Biscuits & Bach is a four-hour program hosted by Rachel Stewart and featuring music from the Renaissance to the Baroque and beyond. Rachel welcomes the occasional guest and shares a recipe or two. It's food for the soul and soul food on a Sunday morning.
February 19, 2012 Frederick the Great modernized and united his disconnected lands through warfare, and he influenced the cultural life of Europe through music. Swiss flutist Emmanuel Pahud has anew 2-CD set on the EMI label called The Flute King, and it explores music from the Court of Frederick the Great written by the likes of Quantz, C.P.E. Bach, and Frederick himself. We feature selections on this week's show.
And the Kruger Brothers, two Swiss brothers with a great American sound, sit down for a chat with Rachel Stewart about their newly released Appalachian Concerto.
Overdubbed recordings have been around a long time. Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins has been around even longer. But until Anne Akiko Meyers’ latest release, Air – The Bach Album, no one had recorded BOTH violin parts themselves. Meyers breaks new ground by performing both parts on her two Stradivari violins and recording in two different studios on either side of the Atlantic. The ever experimenting Meyers also serves up new arrangements of the Air from the Orchestral Suite No. 3 and the Bach/Gounod Ave Maria. And Rachel talks with Sue Elliott, owner of Davidson Chocolate Company, about what it's like to be a chocolatier and what it takes to produce fine, hand crafted chocolates.
February 5, 2012 This week hear a recording of recorder sonatas by early 18th century Italian composer, Giuseppe Sammartini, who was renowned as one of Europe’s great oboists. Obviously, he didn’t only write music for his own instrument, and he was also a teacher employed by the Prince of Wales to give lessons to the Princess of Wales and their children. These sonatas date from that time. Swiss recorder virtuoso Maurice Steger, who has been called “the world’s leading virtuoso” by The Independent, is featured in the recording. This week we also have a selection from Yo-Yo Ma’s latest crossover hit, The Goat Rodeo Sessions, with Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer and Stuart Duncan. And Chris Thile talks about why blurring the lines of musical genre are important. Listen.
January 29, 2012 Canadian violinist Lara St. John never quite clicked with Bach's sonatas for violin and harpsichord until she played them for fun with her friend Marie-Pierre Langlamet who is principal harpist of the Berlin Philharmonic. Their unusual instrumentation worked so well they decided make the recording Bach Sonatas which we feature this week. Rachel also chats with Southern food writer Fred Sauceman about traditional Southern foods. Be sure to tune in to find out what pot likker is!
January 22, 2012 >>More Information After the chart topping success of her album Bach: A Strange Beauty, Simone Dinnerstein has released another CD with music this time by Bach and Schubert. We feature this new recording, Something Almost Being Said: Music of Bach and Schubert, with its title coming from the English poet Philip Larkin's poem, The Trees. For Dinnerstein, Bach and Schubert share a distinctive vocal quality in their instrumental music, an idea she explores in performances of two Bach Partitas and four Schubert Impromptus. Also this week Frank Dominguez speaks with Chris Jenkins of the Catalyst Quartet and Sphinx Virtuosi about being part of the Sphinx Organization, which promotes participation in classical music by Blacks and Latinos, and about eating Southern breakfasts.
January 15, 2012 Jeannette Sorrell of Apollo's Fire, Cleveland Baroque Orchestra says she thinks of Vivaldi as the rock and roll composer of the 18th century. He attained enormous fame in his lifetime, and his music is infused with a rhythmic and harmonic vitality that is found in great folk and pop music. This week we feature Apollo's Fire's latest recording Vivaldi & Friends. And WDAV's Frank Dominguez chats with Welsh composer Grant Llewellyn of the North Carolina Symphony about food discoveries he's made in the Tarheel State as well as the traditional fare his mum fed him back in Wales.
January 8, 2012 >>More Information Viols were already old-fashioned by Bach's time, yet he was fond of the instruments, and used them in some of his compositions. Although the Goldberg Variations is NOT one such work, viol player Richard Boothby has transcribed this iconic music for his viol ensemble called Fretwork. The result is refreshing and unusual, is captured on the group's new recording which we feature this week. Rachel also welcomes violinist Wei-Wei Le and pianist Yin Zheng to the studio to talk about music education and food in their native China. Le and Zheng are performing in the world premiere of Songs of the Fisherman by Timothy Nelson at UNC-Charlotte.
January 1, 2012 >>More Information Listen to parts V and VI of Bach's Christmas Oratorio as we head into the last days of the Christmas season (ending with Epiphany on January 6). And Rachel chats with food and culture writer Amy Rogers about the Southern New Year's tradition of eating black-eyed peas, collards, and pork for luck and prosperity.
Tune in for a special “Baroque for Christmas” edition of Biscuits and Bach Christmas morning! Hear baroque gems from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Handel’s Messiah to name a few. There are also traditional carols from the Renaissance to the 18th century. And a conversation with members of the early music ensemble Stile Antico who talk with us about their traditional British holiday foods.
