Explore The Symphony

English
71 Episodes

About the podcast

Join the National Arts Centre Orchestra's Marjolaine Fournier and one of Canada's foremost music journalists, Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer, as they explore the symphonic form from Haydn to Shostakovich.

About the host

  • host, music journalist Jean-Jacques Van Vlasselaer
  • Double Bass Marjolaine Fournier
  • Carl Nielsen’s De fire Temperamenter

    English Mar 06, 2020 51:11

    Jean-Jacques Van Vlasselaer and Marjolaine Fournier study The Four Temperaments, the second symphony by Carl Nielsen. The hosts find this Danish composer a little enigmatic and difficult to reach. They...

  • Mozart and Religion

    English Jan 22, 2020 57:15

    Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer discuss the role of religion in Mozart’s life and music. This in depth conversation focuses on Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and its beautiful...

  • Edvard Grieg: his music and melodies

    English Nov 05, 2019 57:01

    Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer describe the music of Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt, his A minor Piano Concerto, and his C minor Symphony. His music, his melodies and his...

  • Béla Bartók and Witold Lutosławski

    English Sep 26, 2019 55:33

    Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer talk about two Concertos for orchestra: one by Béla Bartók and the other by Witold Lutosławski. They take a moment to explain the format...

  • Verdi’s Requiem

    English Sep 03, 2019 56:12

    Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer and Marjolaine Fournier discuss Verdi’s Requiem, first performed in Milan in 1874. The text for this was written in about 1250, when a requiem was meant to...

  • Le Nozze di Figaro

    English Jun 25, 2019 49:35

    Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques Van Vlasselaer discuss Mozart’s beloved opera Le Nozze di Figaro, touching on its history, uniqueness and sheer brilliance.

  • Claude Vivier

    English Apr 02, 2019 48:14

    Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer discuss the masterful Claude Vivier, composer from Québec. His music, which can be characterized as “beautiful, immense, tragic, inspiring,” is celebrated and heard regularly...

  • Brahms’ and Schumann’s first symphonies

    English Jan 30, 2019 38:34

    Marjolaine Fournier and Jean Jacques van Vlasselaer compare Brahms’ and Schumann’s first symphonies. They explore the relationships between the two composers and Clara Wieck. Schumann was alive in an extraordinary...

  • Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem

    English Oct 19, 2018 49:33

    Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer discuss Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. How much do you know about Benjamin Britten? There is fury in this composition. Where does it come from? ...

  • Schubert’s Ninth Symphony

    English Sep 27, 2018 46:04

    John Storgårds will conduct the NAC Orchestra on October 10 and 11, 2018, in their performance of Schubert’s ninth and final symphony. Marjolaine Fournier, NACO double bassist, and Jean-Jacques van...

  • You don’t have to be a music-lover to love Beethoven

    English Sep 13, 2018 42:36

    Marjolaine Fournier and Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer prepare us for the Festival Focus 2018 featuring all nine Beethoven symphonies. Did he really invent the boogie-woogie? Beethoven offered so much variety within his...

  • Anton Bruckner’s eighth symphony with the TSO

    English Apr 13, 2018 40:06

    Bruckner scholars seem to focus on psychoanalysis rather than closing their eyes and listening to the music. To listen to Anton Bruckner’s eighth symphony is to listen to the summit...

  • Kaija Saariaho, Violin Concerto Graal théâtre

    English Mar 22, 2018 56:52

    Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer and Marjolaine Fournier talk about Saariaho’s violin concerto which was featured as part of the 2017 Ideas of North festival produced by the NAC Orchestra. Saariaho is...

  • Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade

    English Feb 16, 2018 51:22

    This work opens many doors to wonderful and exciting musical study. It is a fine example of Orientalism and our perception of “the other”. Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer and Marjolaine Fournier...

  • Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade

    English Feb 16, 2018 51:22

    This work opens many doors to wonderful and exciting musical study. It is a fine example of Orientalism and our perception of “the other”. Jean-Jacques van Vlasselaer and Marjolaine Fournier...