WFMT: Critical Thinking and Critic's Choice

Keeping It Lively (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:00:43 +0000

Andrew discusses recent concerts of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Toledo Symphony.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Anna Clyne (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:00:42 +0000

Andrew converses with Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer in-Residence Anna Clyne to about the upcoming world premiere performance of her new work Night Ferry.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Invisible Man at Court (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:00:18 +0000

Andrew reviews the production of Invisible Man at University of Chicago’s Court Theatre.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Ralph Shapey’s Violin Music (Rebroadcast) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:00:50 +0000

A program of violin music of the great Ralph Shapey.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Swedish National Youth Orchestra (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:00:33 +0000

Andrew describes how he was “knocked out” by the Swedish National Youth Orchestra.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Maestro Muti’s Winter Residency (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:00:46 +0000

Andrew talks with Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti in a conversation recorded 1/22/2012 at Orchestra Hall. Riccardo Muti begins his three week winter residency with the CSO this week.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Time Out Chicago’s Jonathan Messinger on Chicago Public Libraries (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:00:04 +0000

Andrew reads Jonathan Messinger‘s Time Out Chicago piece regarding Chicago Public Libraries.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

James Alan McPherson: A Matter of Vocabulary (Rebroadcast) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:00:09 +0000

Tonight I’ll be doing something a bit different, reading a favorite short story by James Alan McPherson, “A Matter of Vocabulary” from his 1969 collection Hue and Cry. A longtime faculty member at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at The University of Iowa, McPherson, born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1943, was in the first class of MacArthur Fellows in 1981, and received the 1980 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for his second book of stories, Elbow Room. He turned to writing full time after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1968 at age 24. I first met Jim when I was a boy in 1968 and he and his work have both meant a great deal to me on many levels since then. Alas, his masterpiece, “A Solo Song: For Doc,” also included in Hue and Cry, can’t be read on the radio due to some of the language.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Case of the Mondays (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:00:04 +0000

Andrew comments on the new decision that will keep Chicago Public Libraries closed on Mondays.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Riccardo Muti: WFMT’s 2011 Artist of the Year (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:00:37 +0000

Andrew broadcasts his recent overseas telephone conversation with Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti, which took place on December 28, 2011.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

James Thurber Fables #5 (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:00:11 +0000

Andrew reads more selections from James Thurber’s Fables for Our Times.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Music for the New Year (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 04:00:34 +0000

Andrew presents a program of music for the new year.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Phil Grabsky — In Search of Beethoven — Part 2 of 2 (Rebroadcast) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 04:00:31 +0000

We continue where we left off last week, with the conclusion of Andrew’s two-part conversation with British filmmaker Phil Grabsky, first broadcast in the summer of 2009 when WFMT co-presented the U.S. premiere of his film In Search of Beethoven.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Phil Grabsky — In Search of Beethoven — Part 1 of 2 (Rebroadcast) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 04:00:46 +0000

Andrew presents a re-broadcast of his two-part conversation with music with British filmmaker Phil Grabsky–which was first broadcast in the summer of 2009 when WFMT co-presented the U.S. premiere of his film In Search of Beethoven.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

How Rude (Rebroadcast) (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:00:44 +0000

Please turn off your cell phones and other electronic devices before listening to this week’s Critic’s Choice. Andrew Patner provides some much needed tips for concert-goers that will help them…and those around them…enjoy an uninterrupted performance. (Rebroadcast from May, 2011)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Music and Reflections on WFMT’s 60th Anniversary (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:00:06 +0000

Andrew celebrates WFMT’s 60th Anniversary with music and reflections of years-past.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Jennifer Homans — Part 2 of 2 (Rebroadcast) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 05:00:25 +0000

The second of a two-part interview with dance critic and historian Jennifer Homans discussing her new and highly-acclaimed book Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet (Random House).

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Poems of John Keats (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:00:50 +0000

Andrew reads poems from John Keats Canon.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Some Poems #2 (Rebroadcast) (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:00:59 +0000

A rebroadcast of a poetry readings from October of 2009.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Jennifer Homans — Part 1 of 2 (Rebroadcast) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:00:14 +0000

The first of a two-part interview with dance critic and historian Jennifer Homans discussing her new and highly-acclaimed book Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet (Random House).

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

James Thurber Fables#3 (Rebroadcast) (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:00:10 +0000

Andrew reads more selections from James Thurber’s Fables for Our Times.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Critical Thinking: Piano Music of Boris Papandopulo (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:51:45 +0000

Tonight on Critical Thinking with Andrew Patner, we feature music recently recorded by Wisconsin-based pianist Nicholas Phillips of Croatian composer Boris Papandopulo (1906-1991).

