Theme & Variations introduces a new topic each week, presenting a wide range of music associated with that theme. Drawn from a millennium of Western classical music, the selections are an eclectic mix of familiar favorites and rarities. Theme and Variations is produced locally in Discover Classical's studios by host Joe Law.
This week you can explore the Sinfonia Concertante form, with examples by Domenico Cimarosa, Joseph Jongen, Peter Josef von Lindpaintner, Bohuslav Martinů and Ignaz Pleyel.
Shakespeare’s plays have inspired a good deal of theatrical music, but today you’ll hear music originally intended for the concert hall. It’s by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Niels Gade, Felix Mendelssohn, Alfred Reed, Bedřich Smetana, Johan Svendsen and Richard Strauss.
Passover begins on April 22, and this week’s program brings you the Passover story in the form of a complete performance of Handel’s Israel in Egypt, along with some related instrumental music by Handel.
“New Music for Old Instruments” is this week’s theme, with music for “obsolete” instruments composed by Seymour Barab, Frederick Delius, Jean Françaix, Paul Hindemith, Jocelyn Morlock, Nico Muhly, Peter Schickele and John Tavener.
