National Gallery of Art - VIDEOS AND PODCASTS

National Gallery of Art Music Podcasts

On the third Tuesday of every month, the National Gallery of Art music department will release a podcast offering a deeper understanding of the art of music.

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Image: National Gallery of Art New Music Ensemble

National Gallery of Art String Quartet, Wind Quintet, and Piano Trio
Program: Music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
National Gallery of Art resident ensembles play the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in a concert dedicated to the memory of Milton M. Gottesman. The string quartet performs Mozart's Quartet in C Major, K. 465 ("Dissonant"), the wind quintet plays Johann Sebastian Bach's Fugue in G Minor, BWV 593 ("Little"), and the piano trio presents two movements from Mozart's Piano Trio in B-flat Major, K. 502.

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Image: National Gallery of Art New Music Ensemble

National Gallery of Art New Music Ensemble
Program: Music by Steve Antosca and Judith Shatin
Music composed and arranged by Steve Antosca and Judith Shatin for performance in the West Building Rotunda on the occasion of the National Gallery of Art's 70th anniversary. Selections include the world premiere performances of Antosca's Echoic Landscape and Shatin's Sic transit, both composed in 2011, as well as Antosca's in every way I remember you, featuring saxophonist Noah Getz.

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Image: Nordic Voices

Nordic Voices
Program: Norwegian vocal music
Nordic Voices is a six-voice a capella ensemble from Norway, considered one of the leading international vocal ensembles of its type. The group specializes in vocal music of contemporary Norwegian composers, including settings of Latin texts, traditional Norwegian texts, and contemporary arrangements of folk songs. For its Gallery concert on October 10, 2010, Nordic Voices sang music by Kvaerno, Kverndokk, Ødegaard, and Thoresen.

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Image: Music to Honor the Chester Dale Collection

Music to Honor the Chester Dale Collection
Program: Music by Gershwin, Milhaud, Porter, Stravinsky, and other composers
To honor From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, violinist Bruno Nasta and pianist Danielle Hahn called upon clarinetist David Neithamer, bassist Jonathan Nazdin, and pianist Ronald Chiles to join them for performances of works that music historians now recognize as belonging to the "modern" period in music. The ensemble played a suite for violin, clarinet, and piano by Darius Milhaud; Stravinsky's famous Soldier's Tale; and a medley of songs by Gershwin and other Broadway composers, noting that Gershwin and Chester Dale knew each other personally.

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Image: Music by Jewish Composers

Music by Jewish Composers
Program: Music by Laszlo Weiner and Ernst von Dohnányi
The dramatic story of Jewish life in the 20th century has given rise to a large body of music, including some outstanding chamber music. The Poulenc Trio, augmented by violinists Sally McClain and Anton Lande, violist Nicholas Citro, cellist Steven Honigberg, and clarinetist Rié Suszuki, play music by Jakoulov, Klein, Prokofiev, and Schulhoff that they performed in concert at the National Gallery on December 5, 2010.

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Image: The Stanford University Chamber Chorale and Chatham Baroque Music for the Holidays at the National Gallery
Program: Music by Praetorius and arrangements of traditional carols
Founded in 1990, Ensemble Galilei has made a name for itself through innovative chamber music concerts that incorporate images and words as well as music. Taking a cue from programs that the ensemble presented with curators at the National Geographic Society and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gallery music department head Stephen Ackert combined the ensemble's holiday repertoire with images of paintings from the Gallery's permanent collection, which have in past years been featured on Christmas stamps issued by the Unites States Postal Service.

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Image: The Stanford University Chamber Chorale and Chatham Baroque The Stanford University Chamber Chorale and Chatham Baroque
Program: St. John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach
Picking up on a theme of the National Gallery exhibition The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture, 1600–1700, which featured sculptures depicting the crucifixion of Jesus and the sufferings of Mary and the saints, the conductor of the Stanford University Chamber Chorale, Stephen Sano, led his group in singing selections from J. S. Bach's Saint John Passion for a concert at the Gallery in March 2010, while the exhibition was on view. Visitors reported being similarly moved by both the music and the art, though the art reflected religious life in 16th-century Spain and the music reflected religious life in 18th-century Germany.

