From the Archives is a curated tour of the world’s greatest composers, conductors and performers, captured in distinctive and memorable audio recordings.
Building on a lifetime of collecting recordings, host Frank Byrne shares the best performances he knows, each with a special element that sets it apart. A lifelong student of classical music, Byrne’s love of collecting classical music is only eclipsed by his joy in sharing it with friends.
Thanks to the wealth of recorded classical music available today, we have the opportunity to explore and consider performances that the average listener may never have heard. Listening together on From the Archives, we will gain insights to those great musicians who truly bring this music to life. Please join us.
-
Who doesn’t like a good scare once in a while, especially on Halloween? We’ll hear diverse selections from the small screen to the big screen plus some other-worldly sounds from composers such as Béla Bartók, György Ligeti, John Williams and more. -
Dmitri Shostakovich was a great Russian composer and is remembered today for his powerful symphonies. But there is one musical genre in which he composed more than any other: film music. We’ll hear selections from his marvelous score for the 1955 film “The Gadfly.” -
Mendelssohn’s score to “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is one of the miracles in classical music. Begun as a youthful expression of enthusiasm for the play, he later expanded it while keeping the same enthusiasm and innocence. -
The acclaimed French cellist Paul Torelier was a dynamic musician and personality. Get to know this artist and listen to his recordings of a sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven and a concerto by William Walton. -
Five is an odd number in math, but not at all odd in music. We have two splendid quintets – one for strings by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by the Griller Quartet, and one for brass by Victor Ewald performed by the Empire Brass. -
The "Hammerklavier" sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven is widely considered to be the most difficult of the thirty-two piano sonatas that he composed. It is difficult technically, athletically, and emotionally. We’ll hear an exceptional live performance of this landmark musical work. -
Enjoy music by the king of Italian opera, Giuseppe Verdi. We’ll hear contrasting examples of his genius in works intimate and grand, always with his inexhaustible gift of melody. -
Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote the score for the 1948 film “Scott of the Antarctic” – a dramatization of the ill-fated expedition led by Capt. Robert Falcon Scott to be the first humans to the South Pole. Vaughan Williams’ inspiration was such that he expanded the film score into a five-movement symphony that is both compelling and moving. -
Some composers have the gift to paint with sound, to create musical pictures in our minds. We’ll hear cinematic music by Ferde Grofé and Ottorino Respighi in spectacular recordings that more than demonstrate music’s power to communicate. -
The team of Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony set a standard that has rarely been equalled. We’ll hear this dream team in two of Mozart’s most beloved symphonies and a Mozart moment from Reiner’s time in the opera pit.
