Over to the Louvre in Paris this week for a 2009 concert recital by French keyboard legend Brigitte Engerer in a program of music by Liszt, Schubert and Chopin.

Just a little over an hour, it all fits on one player - and here's what you'll be hearing:

Auditorium du Louvre : Liszt, Schubert, Chopin
présenté par Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier

Franz Liszt
Harmonies poétiques et religieuses S.173 (1845,1852)

Franz Schubert & Franz Liszt, Arrangeur
Am tage aller seelen D.343

Franz Schubert
Mélodie hongroise en Si mineur D.817 (1824)

Frédéric Chopin
Prélude en Mi mineur Op.28 N°4 (1838, 1839)

Brigitte Engerer, Piano
Concert donné le 2 décembre 2009.

As always, turn it up,turn off the phone and relax for an hour. It's Anti-Road Rage Wednesday again.

Peace of mind is what we're all about.

oh . . .and donating to keep Newstalgia up and running too if you can:

I confess I wasn't all that familiar with Malcolm Braff before hearing this gig, but I've been digging around the various festival recordings, and rebroadcasts from this past Summer throughout Europe and realizing more than ever, Jazz is not only everywhere, it's absolutely adored in Europe. And there is some astonishing talent to be had without breaking a sweat to look. Braff is a brilliant pianist, who has been compared to Bill Evans in places, but his Senegalese and Brazilian roots are more than abundant in this one hour concert that goes by really very fast. It's always easy to draw comparisons between newer artists and legends, but in the case of Braff, his talent is in his remarkable point of view and virtuosic playing which is purely his own. He is joined by Alex Blake on Bass and Yaya Ouattara who hails from Burkina Faso. Together, they make for a very satisfying and enjoyable hour and the festival audience wholeheartedly agrees.

This recording comes by way of the great Swiss radio outlet Espace 2 and it comes from the 2009 Jazz Onze Plus Festival in Lausanne.

A reminder that a good message is timeless. Check out Braff's Myspace Page for updates and a list of his albums (there are several).

In Paris this week for a concert by the visiting Munich Chamber Orchestra with pianist Alexandre Tharaud in music of Bach, Mozart and Haydn. The concert was recorded by Radio France on November 23, 2009 at the celebrated Theatre des Champs-Elysees.
One of the main reasons I do these mid-week concerts is really to give you some idea of the great wealth of music performed live that's to be had throughout the world that's normally not available here in the U.S. - why that is, is a complete mystery to me. It could very well be the sheer magnitude of what's available throughout Europe on a daily basis is truly daunting. From Radio France Musique alone there are three daily concerts, just like this one. Some live and some recorded for broadcast earlier. All of them feature an amazing array of musicians and a staggering amount of repertoire. The BBC's Classical and Jazz channel Radio 3 features, not only at least two major concerts a day, but also features concert recordings from all over the world on their all-night program Through The Night. Put those together with the daily offerings from Spanish Radio, Italian Radio, Swedish Radio, German Radio and you get some idea of what is an embarrassment of riches for people who like Classical music in a live concert setting. If the concerts I'm putting on each Wednesday are in any way interesting to you, and they spark your curiosity about what else is out there, I urge you to go exploring. It's an amazing and free education for a form of music you may not be familiar with and it's a non-stop blast for those of you who are.

But beyond all that, it's a nice change of pace for what a lot of us are sadly used to.

Here's the rundown of this week's concert - it's broken up into two players because it's a long concert. But a really good one and it's perfect Anti-Road Rage Wednesday music.

Théâtre des Champs-Elysées : Mozart, Haydn, Bach

Part 1 (top player)Wolfgang-Amadeus Mozart
Divertimento N°1 en Ré majeur K.136

Joseph Haydn
Symphonie N°45 en Fa dièse mineur, Les Adieux

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Divertimento N°3 en Fa majeur K.138

Part 2 (bottom player) Jean-Sébastien Bach
Concerto en Ré mineur Bwv.596 d’après Vivaldi, Sicilienne
Concerto en Fa mineur Bwv.1056
Concerto en Si mineur Bwv.979 d’après Torelli, Andante*
Concerto en Ré mineur Bwv.1052

Alexandre Tharaud, Piano & transcripteur*
Orchestre de Chambre de Munich
Daniel Giglberger, Violon & direction
Concert donné le 23 novembre 2009. J. Roze Production

Enjoy.
and don't forget, if this appeals and you want to help keep it going . . .

Over to Spain this week with a concert by Orquesta Sinfonica de la Region de Murcia (OSRM) led by their music director Jose Miguel Rodilla live in concert and featuring the music of Spanish composers Joaquin Turina and Manuel Moreno-Buendia. The concert was recorded by Radio Nacional Espana on December 4, 2009. The Sinfonia Sevillana by Turina is familiar to a lot of people. But the two pieces by Manuel Moreno-Buendia aren't, at least to me. It's a great concert by a really nice orchestra and well worth taking the time to listen or download.