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

1987 portrait by Paul Struck, courtesy Mrs. Zdenka Papandopulo

Riccardo Muti (Rebroadcast) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:09:14 +0000

Tonight on Critical Thinking, Andrew shares a conversation from October of this year with Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Art Institute Walkthru — Part 2 of 2 (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:00:37 +0000

In the last of our two-part program, Andrew takes a walk with the curators through the new permanent galleries of the Indian Art of the Americas and African Art exhibits at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Although the textile made from the silk of Madagascar’s Golden Orb Spider is no longer on view, you can see it right here:

Art Institute Walkthru — Part 1 of 2 (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:38:18 +0000

In the first of a two-part program, Andrew takes a walk with the curators through the new permanent galleries of the Indian Art of the Americas and African Art exhibits at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

James Thurber Fables #4 (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 15:00:37 +0000

Andrew reads more tales by James Thurber.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

A New Conversation with Bernard Haitink (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:22:49 +0000

Tonight on Critical Thinking, Andrew talks with former Chicago Symphony Orchestra Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink in a new conversation recorded just yesterday. Mr. Haitink will lead the CSO, Chicago Symphony Chorus, and vocal soloists in performances this week of Haydn’s oratorio “The Creation,” his first time taking up the score in a long and distinguished career.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

An Additional Frame of Reference (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:00:28 +0000

Andrew describes how his travels to Stockholm, Sweden to cover Riccardo Muti‘s acceptance of this year’s Birgit Nilsson Prize provided additional perspective on world of music.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Muti’s Nilsson Prize (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:41:30 +0000

Andrew shares some music and excerpts from the ceremonies awarding the $1 million Birgit Nilsson Prize in music to Riccardo Muti in Stockholm just a few days ago.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Muti Broadens (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:00:55 +0000

Andrew discusses Chicago Symphony Orchestra Music Director Riccardo Muti’s initiatives in broadening repertoire.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

“Follies” at Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 04:00:35 +0000

Tonight on Critical Thinking, Andrew’s guests are cast and production team members of Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s new production of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, opening this Wednesday night on Navy Pier and running through November 6.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Art Institute Exhibits (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:00:15 +0000

Andrew describes two exciting exhibits at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Tonight’s Guest: Riccardo Muti (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:30:58 +0000

Tonight on Critical Thinking, Andrew shares a new conversation — conducted just yesterday afternoon — with Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

From the North Lion (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:01:15 +0000

Andrew presents this report from beside the north lion in front of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Giacinto Scelsi (Rebroadcast) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 04:00:23 +0000

A program of music by the pioneering and independent 20th century Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi, 1905-1988. (Rebroadcast from 2007)

Tell us what you think!

http://www.wfmt.com/main.taf?p=1,5,1

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Several Items (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:00:23 +0000

Andrew speaks about numerous items in the music world.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

A Conversation with Jay Tunney (Rebroadcast) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:31:07 +0000

Gene Tunney and Bernard Shaw vacationing together on the island of Brioni in 1929 — Associated Press

My guest is author Jay R. Tunney, discussing his new book The Prizefighter and the Playwright: Gene Tunney and Bernard Shaw (Firefly Books, Buffalo and Richmond Hill, Ontario) about the long and deep friendship between his father, the American boxer and bibliophile, and the greatest English-language playwright of the 20th century. (Rebroadcast from 2010)

Tunney (1897-1978) was the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world (who beat Jack Dempsey twice, in 1926 and 1927, the latter in Chicago’s Soldier Field) when he retired from boxing in 1928 at age 31. Shaw (1856-1950) had a lifelong fascination with boxing and had published an early novel, Cashel Byron’s Profession (1886), on an intellectual boxer who prefigured the bookish Tunney.

The two men met in the late 1920s and Tunney and his wife Polly Lauder Tunney spent a month of their honeymoon in 1929 together with Shaw and his wife Charlotte on the Adriatic island of Brioni. Among others they spent time with that month? The German composer Richard Strauss. Tunney and Shaw remained close until Shaw’s death at 94 in 1950.

It’s a beautifully written book on a fascinating and little-known subject.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

James Thurber Fables #3 (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:00:46 +0000

Andrew reads more selections from James Thurber’s Fables for Our Times.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

A Conversation with Alex Ross (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:17:39 +0000

Alex Ross

Tonight from 11 p.m. to 12 midnight CST on 98.7WFMT Radio Chicago and via free streaming anywhere in the world at wfmt.com — an hour later than usual.