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Image: Dan Franklin Smith, pianist Dan Franklin Smith, pianist
Program: Music for solo piano by Brubeck, Chopin, Copland, Gershwin, and Previn
Pianist Dan Franklin Smith performs music from the great romantic tradition in the form of nine short pieces by Frédéric Chopin, music inspired by Chopin by American composers Gershwin and Copland, and music inspired by jazz by Dave Brubeck and André Previn. Based in New York City, Smith heads an international festival in Germany called "Elysium: Between Two Continents."

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Image: Concerts in Honor of Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals Concerts in Honor of Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals
Program: Music by Caldara, Gabrielli, Legrenzi, Vivaldi, and other Venetian composers
During the run of the exhibition Venice: Canaletto and His Rivals, the National Gallery presented four concerts of Italian music from the time of Canaletto (1697–1768), coinciding with the end of the baroque era in music. Venice was abounding with musical as well as artistic talent at this time, as attested by the large number of composers and the high quality of the music featured in these concerts.

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Image: National Gallery of Art Vocal Arts Ensemble and Chamber Players National Gallery of Art Vocal Arts Ensemble and Chamber Players
Program: Music for Advent and Christmas by Bach, Buxtehude, and Praetorius
German-speaking Europe in the 18th century was replete with small duchies and kingdoms, each of which maintained resident musical ensembles with great pride and fostered outstanding composers. The National Gallery's resident vocal ensemble and chamber players present music that would have been heard around Christmastime in the baroque era in Leipzig, Lueneburg, and Wolfenbuettel, Germany—the homes, respectively, of Johann Sebastian Bach, Dietrich Buxtehude, and Michael Praetorius.

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Image: Nature and Fantasy in 16th–Century Italian Music Nature and Fantasy in 16th-Century Italian Music
Program: Music by Arcadelt, Cara, Donato, Tromboncino, and others
The National Gallery of Art Chamber Players searched its repertoire for Italian 16th-century compositions that represent in music the mannerism that manifests itself in the art of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, which was showcased at the Gallery in the exhibition Arcimboldo, 1526–1593: Nature and Fantasy. The podcast includes music by Arcadelt, Cara, Donato, Tromboncino, and other composers. Their work, like that of Arcimboldo, is marked by ambiguity, virtuosity, and elegance.

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Image: Fauré Piano Quartet Fauré Piano Quartet
Program: Music for piano quartet by Mahler and Fauré
The Fauré Piano Quartet plays Gustav Mahler's Piano Quartet in A Minor and Gabriel Fauré's Piano Quartet no. 1 in C Minor, op. 15, which they performed at the National Gallery of Art on October 27, 2010. Almost all of the great 19th-century composers tried their hand at writing chamber music for piano quartet, which consists of violin, viola, and cello, in addition to the piano. One of the outstanding ensembles that keep this repertoire alive in the present day is the Fauré Piano Quartet, named after the composer of one of the best piano quartets in the repertoire.

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Image: Dan Zhu, violinist, and Renana Gutman, pianist Dan Zhu, violinist, and Renana Gutman, pianist
Program: Music by Han Kun Sha, Sicong Ma, and Franz Schubert
Chinese violinist Dan Zhu and Israeli pianist Renana Gutman play in concert at the Gallery, performing works for violin and piano by Chinese composers Han Kun Sha and Sicong Ma, as well as Franz Schubert's Fantasia for Violin and Piano in C Major. Zhu appeared recently at the Fontainebleau and Casals music festivals; he is one of a number of performers who have played at the Gallery and gone on to find success on the international concert stage.

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Image:Geringas Baryton Trio Geringas Baryton Trio
Program: Music for barytons by Beethoven and Haydn
The renowned Lithuanian cellist David Geringas performs on the baryton, an 18th-century derivative of the cello, with fellow cellists Jens Peter Maintz and Hartmut Rohde. The baryton, which enjoyed considerable popularity in its day, was a favorite of Haydn's patron Prince Nicolaus Esterházy, and the composer wrote a large body of baryton trios for the prince to play in ensemble with other musicians from his court orchestra.

