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4 Episodes 2019 - 2019
Episode 1
Fri, Sep 20, 201952 mins
Host Scott Yoo travels to Italy in tracking down the story behind Antonio Vivaldi's most famous work, the violin concerto series known as The Four Seasons. Arriving in Venice, he is just in time to hear the modern premier of Laetatus Sum in C Major, a piece just rediscovered in the past year. He learns that Vivaldi started out his adult career as a Roman Catholic priest. He grew up in the church, listening to sacred music, so it is no wonder that many of his works reflect this. He lived at a time when instrument technology was making big changes in musical possibilities. The famous Cremona luthiers, Stradivari and Guarneri, were producing their finest instruments. His compositions pushed these developments and changed the sound of performances. He was influential in influencing string instruments to be the heart of orchestras. With the help of some Italian Vivaldi experts, Yoo goes to the country and learns how The Four Seasons incorporate bucolic and woodland sounds such that they become program music of the Italian countryside. He visits modern luthiers to see how Cremona is trying to re-establish their preeminent position. He visits Antonio Artese, musicologist and jazz pianist, who demonstrates how Vivaldi was influential on future composers. Utilizing the theme from "La Follia" (Opus 1, No. 12), he plays it in the style of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, the Romantics and modern jazz on a piano that belonged to Liszt. Then he visits the library at the University of Turin where 92% of Vivaldi's manuscripts turned up when a priest brought 15 folios that a parish member donated to the church.
Episode 2
Fri, Sep 27, 201953 mins
Yoo goes to Germany to learn Bach's solo violin works, and discovers a riddle that Bach left in his portrait. In trying to solve it, Yoo and his wife Alice Dade, a leading flutist, discover Bach's true character.
Episode 3
Fri, Oct 4, 201952 mins
Scott travels to Spain and Morocco to discover the greatest composer you've never heard of: Domenico Scarlatti. He incorporated the exotic sounds of Spain to create a new musical language that inspired generations of composers after him.
Episode 4
Fri, Oct 11, 201953 mins
Handel traveled with the Scarlatti family and learned from the masters of Italian Style. In Rome and central Italy, Scott takes in the art, architecture, fashion, food, wine, light and landscape that shaped Handel for the rest of his life.