My guest is New Yorker music critic, award-winning and best-selling author of The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, MacArthur Fellow, and music weblog pioneer with therestisnoise.com, Mr. Alex Ross, discussing his new book of essays and profiles, Listen To This.

From bass lines to Björk, Marian Anderson to Radiohead, Bob Dylan to Brahms, Alex brings together topics from his acclaimed New Yorker pieces, mixes in a new essay and lots of great notes and references, and places them elegantly between two hard covers. We talk about them and even play some music.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Remembering 9/11 (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:00:51 +0000

Andrew recalls September 10-11, 2001.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Samuel Menashe (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:00:56 +0000

Andrew reads poetry of the late Samuel Menashe, who passed away last week at the age of 85.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Postcard from Home (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 14:00:26 +0000

Critic’s Choice is a weekly feature in which WFMT’s Critic-at-Large Andrew Patner shares his observations on arts and culture, from performances at Orchestra Hall to happenings in overlooked Chicago neighborhoods to festivals around the world.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Love Poems III (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 15:00:40 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

The Interrupters: Rebroadcast (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 03:00:07 +0000

: Ameena Matthews in a scene from The Interrupters (Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz, 2011)

Andrew talks with Steve James (Hoop Dreams, Kartemquin Films), Alex Kotlowitz (There Are No Children Here), and Cobe Williams (the CeaseFire project) about their new and already acclaimed documentary, The Interrupters.

Made in Chicago, the film looks at the efforts of a remarkable group of those formerly in trouble with the law to work to bring the cycle of violence in the inner city to a halt. The Interrupters starts a two-week run of 26 screenings this Friday August 12 downtown at the Gene Siskel Film Center of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The filmmakers and those whose stories were filmed will be present at a number of the screenings. Details at the Film Center link. Some screenings are already sold out! At least one Chicago commercial run, on the city’s South Side, begins August 26.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

James Thurber #2 (Rebroadcast) (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:00:00 +0000

Andrew reads more selections from James Thurber’s Fables for Our Times.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Leif Ove Andsnes (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 03:00:35 +0000

Andrew’s guest is Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes in a rebroadcast of a conversation while he was making Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Hall recital appearances.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

The Interrupters (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:00:25 +0000

(Left to Right) Cobe Williams, Eddie Bocanegra, and Tio Hardiman of CeaseFire Illinois (Courtesy of Kartemquin Films)

Andrew previews the important new Chicago documentary film opening this week at the Gene Siskel Film Center.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Also, listen to Andrew’s interview with producer/director Steve James, author-turned-producer Alex Kotlowitz and violence interrupter Cobe Williams.

The Interrupters (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 03:00:40 +0000

Ameena Matthews in a scene from The Interrupters (Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz, 2011)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Alan Goldfarb Poems #2 (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:00:17 +0000

Andrew reads from a collection of Alan Goldfarb poems.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Critical Thinking: Krzysztof Penderecki (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 03:00:05 +0000

Andrew’s guest is Krzysztof Penderecki, in a conversation recorded last month when the distinguished Polish composer and conductor was in Chicago leading concerts at the Grant Park Music Festival.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Poems of Alan Goldfarb (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 15:00:07 +0000

Andrew reads from a collection of Alan Goldfarb poems.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Poetry From Poetry 3 (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:00:16 +0000

Andrew reads Arthur Rimbaud’s “Morning of Drunkenness” (translated by John Ashbery, in Poetry magazine, April 2011). To read more of the translator’s notes or see additional information about this poem, visit Poetry magazine’s website.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Ralph Shapey’s Violin Music (Rebroadcast) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 03:00:52 +0000

A program of music of the great Ralph Shapey.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Take It In (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:22:23 +0000

Andrew discusses happenings at Ravinia and the Grant Park Music Festival.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

San Francisco Treat (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 03:00:20 +0000

Andrew presents a new program of music and spoken word recordings inspired by a recent visit to San Francisco — Everything from Gertrude Stein to Wagner’s “Ring” — Or are they the same thing?

