Elliott Forrest: Live from the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, I'm Elliott Forrest from WQXR 105. 9 FM, New York's classical radio station. Let's hear it for The Knights! (applause)

So great to be here with a live audience. Tonight's concert features The Knights, an orchestral collective born out of musical camaraderie and late-night sight-reading parties. And now they've been a part of the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts for 15 seasons.

We've got three works on the program tonight. Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, his Symphony No. 6, which is really great and perfect for where we are right now. And before the intermission, we'll hear a piece by a French composer, Louise Farrenc. But we're going to start off with Mozart's Overture to The Marriage of Figaro.

Live from the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, The Knights!

MUSIC - Mozart, Le Nozze de Figaro, K.492: Overture in D major (Presto)

Elliott Forrest: The Overture to The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart. Performed by The Knights, live here on WQXR.

This is our second broadcast of the summer from the Naumburg Bandshell. We'll be back on Tuesday, July 9th at 7. 30 with the Boston-based group, A Far Cry. You won't want to miss that. But right now we're going to hear a little more about the program from the conductor. Welcome Eric Jacobsen.

Eric Jacobsen: Ah, thank you so much, Elliott. Is there a more joyful way to start a concert?

Elliott Forrest: No. Well, you tell me why...

Eric Jacobsen: I don't know.

Elliott Forrest: ...why did you want to start with this?

Eric Jacobsen: Because that's what that's what it feels like. It's the most joyful thing ever. If you know a more joyful way, please let us know Quickly.

Elliott Forrest: You're gonna get emails, I know.

I described this earlier as an orchestral collective. What does that actually mean?

Eric Jacobsen: It means that our rehearsal process is one that is beautifully messy at times and it comes together in performance like you just heard and hopefully like you'll hear for the rest of tonight. I think the idea is everyone coming together and sharing an idea. Very much like, you know when, when we hope that a family functions very highly.

You know, everyone's got their... Right? Right? Okay, okay.

Well, you know I'm just going to jump into the next piece that we're going to play.

Elliott Forrest: Go ahead.

Eric Jacobsen: Louise Farrenc, incredible composer, remarkable French composer from born in 1804. So just a few years before Beethoven wrote his Pastoral Symphony that we'll play on the second half. And like every composer after Beethoven, how could you not be absorbed and, and, and love all the music? She knew all of his music so well and was so influenced by his love of nature. The colors that were created by sun and trees and everything that you'll hear on the second half. She was a wildly virtuosic pianist and a legendary teacher. First female composer, appointed to the Paris Conservatory as a professor, and about 15 years into her tenure, she had a premiere of a chamber work that had a huge response. A rave review, greatest violinist of the time, Joachim, performed, and it was after that concert, we're doing a little timeline thing going on right now, after that concert, she went to the administrators at the Paris Conservatory and said, "Hey, can I have equal pay to my male colleagues?" And she got it!

And right around that time, almost, almost exactly to the year, is when Central Park was being designed by Fred Olmsted. And it was becoming what we love and what we exist in right now. And it's just, it's one of the most beautiful experiences. Olmsted planted all the trees. I know that we're talking to a radio audience that's not actually here right now, but if you know this, and probably everyone who's listening has been in this incredible place, watched and seen the incredible Naumburg Bandshell, but we're surrounded by American elm trees, some of which were planted in 1860 that are still here right now, which is just absolutely remarkable.

And though that has absolutely nothing to do with the music that we're about to play, there's something magical, thinking of Farrenc, a nature lover, Beethoven, a nature lover, and how all the trees that are around us, that will outlive us quite a bit, have seen all of the great storms that we'll hear on the second half, all the pastoral scenes that we'll hear both in Farrenc's and Beethoven's music.

Elliott Forrest: Perfect. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you for choosing the Louise Farrenc. We pride ourselves at WQXR in playing the music you know, and also finding a little bit of a discovery.

So as you just heard, the next piece on the program by French composer, Louise Farrenc, a contemporary of Hector Berlioz. She broke down a lot of barriers, as as Eric was saying. She was a pianist as well as a teacher.

Let's hear it. Here is her third symphony, her final work. From the Naumburg Bandshell, from Central Park, The Knights on WQXR.