December 18, 2011 If not for his Christmas Concerto, the name Francesco Manfredini mayhave been lost to oblivion. Fortunately, his and other Baroque masterworks for the holiday are preserved on the Archiv Produktion (Dg) compilation, The Baroque Christmas Album, a WDAV favorite since its release in 2005. Rachel features it on this week's show. She also chats with Charlotte Observer food writer Kathleen Purvis about 2012 food resolutions, local food festivals and recommended cookbooks.
December 11, 2011 The unconventional early music group Red Priest plays what they call "rock-chamber-Bach," which highlights the infectious dance spirit found in much of Bach's music. That's the theme of their 2009 album, Johann, I'm Only Dancing, which takes it's name from David Bowie's 1972 hit, "John, I'm Only Dancing." We feature the recording this week. And Eleanor Beardsley, NPR's correspondent based in Paris, joins Rachel for a cosmopolitan breakfast discussion covering everything from croissants to cream of wheat.
December 4, 2011 This week on Biscuits and Bach features three harpsichord concertos and one violin concerto performed by harpsichordist Christophe Rousset and violinist Jaap Schröder with the Academy of Ancient Music led by Christopher Hogwood.
Rachel talks with Charlotte Observer food editor, Kathleen Purvis about why she writes about food and about the secret ingredient to great biscuits - lard!
Biscuits & Bach is a four-hour program hosted by Rachel Stewart and featuring music from the Renaissance to the Baroque and beyond. Rachel welcomes the occasional guest and shares a recipe or two. It's food for the soul and soul food on a Sunday morning.
Frederick the Great modernized and united his disconnected lands through warfare, and he influenced the cultural life of Europe through music. Swiss flutist Emmanuel Pahud has anew 2-CD set on the EMI label called The Flute King, and it explores music from the Court of Frederick the Great written by the likes of Quantz, C.P.E. Bach, and Frederick himself. We feature selections on this week's show.
Rachel Stewart talks with Sue Elliott about the chocolate business.
This week hear a recording of recorder sonatas by early 18th century Italian composer, Giuseppe Sammartini, who was renowned as one of Europe’s great oboists. Obviously, he didn’t only write music for his own instrument, and he was also a teacher employed by the Prince of Wales to give lessons to the Princess of Wales and their children. These sonatas date from that time. Swiss recorder virtuoso Maurice Steger, who has been called “the world’s leading virtuoso” by The Independent, is featured in the recording. This week we also have a selection from Yo-Yo Ma’s latest crossover hit, The Goat Rodeo Sessions, with Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer and Stuart Duncan. And Chris Thile talks about why blurring the lines of musical genre are important. 
Jeannette Sorrell of Apollo's Fire, Cleveland Baroque Orchestra says she thinks of Vivaldi as the rock and roll composer of the 18th century. He attained enormous fame in his lifetime, and his music is infused with a rhythmic and harmonic vitality that is found in great folk and pop music. This week we feature Apollo's Fire's latest recording Vivaldi & Friends. And WDAV's Frank Dominguez chats with Welsh composer Grant Llewellyn of the North Carolina Symphony about food discoveries he's made in the Tarheel State as well as the traditional fare his mum fed him back in Wales.
Listen to parts V and VI of Bach's Christmas Oratorio as we head into the last days of the Christmas season (ending with Epiphany on January 6). And Rachel chats with food and culture writer Amy Rogers about the Southern New Year's tradition of eating black-eyed peas, collards, and pork for luck and prosperity.
Tune in for a special “Baroque for Christmas” edition of Biscuits and Bach Christmas morning! Hear baroque gems from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Handel’s Messiah to name a few. There are also traditional carols from the Renaissance to the 18th century. And a conversation with members of the early music ensemble Stile Antico who talk with us about their traditional British holiday foods.
If not for his Christmas Concerto, the name Francesco Manfredini mayhave been lost to oblivion. Fortunately, his and other Baroque masterworks for the holiday are preserved on the Archiv Produktion (Dg) compilation, The Baroque Christmas Album, a WDAV favorite since its release in 2005. Rachel features it on this week's show. She also chats with Charlotte Observer food writer Kathleen Purvis about 2012 food resolutions, local food festivals and recommended cookbooks.
The unconventional early music group Red Priest plays what they call "rock-chamber-Bach," which highlights the infectious dance spirit found in much of Bach's music. That's the theme of their 2009 album, Johann, I'm Only Dancing, which takes it's name from David Bowie's 1972 hit, "John, I'm Only Dancing." We feature the recording this week. And Eleanor Beardsley, NPR's correspondent based in Paris, joins Rachel for a cosmopolitan breakfast discussion covering everything from croissants to cream of wheat.
This week on Biscuits and Bach features three harpsichord concertos and one violin concerto performed by harpsichordist Christophe Rousset and violinist 