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

San Francisco’s “Ring” (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:28:56 +0000

Andrew discusses the experience of attending the last of the recently concluded cycles of Richard Wagner’s “Ring” at the San Francisco Opera.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Music for Independence Day (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 03:00:02 +0000

Andrew presents a new program of new music and recordings by American composers and performers — local performers and a number of local composers as it turned out! — for the holiday, featuring new CDs from the Chicago Clarinet Trio (including composers Max Raimi and Larry Combs [!]), soprano Christine Brewer in recital with pianist Roger Vignoles, and jazz vocalist Carole March and her late husband, pianist Joe Vito.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

The Poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:55:40 +0000

Andrew features poetry of the late Gwendolyn Brooks.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Jack Zimmerman (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 03:00:23 +0000

Tonight on Critical Thinking with Andrew Patner–A conversation with Chicago-native Jack Zimmerman, whose new CD of autobiographical stories and original music entitled The Gift is gaining national popularity.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

The Three-Legged Stool (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:46:00 +0000

Andrew discusses successes and failures of classical music management in the U.S.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Peter Cole (Rebroadcast) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 03:00:36 +0000

In a rebroadcast from 2007, Peter Cole joins Andrew for a conversation about Hebrew poetry.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Back from Salzburg (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 01:43:17 +0000

Andrew returns from a trip to Salzburg with memories of “I Due Figaro” (“The Two Figaros”), by Saverio Mercadante and presented by Riccardo Muti.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Make Music Chicago (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 03:00:12 +0000

Andrew presents a preview (with guests and music from around the world) of the first-ever Make Music Chicago a live, one-day, all-day music festival throughout the city taking place on the first day of summer, Tuesday June 21.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Summer Freebies and Ten Dollars (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:00:10 +0000

This week, Andrew guides you through summer music events to attend on the cheap.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

30AIDS (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 03:00:36 +0000

Andrew presents a program of music and readings marking the 30th anniversary of the first reports on June 5, 1981 of what was to become known as AIDS including compositions, performances, and poetry by and about classical musicians and other artists who have died from AIDS.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Haitink in the House (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:57:33 +0000

The end of the cultural “season” provides a time both to hear Bernard Haitink with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (June 2, 3, 4, and 5) in the Mahler Ninth and to salute this wonderful man and musician for all he has done for the CSO and Chicago.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Run Don’t Walk (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 25 May 2011 18:55:23 +0000

Bill Cunningham photographing in the street, in BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK. A film by Richard Press. A Zeitgeist Films release. Photo credit: First Thought Films / Zeitgeist Films

Andrew encourages you to hurry out to see the award-winning documentary Bill Cunningham New York at the Music Box Theatre. The film provides a look at the life and work of New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham whose photographic chronicles of fashion trends have inspired readers of the Sunday Style section for decades.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize Winner David Ferry (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 24 May 2011 03:00:53 +0000

Poet and translator David Ferry (Source: poetryfoundation.org)

In a new program, Andrew’s guest is the esteemed poet and translator David Ferry, 87, winner of this year’s $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from the Chicago-based Poetry Foundation, publishers of Poetry magazine.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Poetry from Poetry 3 (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:15:27 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Grant Park Music Festival (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 17 May 2011 03:00:31 +0000

In a new program, Andrew’s guests are Carlos Kalmar, principal conductor, and Leigh Levine (pronounced — LEE Luh-VINE), interim executive director, of the Grant Park Music Festival. The Festival and the Chicago Park District announced today that Carlos Kalmar has also been named artistic director for a five year term.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

How Rude (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 11 May 2011 15:30:47 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

A story or two by James Alan McPherson (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 10 May 2011 03:00:52 +0000

In a new program, Andrew reads a story or two from James Alan McPherson’s 1969 collection: Hue and Cry

Listen

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Newsie (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:36:39 +0000

Andrew Patner discusses the roller coaster of classical music news and reminds listeners not to miss the great opportunities now in Chicago.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Music for Spring (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 03 May 2011 03:00:11 +0000

Andrew presents a selection of “Music for ‘Spring’ ” (Rebroadcast from 2008)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Opera Week (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:55:19 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Who’s Afraid of Milton Babbitt? (Part 2) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 03:00:27 +0000

Andrew presents a new program, the second of a series: Who’s Afraid of Milton Babbitt? An exploration of the music and contributions of the American composer, theorist, and teacher who died in January at 94.

In Part 2: Works for solo piano, string quartet, and soprano and chamber ensemble

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Poetry from Poetry 2 (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 21:57:17 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Abraham Lincoln: Reconsidered (Series Introduction) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 03:00:37 +0000

Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War, we look back at the introductory program from Abraham Lincoln: Reconsidered.

