The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Longtime NPR host Robert Siegel brought his love of classical music to “All Things Considered.” Here are 10 interviews and some background to mark his recent retirement
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
If you are a fan of “All Things Considered” on National Public Radio – and The Ear certainly is – you probably already know not to listen for veteran host Robert Siegel (below) on this afternoon’s broadcast.
Or any other ATC broadcast in the future.
That is because last Friday afternoon Siegel had his last sign-off. He retired after spending 41 years with NPR – the first 10 as a reporter, including as a London correspondent, and the last 31 as a host of the prize-winning afternoon news and features magazine “All Things Considered,” which, by the way, was created by Jack Mitchell, who later came to teach Mass Communications at the UW-Madison.
There will be much to miss about Siegel. His qualities included a calming voice, a ready laugh, fairness and objectivity, a convivial studio presence and sharp but respectful interviewing skills.
One of the things that The Ear hopes will survive Siegel’s departure is the much-needed public attention he brought to classical music, which he loved and which the other media today so often ignore.
The mark his retirement, NPR classical music blogger Tom Huizenga compiled a list of 10 important interviews that Siegel conducted over the years. Then he put links to those interviews on an NPR blog.
Huizenga also got Siegel to open up about the formative influences that sparked his love for classical music. They included his young love for the Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73, by Ludwig van Beethoven — the so-called “Emperor” Concerto, which you can hear played by Alfred Brendel in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Siegel went on to cover big stars like superstar soprano Renee Fleming; medium stars like violinist Gil Shaham (below), who performs with the Madison Symphony Orchestra this month; and smaller and new stars like the iconoclast harpsichord virtuoso Mahan Esfahani.
He also covered a U.S. Army rifleman who performed a violin recital for Churchill and Truman, and the role that music by Beethoven played in Communist China.
And there are many, many more, for which classical music and we listeners owe a debt to Siegel.
Check it out and enjoy! Here is a link to that posting on the Deceptive Cadence blog:
Tags: afternoon, Alfred Brendel, All Things Considered, America, Americans, Army, Arts, attention, Bach, balance, Baroque, Beethoven, big, blog, blogger, Broadcast, calm, calming, Cello, China, choral music, Churchill, Classical music, Communism, Communist, Compact Disc, composer, concerto, convivial, correspondent, D.C., Deceptive Cadence, departure, Early music, Emperor Concerto, fairness, fan, features, Franz Schubert, future, George Frideric Handel, Gil Shaham, guns, harpsichord, host, iconoclast, ignore, important, interview, Jack Mitchell, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, list, listener, listeners, London, Love, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, magazine, mass communications, media, minimalism, Mozart, Music, new, news, NPR, objectivity, opera, Orchestra, Piano, presence, prize, public, Radio, recital, Renée Fleming, reporter, respect, retire, Retirement, rifle, rifleman, Robert Siegel, sign-off, skill, Sonata, soprano, star, studio, superstar, survive, symphony, today, Tom Huizenga, Truman, U.S., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, Veteran, Viola, Violin, vocal music, voice, Washington, win, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | samanthacrownoversbc… on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Polly Kuelbs on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
| welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: Today is the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Here is disturbing music that sonically depicts the charred remains of the people and the city
1 Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima (below) and the dawn of the Atomic Age.
On this Sunday, it will be the same anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki (below).
Whether you agree or disagree with President Harry S Truman’s decision to use nuclear weapons to end World War II between Japan and the United States, the disturbing music at the bottom uses sound to help the listener picture the charred remains of the people and the devastated cities, seen below in a photo from The New York Times.
It is hard to imagine music being used more descriptively than in this disturbing and even terrifying piece that has received more than 2 million views on YouTube.
“Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima” was composed by the celebrated Polish composer Krzysztof Pederecki (1933-2020, below), who died just over four months ago. Here is a link to more information about the composer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzysztof_Penderecki
And here are some links to historical accounts of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing:
From cable TV channel CNN, here is an account of the two bombings in photos: https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/04/world/gallery/hiroshima-nagasaki-atomic-bomb/index.html
Here, also from CNN, is an account of Tinian Island, the place where the bombings started: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/hiroshima-atomic-bomb-75th-anniversary-intl-hnk/index.html
Here is a comprehensive history about Hiroshima and its culture, both pre-bombing and post-bombing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima
There will be much more to see, hear and read today and this weekend on National Public Radio (NPR), on many TV news channels including the History Channel and on PBS (especially The Newshour), and in many newspapers as well as on the internet.
If you know of other noteworthy accounts, please leave the name with a link in the Comment section.
What do you think of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
And what do you think about the musical depiction?
The Ear wants to hear.
Share this:
Like this:
Tags: #AsianHistory, #AtomBomb, #AtomicAge, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CableTelevision, #CNNNews, #EnolaGay, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #HarrySTruman, #HistoryChannel, #JacobStockinger, #KrzysztofPenderecki, #NationalPublicRadio, #nuclearweapons, #PolishComposer, #PresidentTruman, #PublicBroadcastingSystem, #StringMusic, #TheEar, #TheInternet, #TheNewsHour, #TheNewYorkTImes, #TheU.S., #ThrenodyfortheVictimsofHiroshima, #TinianIsland, #Wikipediaentry, #WorldWarII, #YouTubevideo, 75, account, agree, America, Americans, anniversary, Arts, Asia, atom bomb, atomic, Atomic Age, audience, blog, bomb, bombing, cable television, celebrated, channel, charred, city, Classical music, CNN, comment, composer, comprehensive, culture, dawn, dead, death, decision, depiction, descriptive, devastated, died, disagree, disturbing, Enola Gay, Facebook, fallout, first, forward, hard, Harry S Truman, hear, help, Hiroshima, historical, History, History Channel, imagine, information, Internet, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, Krzysztof Penderecki, like, link, listener, Music, musical, National Public Radio, newspapers, NPR, nucelar, nuclear, Orchestra, PBS, Penderecki, People, photos, Picture, pictures, place, Poland, Polish, post, post-bombing, posting, pre-bombing, President, President Truman, Public Broadcasting System, radiation, read, reader, remains, section, see, share, Sound, start, string music, strings, Sunday, symphony, tag, Television, terrifying, The Ear, The New York Times, The Newshour, threnody, Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, Tinian Island, Truman, TV, U.S., United States, victim, view, Viola, Violin, war, warfare, weekend, Wikipedia, Wisconsin, world, World War II, YouTube