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Image: Flute and Harp—Heavenly Sounds in the West Garden Court Flute and Harp—Heavenly Sounds in the West Garden Court
Program: Music by Godefroid, Piazzolla, and other composers
Flutist Karen Johnson and harpist Astrid Walschot-Stapp are heard together in concert at the National Gallery, playing Etude de concert by Félix Godefroid, Café 1930 by Astor Piazzolla, and music by other composers in a program that was recorded at the Gallery in January 2010.

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Image: Perfect 10s Perfect 10s
Program: Claudio Monteverdi: Vespers of the Blessed Virgin (1610)
Washington's National Gallery of Art Vocal Ensemble, New York's early music ensemble ARTEK, and Philadelphia's period-instrument wind band Piffaro join forces to perform Claudio Monteverdi's Vespers of the Blessed Virgin in honor of the 400th anniversary of its composition in 1610. The concert was one of a series titled "1610, 1710, 1810, 1910, 2010."

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Image: Hungarian Chamber Music at the National Gallery of Art Hungarian Chamber Music at the National Gallery of Art
Program: Music by Laszlo Weiner and Ernst von Dohnányi
The National Gallery of Art Piano Trio joins forces with Hungarian violinist Vilmos Szabadi and violist Szilvia Kovács to perform music by Laszlo Weiner and Ernst von Dohnányi. The concert was a part of Extremely Hungary, a festival of art exhibitions, films, and concerts staged in New York City and Washington in 2009.

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Image: Notes from Norway Notes from Norway
Program: Music by Grieg, Saeverud, and other composers
Trumpeter Tine Thing Helseth and pianist Steffen Horn play a concert at the National Gallery of Art as part of the annual Norwegian Christmas Festival at Union Station in Washington, DC. In addition to transcriptions of familiar works by Frédéric Chopin and Edvard Grieg, the duo plays original works for trumpet and piano by Georges Enescu, Maurice Ravel, and Harald Saeverud.

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Image: Del Sol String Quartet Del Sol String Quartet
Program: Music by Glass and Szymanski
The Del Sol String quartet plays music by Philip Glass and Pawel Szymanski in honor of the exhibition The Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Collection: Selected Works. Two-time winner of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP First Prize for Adventurous Programming, the San Francisco-based Del Sol String Quartet has received enthusiastic response from critics and audiences for its lively interpretation of new music. Their concert at the National Gallery was presented in celebration of the Meyerhoff Collection and late 20th-century American masters.

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Image: Amarcord Amarcord
Program: Music by Hassler, Isaac, Senfl, and other German Renaissance composers
Amarcord, one of Germany's outstanding male vocal ensembles, sings a special program of Renaissance music to complement the works by German and Netherlandish Renaissance masters in the Gallery's collection. The internationally acclaimed five-voice male ensemble draws from its repertoire of music by Hans Leo Hassler, Heinrich Isaac, Ludwig Senfl, and other Renaissance composers.

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IMage: National Gallery of Art Resident Ensembles National Gallery of Art Resident Ensembles
Program: Music composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in the year 1810
National Gallery of Art resident ensembles perform music of Ludwig van Beethoven that was written exactly 200 years ago. The National Gallery of Art String Quartet plays the Quartet no. 10 in E-flat Major (Harp); the National Gallery of Art Wind Quintet plays an arrangement of the Sextet, op. 71; and the National Gallery of Art Piano Trio plays the Piano Trio in B-flat Major, op. 97.

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Image: National Gallery of Art Vocal Ensemble and various guest ensembles Peter Vinograde, pianist
Program: Music by Flagello and Ruggles
Pianist Peter Vinograde plays American music from the 1950s and 1960s in honor of the exhibition Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans.

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Image: Ritz Chamber Players Ritz Chamber Players
Program: Music by Dvorak, Mozart, and Villa-Lobos
The Ritz Chamber Players, the only all-African American professional chamber music ensemble, play masterworks of 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century chamber music in concert at the National Gallery of Art. Members of the ensemble performing in this podcast are Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violin, Amadi Azikiwe, viola, Tahira Whittington, cello, Judy Dines, flute, and Terrence Wilson, piano.

