Harrison Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra

Long-time Bay Area resident Lou Harrison was influenced by Eastern musical traditions. He and partner Bill Colvig built many of their own instruments, including an Indonesian gamelan. For his Concerto for Organ with Percussion Orchestra, musicians perform on some of Harrison’s own specially created percussion instruments, most notably bells made out of oxygen tanks.

Mozart's Symphony No. 39

In the space of nine weeks in summer 1788, Mozart produced the last three of his symphonies, including Symphony No. 39. Started within a month after his opera Don Giovanni opened to a less than enthusiastic audience in Vienna, the symphony opens with a reflection on the opera’s overture.

From the Archives: The Ozawa Era

The Symphony returned to the recording studio in 1971 with Seiji Ozawa (1935–), first on Deutsche Grammophon, then on Philips. The Symphony began keeping recorded archives of its performances during Ozawa's tenure, thus preserving the sound of the Symphony in its day-to-day performances. We'll be hearing examples from those archives, together with commercial recordings and radio broadcasts.

From the Archives: The Krips Era

The renowned Austrian conductor Josef Krips (1902–1974) took over the reins of the Symphony in 1963, charged with rebuilding an orchestra that had grown slack. Although Krips refused to allow the Symphony to record commercially, he approved a series of live Friday-night broadcasts on radio station KKHI. From surviving taped transcriptions of those broadcasts we'll hear Josef Krips transform the Symphony, from his inaugural concert—played one week after the JFK assassination—to his 70th birthday concert in 1972, when he made a guest appearance during Seiji Ozawa's tenure.

Bruckner's Symphony No. 5

Anton Bruckner grew up an unsophisticated teacher’s son. By the time he reached Vienna and the composition of his Symphony No. 5, he had a sound combining Beethoven’s sense of mystery and suspense, Schubert’s harmony, and Wagner’s breadth in unfolding, plus a symphonic vision all his own.

From the Archives: The Monteux Era

Pierre Monteux (1875–1964) led the Symphony from 1935 to 1952 and brought it back to the recording studio after a long hiatus. Both on RCA Victor and the popular Standard Hour Broadcasts, Maître Monteux left us copious recordings of a vibrant ensemble with an utterly unique sound and style. From 1941's shellac 78 rpm discs made over telephone lines to the crystal-clear LPs of the 1950s, Monteux and the Symphony made discographic history.


Due to a technical error, Episode 3, The Monteux Era has been reissued to  your iTunes subscription.  Episode 4, The Jordá Era, is available in your iTunes subscription history.

Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5

Perpetually self-conscious, Tchaikovsky worried in spring 1888 that his imagination had dried up, and that he had nothing left to express through music. Vacationing at his home in Frolovskoe provided all the inspiration he needed, and by August, his Symphony No. 5 was complete.