Elliott Forrest

Trio con Brio Copenhagen likes to say that two plus two equals three. That’s because the group is made up of two pairs – sisters Soo-Jin and Soo-Kyung Hong… and married couple Jens Elvekjaer and Soo-Kyung Hong. While you’re doing the math, the award-winning piano trio will play live in our studio.

Soundcheck guest host Elliott Forrest shares some of our listeners' comments and suggestions from our segments on New York's roller disco scene and the "clown of the orchestra," otherwise known as the bassoon.

Back in April, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences – the group behind the Grammys – announced the elimination of 31 of its award categories. Latin jazz happened to be one of them, and the genre’s musicians aren’t just singing the blues about it. Ben Sisario of the New York Times fills us in on the four musicians who are taking the Academy to court.

It’s an instrument that’s been typecast by pet-food commercials, the movie The Princess Bride, and even composer Joseph Haydn. We learn about the cultural history of the clown of the orchestra, otherwise known as the bassoon, with writer (and bassoonist) Eileen Reynolds and Monica Ellis, bassoonist with the quintet Imani Winds.

Musician and self-professed record geek Alana Amram fell in love with the work of Vince Martin, an influential but underappreciated singer songwriter of the 1950s and ‘60s folk world. The resulting album, “Snow Shadows,” contains Amram’s interpretations of Martin’s hallmark recordings and a few unreleased tracks. Alana Amram joins us in studio for a live performance.

This last Wednesday I attended The Book Of Mormon, the new Broadway musical from the team who created South Park. Then on Thursday I saw the current revival of the classic musical How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying staring Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame. Just for fun I’d like to compare the two and make the case that How To Succeed is the more offensive of the two.

Ok, I admit it. One of my guilty pleasures is getting lost on YouTube. While I hear most of America zeros in on cats doing funny things or the latest teenager doing something stupid, I find myself drawn to old TV shows. How could you not watch Salvador Dali on What's My Line? These clips give us a window into a different time and culture and there’s plenty about classical music to watch.

This holiday season WQXR and WNYC are broadcasting a radio drama version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with David Hyde Pierce as Scrooge and many of your favorite public radio hosts as narrators and characters. Composer John Forster played piano and A Prairie Home Companion's Fred Newman performed stunning live sound effects.

As the New Year approaches, people always talk about their resolutions, primarily what they plan to do. But what about what you plan not to do? I saw a piece on the news about a woman who was encouraging mothers not to volunteer so much! Horrors! Seems like a very non-PC thing to say, but what with PTA, non-profits, religious and other volunteer organizations, people are finding less time for their themselves, family and friends.