after each number, and on one or two occasions, spills over to the intro of a song. It's not terrible but it's a little distracting in places and it occasionally breaks the mood.

But if you can forgive that, you're in for an enjoyable experience.

Over to Austria by way of Spain this week for a concert given on May 21, 2011 by French Piano sensation Cedric Tiberghien in a recital of music by Beethoven, Schumann, Ravel and Debussy.

Tiberghiend has been getting great reviews over his U.S. debut with the National Symphony (of Washington D.C.) and is slated for a busy tour schedule of the U.S. this year.

But in the meantime, here is the recital from last year as recorded by ORF in Austria and relayed to Radio Nacional Espana. The concert is broken up into two parts - Part One has the Beethoven and Schumann and Part Two has the Ravel and Debussy.

Here are the notes:

17.00►Gran Auditorio
Concierto celebrado en la Sala Markus Sittikus de
Hohenems el 21 de mayo de 2011. Grabación de la ORF,
Austria. Schubertiadas 2011.

BEETHOVEN: Sonata para piano nº 14 en Do sostenido menor, Op. 27 / 2.

SCHUMANN: Kreisleriana, Op. 16.

RAVEL: Gaspard de la nuit.

DEBUSSY: Masques. D‟un
chaier d‟esquisses. L‟isle joyeuse.
Cedric Tiberghien (p.).

We're looking at almost perfect Anti-Road Rage music today. I think it's safe to operate heavy machinery while listening to this one.

Enjoy no matter what.

Over to Berlin via Paris this week for a concert featuring the legendary Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the venerable Riccardo Chailly in music of Dmitri Shostakovitch, Nino Rota, Ottorino Respighi and Paul Lincke.

It was recorded on August 23rd 2011.

Here's the rundown:

Berlin : Chostakovitch, Rota, Respighi, Lincke

Dmitri Chostakovitch
Suite N°2 for Jazz Orchestra (1938)

Nino Rota (1911-1979)
La Strada, suite (1954) .

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Les Fontaines de Rome, Poème symphonique (1916)

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Les Pins de Rome, Poème symphonique (1924)

Dmitri Chostakovitch (1906-1975)
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Suite, Op. 29a (Ext.; 1930-1932)

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Belkis, reine de Saba, Danse guerrière (1930-1931)

Paul Lincke (1866-1946)
Berliner Luft (1899)

Orchestre Philharmonique de Berlin
Riccardo Chailly, Direction
Concert donné le 23 août 2011 à la Waldbühne de Berlin.

With a particularly excited audience and no less than three encores, the orchestra is in fine form making this an out-of-the-ordinary concert to go with your Anti-Road Rage Wednesday.

I try.

Over to the Angelika Kauffmann Hall, Schwarzenberg Austria during the 2011 Schubertiade Festival for a recital by British Piano virtuoso Paul Lewis in a program of, you guessed it, Schubert.

The concert was recorded by Radio France Musique on June 19, 2011. And for you note takers:

Schwarzenberg : Récital Paul Lewis, Piano

Franz Schubert

Valses Op.18 D.145 (1815, 1821)

Impromptu en ut mineur Op.90 N°1 D.899 N°1 (1827)
Impromptu en Mi bémol majeur Op.90 N°2 D.899 N°2 (1827)
Impromptu en Sol bémol majeur Op.90 N°3 D.899 N°3 (1827)
Impromptu en La bémol majeur Op.90 N°4 D.899 N°4 (1827)
Mélodie hongroise en Si mineur D.817 (1824)
Sonate N°18 en Sol majeur Op.78 D.894 (1826)

Concert donné le 19 juin 2011, Hall Angelika Kauffmann dans le cadre du Festival des

Schubertiade

The almost 90 minute concert is broken up between two players. The announcements are in French and somebody in Master Control forgot to flip the switch, so the first part of the concert is in Mono and the second half is in Stereo.

I know. You'd think . . . .

Still, France Musique runs two of these concerts a day and most of them are live-as-it-happens and off-the-cuff. So you can't really blame them for spacing out every now and then.

Besides, it's Anti-Road Rage Wednesday.

Over to Berlin this week for a concert recorded live by RBB Berlin on December 20, 2011 featuring The Berlin Radio Symphony, conducted by its current Music Director Marek Janowski and featuring German/Japanese violinist Arabella Steinbacher in music of Schubert, Mozart and Brahms.

The concert is broken up into two players, and the notes are as follows:

Marek Janowski dirigiert das Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin

Mit Werken von Franz Schubert, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart und Johannes Brahms

Top Player: Franz Schubert:
Ouvertüre D-Dur D 590 (Im italienischen Stile)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
Violinkonzert Nr. 5 A-Dur KV 219
Arabella Steinbacher

Bottom Player: Johannes Brahms:

Sinfonie Nr. 2 D-Dur, op. 7

Aufnahme vom 20.12.2011 in der Berliner Philharmonie

Announcements are in German and the audience is enthusiastic. Good concert. Great straight-ahead repertoire. Perfect Anti-Road Rage Music.

Enjoy.