MUSIC: FARRENC: Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Op. 36

Elliott Forrest: The very exciting music of Louise Farrenc. The Brooklyn-based ensemble The Knights performing her Symphony No. 3 in G minor live from the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park in New York City here on WQXR. Even though Louise Farrenc studied piano at the Paris Conservatory, she wasn't allowed to formally study composition, so she pursued private lessons with Anton Reicha, a Bohemian composer and a friend of Beethoven's. She even demanded and received equal pay when she was appointed as professor at the very same conservatory.

And speaking of Beethoven, he will be up next.

This is Classical New York, WQXR 105. 9 FM and HD, Newark 90. 3 FM, WQXW Ossining and WNYC HD2 New York.

I'm Elliott Forrest. We are broadcasting live from Central Park. It is intermission here at the Naumburg Bandshell. And you're listening to The Knights on WQXR. It is a beautiful night here in Central Park here on this June 25th, 2024. It's Tuesday. The temperature is a little over 80 degrees. It is a beautiful night.

Coming up in the second half of the program is Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, known as the Pastoral Symphony. And that title is actually from Beethoven himself, because he was so enamored with country life. Each of the movements depicts a specific scene. Arriving in the country to gather with neighbors, the coming of a storm, and the celebration after the sun returns. And if you listen, you'll be able to hear the scenes Beethoven paints from the imitation of water moving through the brook, to the thunder of a storm as it approaches, which we hope does not happen tonight.

The Naumburg Bandshell has been presenting concerts here for a hundred and nineteen years, and this bandshell itself is is celebrating its 101st anniversary of this construction, and it was recently re renovated last year in the 1920s. It was presented by Elkan Naumburg, as presented to the city of New York and its music lovers, and has had so many different performers been here including Leonard Bernstein, Pete Seeger, Victor Herbert, Irving Berlin, Zero Mostel, and so many others.

Before we get to the Beethoven, we're going to speak with two of The Knights. Joining us right now is Colin Jacobsen, concertmaster and one of the artistic directors, and his colleague, flute player Alex Sopp. Good to see you both.

Colin Jacobsen: Good to see you, Elliott.

Alex Sopp: Hi!

Elliott Forrest: Having fun?

Colin Jacobsen: Oh yeah.

Elliott Forrest: How great is this, right?

Colin Jacobsen: This is always one of our favorite things to do every year now for 15 years, as was mentioned.

Elliott Forrest: I mean, it's kind of obvious that it just is like great and it's free and it's really a great crowd. But why do you like to come back every year?

Colin Jacobsen: I think it's at the heart of the heart of it for us. I mean, as The Knights, we grew up in this city. Many of us went to school here. I remember a vivid early Knights memory of being just up yonder hill.

Not long after 9/11, our first show that we were supposed to do after that was a Knights concert of Dvorak's String Serenade, and we rehearsed it about a week afterwards and came out here and just played for people not far from here, and that was before we had ever played at Naumburg, but it's just such a special place, and it's, yeah, it's Central Park in the dark, which Ives wrote about, you know.

Elliott Forrest: Exactly. Alex, tell us you play flute and you're also a visual artist, right?

Alex Sopp: Yep, that's right.

Elliott Forrest: Tell us about how you mix those two.

Alex Sopp: Oh wow, well, I mean, one directly feeds into the other. A lot of times I'm super inspired by music that we're playing and composers that we're playing. For example, I love doing portraits of composers and kind of reimagining their faces with my, my paints.

Colin Jacobsen: And those aren't the only things Alex does. She's also, she just released an album, a vocal and electronics album that is awesome that people should...

Alex Sopp: I also write music.

Colin Jacobsen: ...check out.

Elliott Forrest: You're a hyphenate, as so many people are.

Colin Jacobsen: Yeah.

Elliott Forrest: It's been a while, I, I, you know, I was reflecting, I, I, I helped produce one of the first concerts, I don't know, 14, 15 years ago? The one at the Angel Orensanz Center.

Colin Jacobsen: Yeah.

Elliott Forrest: With The Knights. It's just, you guys have evolved so much. You have a project called the Rhapsody Project now, what is that?

Colin Jacobsen: Yeah, well, it was inspired by the 100th anniversary of Gershwin's Rhapsody that was celebrated this year.

Elliott Forrest: Right.

