Each Saturday at 8:00 p.m., “This Just In” on WHRO-FM brings listeners the newest and most intriguing classical releases from around the world, with Raymond Jones as your guide. This week’s program promises an elegant mix of sparkling overtures, lush French romanticism, and the elemental power of Sibelius, all from freshly new recordings.
The program opens with the lively energy of Franz von Suppé’s “Morning, Noon and Night Overture,” a work beloved for its bright melodies and dramatic flair. This new recording by the Tonkünstler Orchestra under Ola Rudner comes from the Naxos album “Fantasia Symphonica – Orchestral Overtures and Preludes.”
We then move to a fresh and grand-scale reimagining of a beloved operatic moment with the “Flower Duet” from Delibes’ “Lakmé.” Performed in an arrangement for flugelhorn and organ by Andrew Ennis and played on the monumental Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia with organist Peter Richard Conte, this track is part of the recent Raven Records release “DUO – Familiar Operatic and Symphonic Works,” that we have been exploring in last episodes.
From the BBC Music Magazine Collection comes Ernest Chausson’s “Viviane,” a symphonic poem filled with sweeping lyricism and vivid orchestration, drawing inspiration from Arthurian legend. The BBC Symphony Orchestra under Pascal Rophé brings a rich nuanced interpretation of Chausson’s work.
Finally, we continue our summer exploration of Jean Sibelius’s symphonic cycle with his Symphony No. 5, performed by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra under Kurt Sanderling from the Brilliant Classics album “Nordic Symphonies.” Having previously featured Sibelius’s earlier symphonies, this week’s broadcast moves into the Fifth, a work that captures the grandeur and mystery of the Finnish landscape with soaring horn calls, expansive development, and an exhilarating sense of space.
Join Raymond Jones this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. on WHRO-FM 90.3, or online, for an evening of orchestral color, legendary melodies, and the best of what’s new in classical music.
