Williams Vienna

The great Bohemian-born composer Gustav Mahler once said, "A symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything." Over the course of its nearly 300-year life, the symphony has indeed embraced almost every trend to be found in Western concert music. In this series of 24 45-minute lectures, Professor Robert Greenberg guides the listener on a survey of the symphony. You'll listen to selections from the greatest symphonies by many of the greatest composers of the past 300 years. You'll also hear selections from some overlooked works that, undeservedly, have been forgotten by contemporary audiences.

A spectacular tribute to Hungarian-born composers, from the brilliant, award-winning performers - Grammy-nominated violinist ELMIRA DARVAROVA (first and only woman-concertmaster of The Metropolitan Opera) and pianist THOMAS WEAVER (professor at Curtis Institute of Music), the album "FROM LISZT TO LIGETI" brings an exceptionally vivid narrative linking historic milestones in the legacies of a number of superb Hungarian-born musicians - composers and performers, who have so enormously contributed to enriching the world's cultural treasure-trove.Liszt, Joachim, Bartok, Kodaly, Hubay, Goldmark, Ligeti - they have all bequeathed us masterpieces to behold and cherish, throughout several centuries of showcasing, shaping, preserving, and amalgamating national traditions and global influences through the prism of their own personal creative gifts.

Leonard Slatkin’s more than 100 recordings have been recognized with seven Grammy awards and 64 nominations. He has recorded with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. European ensembles that he has recorded with include practically all the major London orchestras as well as those in Munich, Paris, Prague, Stockholm and Berlin.