wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

There is no instrumentation specified for the newly found fourteen Bach canons, but we listen to them as presented in 1976 by the musicians of the Marlboro Festival under Pablo Casals. Before these are heard, however, we hear music actually written by Goldberg himself, Johan Gottlieb Goldberg, that is, who might actually have been the performer of those famous keyboard works supposedly commissioned by the Russian ambassador to the court of Saxony. Goldberg is known to have been a formidable prodigy on the keyboard, but we present hear a Trio Sonata in G for flute, cello, and harpsichord.

Guillaume Dufay’s Mass, “Se la face ay pale” (If my face looks pale) is derived from a ballad of the same name, and is said to mix medieval strictness with renaissance freedom. The Early Music Consort of London performs under the guiding hands of David Munrow.

The evening second half begins with Mozart’s Serenade in E-flat, K. 375. Eric Hosprich conducts the group Nachtmusique in the original version for just six winds, as opposed to the version for octet more often heard. Lorenzo Muti directs the St. Stephen’s Chamber Orchestra as they perform Robert Ward’s Sixth Symphony, really a chamber work for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, piano, and string quartet. Each instrument is explored as a soloist and as a member of the group.

After cellist Nancy Green and pianist Frederick Moyer bring us Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Cello Sonata, Op. 50, we hear from our birthday boy, Milton Babitt, who was born this day in 1916, and thus hardly qualifies for the “boy” designation! “Groupwise” is his 12-tone chamber concerto for flute doubling with alto flute and piccolo, accompanied by piano and string trio. Daniel Shulman conducts flutist Harvey Sollberger and other soloists.