Colin Jacobsen: And specifically working with the great jazz and classical pianist Aaron Diehl. We got to both play the Gershwin and also this amazing piece by Mary Lou Williams, her Zodiac Suite that we'll be doing at Caramoor this coming Sunday. And you know First Lady of the Jazz Piano. But we wanted to take that idea of worlds coming together that is so core to, to The Knights' identity and, and make a big commissioning and educational project out of that.

And most of those pieces are being premiered at Carnegie over three seasons. So we did a, a bunch of, we started off with Chris Thile doing a new narrated song cycle, which Alex was singing on as well. And and you know, it goes back to that bardic identity of a rhapsode was a wandering narrator or bard in Homeric Greece. And and just Rhapsody means you have freedom within form to, to experiment and be improvisatory. And, and I think, you know, it really speaks to The Knights' identity.

Elliott Forrest: And because we're broadcasting, you know, not all over the world, as well as Chicago, I was at Ravinia yesterday and the day before. I saw the big sign that you'll be there as well, right?

Alex Sopp: Yep.

Elliott Forrest: Not just Caramoor, but Ravinia, as a whole tour.

Colin Jacobsen: Yeah, we've been lucky over many seasons to be at Ravinia. I mean, you know, this summer season is actually a great time to be a Knight because we often play here in Central Park at the Naumburg Orchestral Series and at Ravinia. And later this summer at Tanglewood with Emanuel Ax for a couple of shows. So.

Elliott Forrest: Anything you want to let us know, I mean, you and I are going to talk on stage before the Beethoven, but from your perspective, Alex, well, what do you want us to know about the Beethoven?

Alex Sopp: Oh, wow. Well, I will say this. It is one of my absolute favorite pieces in the world, and it is such an amazing gift to get to play it in a place like Central Park. Just, it's such an iconic piece. And this is such an iconic location, and the two coming together is really magical.

Elliott Forrest: And a final thought about Louise Farrenc. I'm certain there are people here who have never even heard of her, much less that piece. I think this was a real night of discovery for a lot of people. How do you feel about that?

Alex Sopp: It was so much fun to play. It was a moment of discovery for me, too, to be perfectly honest, and I'm so thankful.

Elliott Forrest: Alright, good. Well, I'll let you both have an intermission. Thank you for stopping by, Colin Jacobsen. I'll talk to you on stage at the beginning of the next act. Alex, thanks so much for being with us.

Alex Sopp: Thank you.

Elliott Forrest: This is the second of our broadcasts with the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts in Central Park. We'll be back again Tuesday, July 9th at 7:30 with the ensemble A Far Cry. They've appeared many times in the Naumburg series.

It's intermission here at Central Park in the Bandshell. In just a couple of minutes, we're going to hear Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, the Pastoral. Before that, we'll hear a little Dvorak. This is his String Quartet No. 12, the American String Quartet, performed here at the Naumburg Bandshell last summer by the ensemble A Far Cry.

MUSIC: DVORAK: STRING QUARTET NO. 12

Elliott Forrest: Live from the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, I'm Elliott Forrest. We're back for the second half of the concert with The Knights, broadcasting live on WQXR. Everybody having a good time?

A reminder, please sign up for the WQXR newsletter. There's a QR code in your program, and if you're listening on the radio, you can sign up through our website at wqxr. org. Our newsletter gives you great information on programming and events, and if you're taking pictures tonight, make sure and tag WQXR.

Beethoven had a great love of the countryside, and totally fitting that we're in a setting like this. The final piece on the program is Symphony No. 6, his Pastoral. Joining me to tell a little bit more about The Knights and our last piece on the program is Concertmaster and Co-Artistic Director Colin Jacobsen.

Colin Jacobsen: Thank you, Elliott. I know.

Elliott Forrest: So just to be clear, Eric Jacobsen, Colin Jacobsen, you're related.

Colin Jacobsen: Yeah, yeah, we're brothers.

Elliott Forrest: Okay, just make sure everybody knows that.

Colin Jacobsen: He's younger, by the way.

Elliott Forrest: Oh, okay. Does he know that? No, he doesn't know.

Colin Jacobsen: But he's bigger.

Elliott Forrest: You've been performing for more than a decade and other than tonight, any other memorable moments come to mind?