As always, it's broken into two parts with the Turina and the Flute Concerto by Moreno-Buendia on the top player and the Suite de danzas by Moreno-Buendia on the bottom player.

Here's the program:

Orquesta Sinfónica de la Región de Murcia
Concierto celebrado en el Auditorio y Centro de
Congresos Víctor Villegas de Murcia el 4 de
diciembre de 2009.

TURINA: Sinfonía Sevillana, Op. 24.
MORENO-BUENDÍA: Concierto para flauta y orquesta.
Celtiberia (Suite de danzas. J. A. Nicolás (fl.), Orq.
Sinf. de la Región de Murcia. Dir.: J. M. Rodilla.

Announcements are in Spanish but edited to time constraints.

Good to listen to especially today when it's pretty crazy out there. Anti-Road Rage is in full force.

Enjoy.

Over to Spain this week with a live concert featuring Orquesta Ciudad de Granada led by guest conductor Pablo Gonzalez and featuring one of the faster rising stars on the concert stage Asier Polo playing the Cello Concerto of Robert Schumann.

The concert was recorded this past December by RNE in Spain. I am constantly blown away by the high level of musicianship that's coming out of Europe these days, particularly with these regional orchestras and new faces like Pablo Gonzalez, who has been assistant conducting in London the past few years are refreshing to listen to. Asier Polo, also a native of Spain, has been getting very high marks with audiences and the press around Europe recently, so this concert was a nice one to run across.

In addition to the Schumann, the orchestra also plays Beethoven's Eroica Symphony and opens with the Overture to Los Escalvos Felices by Arriaga. A good concert all the way around and a nice antidote to Wednesday.

As always, the concert is complete and split into two parts - the top player features the Arriaga and Schumann and the player below features the Beethoven.

And for you note takers:

Matinés de Radio Clásica
Orquesta Ciudad de Granada. Concierto Sinfónico V
Concierto celebrado en el Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos de Granada el 4 de diciembre de 2009.
ARRIAGA: Los esclavos felices (obertura). SCHUMANN: Concierto para violonchelo y orquesta en La menor, Op. 129. BEETHOVEN: Sinfonía nº 3 en Mi bemol mayor, Op. 55 “Heroica”. Asier Polo (vc.), Orq. Ciudad de Granada. Dir.: Pablo González.

Announcements are in Spanish. So is the orchestra and the players. But you don't have to be.

(Martin Valek tackles the Ladislav Simon violin concerto - oh . . not familiar?)

Hitting unfamilar territory on the one hand and a staple of the concert hall on the other. This week's concert comes from Prague via Czech Radio and a live concert by the Czech Radio Symphony conducted by Vladimir Valek and featuring violinist Martin Valek (no mention if they're related). First up is by contemporary Czech composer Ladislav Simon: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. Simon has composed a huge amount of music, ranging from symphonic and chamber to Jazz, electronic and TV scores. The violin concerto is nicely atmospheric without straining nerves - it's a nice introduction if you're not all that familiar with contemporary classical music. It won't assault you and take you hostage. And the second half is the old warhorse Brahms: Symphony Number 2. But I like the sound of this orchestra, especially the horns (even though the stream is in Mono for some reason) and Vladimir Malek does a nice job reigning it all in.

It's mostly complete (there was the opening piece Dukas: The Sorcerers Apprentice which had some bad skips and I had to drop it. Sorry) and, as always, split into two parts. Part 1 (up top) is the Simon Violin concerto and Part 2 (down there) is the Brahms.

And here are the notes in case you're interested:

HRAJE SYMFONICKÝ ORCHESTR ČESKÉHO ROZHLASU - Ladislav Simon: Koncert pro housle a orchestr (35 min). Sólista Martin Válek. - Johannes Brahms: Symfonie č. 2 D dur op. 73 (38 min). Řídí Vladimír Válek. (90 min)

Since the program is from Prague, the announcements are in Czech, but there are about 30 seconds of them. Nothing that would create an international incident or make you drop everything and run for a copy of Rosetta Stone.

(The del Valle Brothers, serving up very tasty Poulenc with a side of deFalla)

(believe me, if I didn't absolutely have to . . .)

This week's concert takes us back over to Spain to an Orchestra I'm not familiar with, a conductor I'm not familiar with, a Piano duo I'm not familiar with and one Spanish composer I'm not familiar with.