Series Introduction
Guest: George Anastaplo (Lincoln scholar, philosopher, and professor of law, Loyola University of Chicago)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Youth (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:05:44 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Leif Ove Andsnes (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 14:01:15 +0000

Andrew’s guest is Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes in a new conversation after his recent Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Hall recital appearances.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Riccardo Muti (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:37:41 +0000

Andrew’s guest is Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti in the first of several programs of new conversations since his return from Italy as he prepares CSO performances of Verdi’s Otello for Chicago April 7, 9, and 12, Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony on April 8, and a tour to New York’s Carnegie Hall April 15 to 17.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Good News (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 21:22:37 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Pianist Diane Walsh (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 21:09:11 +0000

A rebroadcast of our 2009 conversation with pianist Diane Walsh about her new recording of Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations (JDR: Jonathan Digital Recordings) and her work as onstage pianist and musical director for the new Broadway play about their composition, 33 Variations.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Andy and Kay (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 21:20:14 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Moonlighting (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 21:19:03 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Chicago Architect and Historian Wilbert Hasbrouck (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 20:51:28 +0000

A rebroadcast of our 2008 conversation with Chicago architect and historian Wilbert Hasbrouck on his book, The Chicago Architectural Club: Prelude to the Modern. (The Monacelli Press)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Sellars (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 22:18:10 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Remembering Danny Newman (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 21:48:08 +0000

In a rebroadcast from December of 2007, Andrew is joined by the late Norm Pellegrini, Goodman Theatre’s Roche [pronounced: ROCK] Schulfer, and Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Jack Zimmerman for a discussion of the life of legendary Chicago press agent, arts advocate, author, and raconteur Danny Newman.

The program was recorded and broadcast just two days after Danny’s death on December 1, 2007, at age 88.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Cycles (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:15:31 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Ted C. Fishman (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:44:36 +0000

A rebroadcast of our conversation with Chicago author and journalist Ted C. Fishman, discussing his new book Shock of Gray: The aging of the world’s population. (Scribner).

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

The Real Story (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 22:14:08 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Joseph Epstein (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:43:29 +0000

A rebroadcast of our September 2007 conversation with essayist, critic, editor, short-story writer — and Chicagoan Joseph Epstein.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Jennifer Homans (Part 2) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 21:41:25 +0000

The second of a two-part conversation with dance critic and historian Jennifer Homans, discussing her new and highly-acclaimed book Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet (Random House).

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Jennifer Homans (Part 1) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 22:00:00 +0000

The first of a two-part interview with dance critic and historian Jennifer Homans discussing her new and highly-acclaimed book Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet (Random House)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

John Burge Trial (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:53:55 +0000

A rebroadcast of the first of our two-part conversation first heard in August after a jury convicted John Burge on all counts.

Our guests are John Conroy, the reporter and author who chronicled Burge’s activities and their massive government cover-up, and Chicago Reader columnist and editor Michael Miner, who worked with Conroy on many of his stories.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Free Theatre (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 09:35:38 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Wallowitch and Frigo (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Memorials to cabaret artists Johnny Frigo and John Wallowitch. (Rebroadcast from 2007)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Groucho #1 (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 09:50:36 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Ralph Shapey’s Violin Music (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 22:00:00 +0000

A program of music of the great Ralph Shapey.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

January Is Happening (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 09:58:19 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Eddie (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 09:58:05 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Ted Fishman (Author) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 22:00:00 +0000

A conversation with Ted C. Fishman about his new book Shock of Gray.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Music for the New Year (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 22:00:00 +0000

Andrew presents a program of music to kick off 2011.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Condolences (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 09:57:23 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Thurber #2 (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:17:06 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Pierre Boulez (Part 2 of 2) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 22:00:00 +0000

The second of our recent two-part interview with Chicago Symphony Orchestra Helen Regenstein conductor emeritus Pierre Boulez.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Alex Ross (Author and Critic) (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 22:00:00 +0000

A new conversation with Alex Ross, music critic for the New Yorker, MacArthur Genius, and author of the international bestseller and Pulitzer Prize finalist “The Rest Is Noise,” on his new book: Listen to This

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Oh, Pooh (Critic's Choice)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:46:34 +0000

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)

Matti Bunzl and Katinka Kleijn (Critical Thinking)

mdestefano@wfmt.com (WFMT) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Andrew’s guests are Chicago Symphony Orchestra cellist Katinka Kleijn and Matti Bunzl, Artistic Director of the Chicago Humanities Festival discussing and previewing Katinka’s premières this Sunday at the Festival of SEVEN commissioned works by SEVEN young composers for solo cello.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3 (right-click and choose save as to download)