Today's show starts with the love song, "Give me your hand, Zerlina," from Mozart's opera, Don Giovanni. From there, hypnotic slow movements from larger works by Mozart follow. These include pieces for piano and orchestra, violin and orchestra, piano/violin sonatas, and a flute and harp concerto. Schubert is well represented with a beautiful lullaby, "Mille cherubini in coro" (A thousand cherubs in chorus), several slow movements from Schubert's ouevre for violin and piano, and a stunning movement from Schubert's piano trio #1.

You'll also find an enigmatic piece by Scriabin, some light-hearted music by Muzio Clementi, Spanish guitar pieces played by Liona Boyd, and another Mozart aria or two thrown in for good measure.

Dr. Paul thought he'd forgo an overture today to make room for the procession of lovely, heart-on-the-sleeve movements that only the incomparable Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Peter Schubert could have written.

Matthew Harral paints – with coffee, at present – and depending on where you buy books or coffee in Davis, you might have seen his art. He first exhibited at Logos Books last summer. From November 2011 through January 2012 he has shown his work at the Cloud Forest Café (the painting shown here, Unsinkable, comes from that display). His work is also available at the Pence Gallery, and more exhibits are pending.

Harral, who also plays guitar, has lived a varied life. He left his hometown, Redding, for Davis at 18 to help a friend illustrate T-shirts in Old Sacramento. He has worked as a limousine driver, karaoke host, in radio, in landscape design, and as a cosmetics salesperson at the Arden Fair Sears. After nearly dying in a car crash three years ago, he decided to start showing his work. On today’s Davisville, Harral talks about why he paints, why he uses coffee, his work and themes, what draws him to Davis (he currently lives in West Sacramento to save on rent), and what's coming next.

Franz Schubert, the most lovable and accessible of the great Viennese composers, wrote music that speaks directly to the human heart. He thoroughly enjoyed performing his music with a group of friends who would sing his melodies or play his instrumental pieces accompanied by Schubert himself at the piano. These sociable evenings of his songs, chamber music, and solo piano works, came to be known as Schubertiads.

In addition to the gorgeous selections by Schubert, today's program includes Mozart's playful Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola, an overture, and two vocal pieces by Mozart from his opera, Cosi Fan Tutte. A cello concerto by Edward Elgar, a guitar concerto by Vivaldi, and a nocturne by Chopin round things out.

Happy New Year! to all listeners and supporters of Dr. Paul's Classics and KDRT. Dr. Paul got an e-mail from above the clouds this week that reminded him that Mozart and Schubert were born in January. So, this month will feature the music of these two very different, but equally inspired composers of Vienna.

However, Dr. Paul knows that man does not live by Mozart and Schubert alone, and so he will continue to mix in surprise guest composers with an ear for pieces of ravishing beauty and heart-stopping lyricism. Today's program has a Schubert overture in the Italian style, a Mozart piano trio, a Mozart sonata for two pianos, Schubert's "Arpeggione" sonata for the cello, music by Fritz Kreisler and Chabrier....well, you get the picture! Too much richness and perfection to articulate in full. Listen!

The mornings are cold. Dusk arrives at a time that would barely qualify as late afternoon in July. The holidays are diverting the usual business of life, bringing people back home for celebrations or visits, in memory if not in practice. It’s a fine time for stories. And so, for the last Davisville of the year I asked three people with some of the best voices in town to read out 2011 with a story, or part of a story, that means something to them.

We hear from:

• Rebecca Plack (right), a classically trained singer and voice teacher who grew up in Davis. She chose part of a story that she often re-reads in December.

• Jeff Hudson, a freelance reporter whose venues include Capital Public Radio, and who chose poems by California poet Robinson Jeffers.
• Anne Hance, a co-founder of the Explorit Science Center and former teacher. She selected a recent short story written by an author who is, like her, from Great Britain.

I thank all three for helping Davisville end the year well—and I thank all of you for tuning in. Happy new year, and see you again in 2012.

December 15th 'Live Tracks with Jim Buchanan' showcases 2 hours of live holiday celebration throughout Davis. The first hour highlights 8 popular local bands performing December 1 at the Odd Fellows Hall, for a special year-end Thursday Live! event.

Bands included Tree-O, David Campos, Me & Him, Davis Klezmer Orchestra, Biscuits 'n Honey, Frankie & the Fabletones, Yolo Mambo, and Calvin Handy & the Jazz Patrol.

For the second hour, listeners are taken downtown to the annual Christmas Tree Lighting festivities at E Street Plaza, where you can hear the UCD Band-uh marching in the distance, along with the Children's Chorus & the Madrigals.

This is Live Tracks' local music gift to y'all for the holidays. Enjoy!

The two most anticipated holdiays this time of the year, Hanukkah and Christmas, are reflected in and enhanced by the music in today's show. Listening to a thoughtful mix of sacred and secular music helps us to slow down and reflect on the meaning of the holidays. Today's music is designed for just that. Included in the playlist is a beautiful motet by Mozart, African American spirituals sung by Kathleen Battle, a touching lullaby sung by Pavarotti, a lovely violin concerto by Vivaldi, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, and the rousing finale to Beethoven's gigantic Ninth Symphony in d minor, "Ode to Joy". A couple of Bach organ pieces, some modern chorale works, and Corelli's "Christmas Concerto" round out the program. Come along, slow down, listen, celebrate!

Today's music is calming, contemplative, in keeping with the season of the holidays that approach. Advent, in the Christian tradition, is a time for reflection and preparation for the coming birth of Jesus, the light of the world. In the Jewish tradition, December is the time for The Festival of Lights, Hanukkah, which celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt in the 2nd Century BCE. The world thirsts for light in the approaching solstice, and so the mind goes inward, and reflects on ancient truths that resonate in the music of Vivaldi, Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart that are played in today's program.

Today’s guest is Derrick Bang, a film critic and author who lives in Davis, pens reviews for his Derrick Bang on Film blog and the Davis Enterprise, is an expert on Peanuts, and recently finished writing a biography of jazz musician Vince Guaraldi. We talk about movies this December, the film festivals in Davis, his book, and his take on the state of movie-making in general.

Archive alert: Bang last visited Davisville for a two-part interview a year ago, where the topics included his previous jobs--as entertainment editor for the Enterprise and as owner of the downtown store The Game Preserve--and a legend-worthy Davis publicity stunt: the giant Monopoly game he staged on a city block 30 years ago, where the Farmers Market is now. Part 1 and Part 2.