Colin Jacobsen: Oh my God. So many. You know, that Mozart overture that we played on the first half, we were once at, Aix-en-Provence 's festival, and there was a, a, an event in a town square, Conduct Us, and people lined up, signed up to conduct that overture, and of the various memories, there was a lady with a white dog, and she had the dog conduct. There was a balcony, and it was like Romeo and Juliet, she conducted us from the balcony, and there was a break dancer, so that final build up, he was like, getting down with the Mozart and conducting us and dancing simultaneously. So there's a memory for you.

Elliott Forrest: Lovely.

Tonight, thanks to the Naumburg people, obviously tonight is a free concert. But yeah. But people are actually paying to see you for the next couple of days. You've got a busy week. Where are you going after this?

Colin Jacobsen: We're going to play at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago another... (cheers) Chicago folks,

Elliott Forrest: Chicago in the house.

Colin Jacobsen: Kyle Armbrust from Chicago there. And we're going to Caramoor on Sunday and playing with the great pianist Aaron Diehl, Mary Lou Williams' Zodiac Suite.

Elliott Forrest: So tell us a little bit about the Beethoven, what do you want us to know before we hear it?

Colin Jacobsen: I think with Beethoven it's, he's always dealing with the internal and the external. So though the piece has this very programmatic description of nature, it's more about how, as humans, we exist in the world, how we deal with nature. And I was thinking about, you know, this, the storm movement, which comes in and, and sets the tone for so much romantic depictions of storms, and, and I read some program note where he was talking about how you know, now we don't worry about storms the way one would have in Beethoven's time, but actually, they're getting worse. And I, I wonder what the next Beethoven would have to do to depict a storm as fearsome as might be in this modern world. But I think composers are always doing that and Beethoven was one of the best at, at the human being vis a vis the world.

Elliott Forrest: And you mentioned the internal as well, and I, I can't help but think that Beethoven started to lose his hearing during his second symphony, then wrote seven more. So by the time he got to this one, he may have never actually heard it out loud himself. It might've just all been in his head. That's amazing to me.

Colin Jacobsen: Yeah, I mean, I can't fathom it except that the human imagination knows not too many boundaries, so.

Elliott Forrest: There we go. We'll let you take your place. Colin Jacobsen...

The final movement does feature a thunderstorm, so we don't need any help. Let's hear it once again for The Knights. Beethoven's Sixth Symphony on WQXR.

MUSIC: BEETHOVEN: SYMPHONY NO. 6 IN F MAJOR, OP.68 “PASTORAL”

Elliott Forrest: Live from Central Park in New York City, a symphony performed by The Knights on WQXR. Beethoven's bucolic and beautiful Symphony No. 6, his Pastoral.

It's a beautiful night here in Central Park. The weather couldn't be better. There was a thunderstorm in the music. Thank goodness, not in the park tonight.

The movement's quite evocative. Awakening of happy feelings upon arriving in the country. A scene by a brook. Joyful gathering of the country folk. The thunderstorm and the shepherd's song. Happy and thankful feelings after the storm.

Eric Jacobsen, the conductor, on stage with the performers. Pointing out different soloists. The audience is on their feet.

We started tonight with the overture to The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart, and perhaps some discovery for a lot of people, the music of Louise Farrenc, her Symphony No 3 in G minor. And then wrapping up with Beethoven's Pastoral, his sixth symphony.

The Knights taking a bow on the Naumburg Bandshell here in Central Park.

We'll be back in the park for another concert of the Naumburg Orchestral Concert Series on Tuesday, July 9th for a concert featuring the group A Far Cry.

Our great thanks to Christopher London, President of the Naumburg Orchestral Society, and his staff, including the stage manager extraordinaire, Pati Dynes. Also thanks to Wilson Showtime Services and our friends at SummerStage.

Our WQXR team includes engineers Ed Haber, Irene Trudel, George Wellington, Noriko Okabe, Neil Shaw, and Ray Mandel-Mueller. Our production team includes Eileen Delahunty, Lauren Purcell-Joiner, Laura Boyman, Maria Shaughnessy, and Christine Herskovits.

I'm Elliott Forrest. I'm going to send it back to our WQXR studios in Lower Manhattan, where we'll be joined. The Violin Concerto No. 2 by Niccolò Paganini. Performed by members of the Radio Symphony Orchestra with violinist Alexander Markov. Have a good night.