The Architects of Music movies are designed to help music lovers get a better understanding of how great masterpieces are created. To do this, host/writer/pianist Lawrence Rapchak dives into each composition he discusses, describing how the composer fits melodies, harmonies and rhythms into the grand architecture of a movement, tone poem or other composition. Rapchak writes the scripts and narrates from the piano, using musical excerpts from CD’s licensed from Naxos Records and Steve Robinson edits Rapchak’s recording sessions and adds the musical excerpts.
The inspiration for The Architects of Music came when Steve Robinson moved to Chicago to become general manager of WFMT and the WFMT Radio Network, an all-classical music radio station and international production and distribution network. Never having heard the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, one of the first concerts he attended was, of course, a concert by the CSO. The pre-concert lecture was given by Lawrence Rapchak, one of 400 he has given for the CSO over the past 25 years, and Robinson was immediately taken with his passion, enthusiasm, spontaneity and knowledge. He knew that sooner or later he would develop a program that utilized Rapchak’s unique gifts.
That opportunity came in 2016 when Robinson left WFMT to form his own independent company, New Media Productions. He approached Rapchak and said, “Larry, everyone knows that the three main elements that are the foundation of all music are harmony, melody and rhythm.” But, he asked, “What about structure? What forms do great composers use to contain their ideas? How does it all fit together?”
The idea for The Architects of Music was born.
Using funds generously contributed by the Paul Angell Family Foundation and the Negaunee Foundation, Rapchak and Robinson went to work to develop a series of audio programs using works by a variety of great composers including Mozart, Dvorak, Schumann, Haydn and others. A special grant from the Negaunee Foundation provided funding for Rapchak and Robinson to produce audio programs about the first seven Beethoven symphonies. The audio programs were made available to listeners via an online audio download platform.
One of those listeners was Anna Ouspenskaya, the owner and founder of
Virtual Concert Halls, an online production and event producer that specializes in classical music programs. Ouspenskaya got in touch with Robinson and told him how much she loved the audio programs but suggested they would find a wider audience if visuals were added. At first, Robinson explained that he had been producing audio programs for 50+ years without the need for visuals and said that things have worked out well for him over those years. But Ouspenskaya persisted and asked him to send her team of video producers a 15-minute excerpt from one of the Beethoven symphonies so Robinson sent her opening of the Seventh Symphony. Several weeks later she delivered what both Robinson and Rapchak thought was a wonderful set of images -including full scores and piano reductions- that really did transform the audio into a colorful and compelling movie.
With funding from the Negaunee Foundation, Rapchak worked with Ouspenskaya’s team to create movies based on the first seven Beethoven symphonies and it is these seven movies that are being made available for purchase here. We should note that another grant from the Negaunee Foundation is providing funds to complete the last two symphonies including, of course, the monumental Ninth Symphony and both will be available on the site by early summer 2024.