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Image: National Gallery of Art Vocal Arts Ensemble and Chamber Players National Gallery of Art Vocal Arts Ensemble and Chamber Players
Program: Music by de Wert, Hacquart, Sweelinck, and other 17th-century composers performed by the National Gallery of Art Vocal Arts Ensemble and Chamber Players
The National Gallery of Art Vocal Arts Ensemble and Chamber Players perform 17th-century Dutch music in honor of the exhibition Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered.

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Image: National Gallery of Art Vocal Ensemble and various guest ensembles National Gallery of Art Vocal Arts Ensemble and Various Guest Ensembles
Program: Music by Couperin, Rameau, and other 16th-, 17th-, and 18th-century French composers
The National Gallery of Art Vocal Arts Ensemble and the early music ensembles Masques, Pro Musica Rara, and Zephyrus play music from concerts presented at the Gallery in honor of Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500–1800.

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Image: National Gallery of Art String Quartet National Gallery of Art String Quartet
Program: Music by Brahms and Schubert
The National Gallery of Art String Quartet performs a Brahms piano quintet with renowned pianist Menahem Pressler and a quartet by Franz Schubert. The ensemble consists of violinists Claudia Chudacoff and Teri Lazar, violist Osman Kivrak, and cellist Diana Fish.

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Image: Requiem Aeternam (after Victoria) Program: Music by Stephen Hough Requiem Aeternam (after Victoria)
Program: Music by Stephen Hough
This piece of music, composed by Stephen Hough for the exhibition The Sacred Made Real: Spanish Painting and Sculpture, 1600–1700, is based on the 1605 Requiem by the great Spanish composer Tomás Luís de Victoria. Stephen Hough recast and reworked this requiem, reimagining its six voices for a string sextet. He selected five sections to make five movements: the fourth movement (Versa est) is a simple transcription with nothing altered; the first movement (Tadeat animum) takes the four-part original and floats it around the six instruments in antiphonal waves; the second movement (Kyrie eleison) keeps all the notes the same but changes their register–removing the linear mosaic of the vocal lines and making them soar and plunge in jagged, overlapping intervals. The third movement (Graduale) is more radically altered. The final, longest movement (Libera me) reproduces the polyphonic sections fairly faithfully, but takes the original plainsong interludes as if themes for variations in various modern styles.

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Image: National Gallery of Art Wind Quintet National Gallery of Art Wind Quintet
Program: Music from the 19th century that explores The Darker Side of Light.
The National Gallery of Art Wind Quintet performs a concert in honor of The Darker Side of Light: Arts of Privacy, 1850–1900. The ensemble consists of flutist Sara Nichols, oboist Ronald Sipes, clarinetist Christopher Hite, bassoonist Danny Phipps, and French horn player Theodore Peters.
Concert Notes (PDF 96k)

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Image: Choral Festival in Honor of Reopening of American Galleries Choral Festival in Honor of Reopening of American Galleries
Program: Contemporary arrangements of 18th- and 19th-century American choral music, sung by the Central Bucks County (Pennsylvania) High School West Choir, the Eighteenth Street Singers (Washington, DC), and ProMusica of Columbia Union College (Takoma Park, Maryland)
Choral music has been an important part of music at the National Gallery ever since the very first concert at the Gallery in December 1942, sung by the United States Navy Music School Chorus. In April 2009, the Gallery celebrated the reopening of the American Galleries in the West Building with a three-day festival of American choral music presented by six outstanding choirs. Listen to the some of the music sung by three of those choirs.
Concert Notes (PDF 95k)