Well, what is life without adventure . . right? I was very pleasantly surprised by just how good this band sounds, Orquesta Sinfonica de la Region de Murcia and how good this conductor (Jose Miguel Rodilla) is and the piano duo of Luis and Victor del Valle really did some nice stuff to the Poulenc double Piano concerto, as well as an encore of pieces from La Vida Breve by deFalla. And I've got to do some research on Manuel Manrique de Lara, whose Symphonic poem Agamenon had me wanting to find out more about this composer.

All in all, what a good concert is supposed to be all about - pleasant surprises and discoveries.

It comes from Radio Nacional Espana from one of their daily matinee concerts recorded on November 6, 2009. I'm really rather blown away by the fact that RNE cranks out three of these concerts a day; one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. And, even though some of the concerts are beamed from other parts of the world, most of what you hear is homegrown with mostly local talent. There is something to be said about the state of Arts and Culture in Spain right now and it's pretty high.

As always, the concert is complete - in addition to the de Lara and Poulenc pieces, the second half of the concert is the Tchaikovsky 4th Symphony. A familiar work, but with a fresh perspective.

So here's the rundown:

Matinés de Radio Clásica
Orquesta Sinfónica de la Región de Murcia.
Concierto celebrado en el Auditorio y Centro de Congresos Víctor Villegas de Murcia el 6 de Noviembre de 2009.

MANRIQUE DE LARA: Agamenón. POULENC: Concierto para dos pianos y orquesta en Re menor. CHAIKOVSKY: Sinfonía nº 4 en Fa menor, Op. 36. Luis y Victor del Valle (p.), Orq. Sinf. de la Región de Murcia. Dir.: Jose Miguel Rodilla.

Top player (up there) is the de Lara and Poulenc (and de Falla encore). Bottom player (down here) is the Tchaikovsky.

Announcements are in Spanish, so is the orchestra, so are the performers. The music is universal.

Something to take on the road with you.

(Esther Hoppe plays Mozart quite nicely, thank you)

Tonight's concert comes from the Joaquin Turina Chamber Music Festival in Spain this past September, 2009. It was recorded by Radio Nacional Espana and features the music of Mozart, Debussy and Shostakovitch with a variety of soloists. The program goes as follows:

Joaquin Turina International Chamber Festival
September 12, 2009

1. W. A. Mozart: Sonata for violin and piano, B-flat Major, KV 454
Esther Hoppe, violin, Benedicte Palko, piano

2. C. Debussy: Sonata for violin y piano, g-minor
Stephanie Gonley, violin, Daniel del Pino, piano

3. D. Shostakovich: Sonata for viola and piano, op. 147
James Dunham, viola, Benedicte Palko, piano

Announcements are Spanish and, as always, the music is universal.

(Felix Ayo and friends)

From Seville Spain tonight. From the 2009 International Festival of Chamber Music, a program of Beethoven, Turina and Brahms recorded live by Radio Nacional Espana on September 11, 2009. The program is listed below:

Festival Internacional de Música de Cámara
Joaquín Turina
Concierto “Sonidos de la Noche”. Celebrado el 11 de
septiembre de 2009 en la Fundación Cajasol de
Sevilla.
BEETHOVEN: Cuarteto con piano en Mi bemol mayor,
Op. 16. F. Ayo (vl.), W. Coleman (vla.), I. F. Martínez
(vc.), D. del Pino (p.). TURINA: El Poema de una
sanluqueña, Op. 28. E. Hoppe (vl.), D. del Pino (p.).
BRAHMS: Quinteto para piano y cuerda en Fa menor,
Op. 34. F. Ayo (vl.), S. Gonley (vl.), W. Coleman (vla.),
T. Tsutsumi (vc.), B. Palko (p.).

As always, the concert is broken up into two parts - Part 1 (above) features the Beethoven and Turina and Part 2 (below) features the Brahms.

Announcements are in Spanish and the music is guaranteed to take it all down a few notches.

Enjoy.

(Julian Rachlin - new face on the Musical horizon)

Today's installment of the Mid-Week Concert takes us back to France during the 2009 Musica Mundi Festival featuring Violinist Julian Rachlin and Pianist Itamar Golan. Recorded by Radio France on July 20, 2009.

Genval : Récital Julian Rachlin, Violon et Itamar Golan, Piano
Concert donné le 20 juillet 2009 au Château du Lac de Genval dans le cadre du Festival Musica Mundi

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Sonate en la majeur D. 821, Arpeggione, Version pour violon

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Sonate N°6 en La majeur Op.30 N°1
Sonate N°9 en La majeur Op.47, Kreutzer

Since it's a 90 minute concert, I've split it into two parts -Part 1 is the Schubert and Beethoven op. 30 and Part 2 is the Kreutzer.

Something calming for this hectic Wednesday - another one of those antidotes to Road Rage. Announcements are in French, but as always are edited down so you don't have to grab your pocket translator to figure it all out.

And while you're at it . .

We really, honestly, completely need it.