Sunday afternoons are special on WSHU. Every week, David Bouchier puts a different spin on classical music - anecdotes about the great composers, poetry, musical history, and even musical jokes. Sunday Matinée may explore the hidden links between music and literature, composers' letters, music for a special season of the year, or music designed to make you think. Whatever the theme, David Bouchier gives classical music a new dimension on Sunday afternoons.

This Sunday, May 7 is a special day in the history of music, because it marks the anniversaries of two of the greatest composers of the romantic age. Johannes Brahms was born on that date in 1833, and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky on the same date in 1840. On Sunday Matinée David Bouchier will celebrate Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and their friends and contemporaries, with some absolutely marvelous music including two of the world's greatest symphonies, and concertos for piano and violin that were among the highest musical achievements of the nineteenth century.

Among the highlights (subject to change):

  • Johannes Brahms: The Academic Festival Overture
  • Johannes Brahms: Variations on a Theme by Handel (selection)
  • Clara Schumann: Piano Trio in g
  • Johannes Brahms: Violin Concerto in D
  • Karl Goldmark: :In Springtime
  • Antonin Dvorak: Slavonic Dances op.46, No. 4
  • Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4
  • Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker Overture
  • Anton Rubinstein: The Angelic Dream (selection)
  • Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique"
  • Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade (selection)
  • Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Roccoco Theme
  • Modest Mussorgsky: Introduction and Polonaise from "Boris Goudenov"
  • Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1
  • Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Capriccio Italian

Note: Letters of Brahms and Tchaikovsky read on this program come from the CD collection "Composers' Letters" edited by Jan Fielden.


Join David Bouchier for Brahms & Tchaikovsky - A Celebration on Sunday Matinee, from 1 till 6, right after Sunday Baroque, only on WSHU and WSUF.

I would like to acknowledge the invaluable help of my old friend Dr. David Lee, and also Basil Howitt's book Love Lives of the Great Composers.This program is produced in the Long Island Studio of WSHU & WSUF, on the campus of Suffolk County Community College in Selden, New York.

This page and its contents are copyright WSHU-FM, Fairfield, CT., and David Bouchier.

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