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Image: Ma'alot Wind Quintet: Mendelssohn, Ligeti, Barber, Piazzolla, and Joplin Ma'alot Wind Quintet: Mendelssohn, Ligeti, Barber, Piazzolla, and Joplin
Program: Felix Mendelssohn's Ein Sommernachtstraum (A Midsummer Night's Dream), op. 61, arranged by Ulf-Guido Schäfer; György Ligeti's Six Bagatelles; Samuel Barber's Summer Music, op. 31 (1956); Astor Piazzolla's Suite, arranged by Ulf-Guido Schäfer; Scott Joplin's Ragtimes, arranged by Ulf-Guido Schäfer
Formed in 1986, the Ma'alot Wind Quintet has won prizes in major international festivals and established a reputation as a leading proponent of new music. In addition to works written especially for the ensemble, the group also performs arrangements by quintet members Ulf-Guido Schäfer (clarinet) and Volker Grewel (horn). The other members of the quintet are Stephanie Winker (flute), Christian Wetzel (oboe), and Volker Tessmann (bassoon). This performance took place on January 11, 2009, and was the inaugural concert of Mendelssohn on the Mall, a festival presented jointly by the Library of Congress, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Gallery of Art.
Concert Notes (PDF 88k)

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Image: National Gallery of Art Piano Trio Plays Maurice Ravel's Piano Trio in A Minor< National Gallery of Art Piano Trio Plays Maurice Ravel's Piano Trio in A Minor
Program: Maurice Ravel's Piano Trio in A Minor
The National Gallery of Art Piano Trio, the resident trio at the National Gallery, features violinist Luke Wedge and cellist Ben Wensel, both of whom have performed as members of the National Gallery of Art Orchestra. The third member of the trio, pianist Danielle DeSwert Hahn, is also the Gallery's music program specialist. Listen to the four movements of Maurice Ravel's Piano Trio in A Minor, from a performance in the West Garden Court of the National Gallery on February 24, 2008.
Concert Notes (PDF 88k)

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Image: Pierre Brebiette Bacchus with Diana and Minerva, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund 1971.36.1 National Gallery of Art Chamber Players
Program: Music from the 16th and 17th centuries that explores the theme of travel
National Gallery of Art Chamber Players perform a concert in honor of Fabulous Journeys and Faraway Places: Travels on Paper, 1450–1700. On this occasion, the ensemble includes tenor Wolodymyr Smishkewych, recorder virtuoso Kathryn Montoya, harpist Keith Collins, dulcian player Anna Marsh, viola da gambist Loren Ludwig, and harpsichordist Stephen Ackert.
Concert Notes (PDF 88k)

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Image: Concert in Honor of African American History Month by Celeste Headlee and Danielle DeSwert Concert in Honor of African American History Month by Celeste Headlee and Danielle DeSwert
Program: Songs by William Grant Still for soprano and piano
Listen to music by William Grant Still, known as the dean of African American composers, and one of the country's most celebrated figures in music. A prolific composer, Still wrote more than 150 works, including symphonies, ballets, operas, chamber pieces, and vocal works. The concert features performances by Celeste Headlee, W. G. Still's granddaughter, and Danielle DeSwert.
Concert Notes (PDF 88k)

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Image: St. George's Chapel Choir of Windsor Castle Live Performance at the National Gallery of Art The Choir of St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle
Live Performance at the National Gallery of Art
Program: Locus iste (Bruckner), Prevent us, O Lord in all our doings (Byrd), Ave maris stella (Grieg), Psalm 121, Above all praise and majesty (Mendelssohn)
One of the most renowned choirs in the world, the Choir of St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, presented a brief concert at the National Gallery of Art on October 25, 2007, in honor of the centenary of the birth of Paul Mellon (1907–1999), founding benefactor of the Gallery and an ardent Anglophile. In his memoir, Reflections in a Silver Spoon, Mellon suggested that his love of Great Britain was foreshadowed during his first visit with his parents, when he was baptized in St. George's Chapel on December 22, 1907. The performance took place in the Gallery's East Garden Court.

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Image: Hopper Meets Opera in Later the Same Evening Out my one window, an Aria from Later the Same Evening: an opera inspired by five paintings of Edward Hopper
Listen to the premiere performance of Out my one window, an aria recorded on June 19, 2007 at a National Gallery of Art press conference announcing the new opera Later the Same Evening: an opera inspired by five paintings of Edward Hopper, commissioned to coincide with the Edward Hopper exhibition at the Gallery. Out my one window, music by John Musto and lyrics by Mark Campbell, is used by kind permission of Peermusic Classical, New York.

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