bust of Akhnaten

Sousa and light opera . . . and ancient Egypt comes to operatic life in Chicago.

John Philip Sousa (1854-1932): The Gilding Girl Tango
Razumovsky Symphony; Keith Brion, cond.
Naxos 8.559029 (track 2)
&
Philip Glass (b. 1937): Akhnaten
Stuttgart State Orchestra; Dennis Russell Davies, cond.
CBS 42457 (CD 2, track 2)

o The ancient Egyptian pharaoh Akhnaten tried to banish the hundreds of Egyptian deities in favor of just one deity - the sun god - thereby going against centuries of Egyptian traditional religious belief. His radical reforms did not outlast his reign, but have fired the imaginations of many 20th-century writers and thinkers: Sigmund Freud, for example, in his "Moses and Monotheism" suggested that Moses might have been a follower of Akhnaten, and Immanuel Velikovsky's "Oedipus and Akhnaten: Myth and History" theorizes that the dimly-remembered story of Akhnaten and his downfall might have been the basis of the later Greek legend of King Oedipus.

o The commercial referred to in today's show depicts Albert Einstein trying to decide between Pepsi and Coca Cola. The commercial includes a snippet of music from the opera "Einstein on the Beach" by Philip Glass and Robert Wilson. [FYI: Einstein chooses Pepsi]

Births:
1835 - Polish composer and violinist Henryk Wieniawski, in Lublin;
1882 - Italian composer Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli, in Strakonice, Bohemia
1895 - German composer Carl Orff, in Munich;

Premieres:
1733 - Handel: oratorio, "Athalia," in Oxford, England.

Gershwin by Gershwin - a sketch by the composer

Joyful and sad musical occasions at the Hollywood Bowl . . . and the revival of interest in the "serious"works of Nino Rota, an Italian film music master.

George Gershwin (1898-1937): Piano Concerto in F
Susan Slaughter, tpt; Jeffrey Siegel, p;
St. Louis Symphony; Leonard Slatkin, cond.
Vox Box 5007 (CD 1, track 2)
&
Nino Rota (1911-1979): Prova d'Orchestra
La Scala Philharmonic; Riccardo Muti, cond.
Sony Classical 63359 (track 16)

The complete Hollywood Bowl Gershwin memorial concert, performed and broadcast live on September 6, 1937, is available as a 2-disc set on North American Classics CD #4001 (distributed by Jem Imports in New York). The all-star performers included the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Otto Klemperer, Oscar Levant, Al Jolson, Fred Astaire, Lily Pons, and Todd Duncan.

Births:
1836 - Brazilian composer Carlos Gomes, in Campenas;

Premieres:
1882 - MacDowell: Piano Concerto No. 1, in Zurich, composer as soloist.

Christopher Rouse

Old and new music intended to comfort the bereaved . . . music by Fauré and Rouse.

Gabriel Faure (1845-1924): Requiem
Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge; George Guest, cond.
London 436 486 (CD 1, track 5)
&
Christopher Rouse (b. 1949): Flute Concerto
Carol Wincenc, f; Houston Symphony;
Christoph Eschenbach, cond.
Telarc 80452 (track 7)

Here's a thought-provoking quote from composer Christopher Rouse: "To me, the great error of certain trends in 20th-century music was ignoring the emotions or anything that speaks to the spirit. I'm not just referring to Webern and the post-Webern serialists . . . Stravinsky also was nearly afraid or unwilling to express emotion . . . I admire Stravinsky . . . how can I not? . . . But I can't think of one measure of Stravinsky that moves me." - from "The Muse That Sings: Composers Speak About the Creative Process" by Ann McCutchan (Oxford University Press, 1999/ISBN #0-19-512707-2).

Births:
1675 - Italian composer and conductor Evaristo Dall'Abaco, in Verona (died on his birthday, 1742);
1861 - Russian composer Anton Arensky, in Novgorod;
1885 - English composer and folksong collector George Butterworth, in London;

Deaths:
1773 - German composer, flutist and teacher (of King Frederick the Great of Prussia) Johann Joachim Quantz, in Potsdam, age 76;
1953 - Belgian composer Joseph Jongen, in Liège province, age 79;

Premieres:
1922 - Hindemith: "Kammermusik for Winds," in Cologne, Germany;
1948 - Vaughan Williams: Partita for Double String Orchestra, at Royal Albert Hall, London, composer conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra;
1976 - Henze: opera, "We Come to the River," in London.

Composer Dimitri Shostakovich in the 1930s, about the time he composed Lady Macbeth of Mtzensk - an opera that did not please Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, and was likewise banned during his reign.

Two 20th-century composers who ran afoul of their respective dictators - Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin - and a California Music Academy founded by refugees from their totalitarian regimes.

Richard Strauss (1864-1949): Friedenstag
Bavarian Radio Orchestra; Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond.
EMI Classics 56850 (track 1)
&
Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Symphony No. 5
NY Stadium Symphony; Leopold Stokowski, cond.
Everest 9030 (track 4)

Alex Ross, the classical music critic for The New Yorker, wrote an essay on Richard Strauss which argued that "Richard Strauss, for better or worse, is the composer of the century." This essay appeared in the Dec. 20, 1999, issue and is well worth looking up for anyone interested in Strauss and the controversy that surrounds his behavior during the Nazi years. Ross also discusses a number of recent biographies and studies of Strauss, both sympathetic and harshy critical.

Births:
1932 - Danish composer Per Norgård, in Gentofte, near Copenhagen;

Deaths:
1951 - Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, in Los Angeles, California, age 76. Superstitious about the number 13, Schoenberg died on a Friday the 13th; also, the numbers in his age added to 13 (7 + 6).

Two 19th-century American composers rescued from oblivion - on disc and in a new, landmark, musical reference work.

Lucien Lambert, Jr (1858-1945): Overture de Broceliande
&
Lucien Lambert, Sr ( 1828-1896): Bresiliana
Hot Springs Music Festival Soloists;
Richard Rosenberg, cond.
Naxos 8.559037 (tracks 1 & 2)

The new reference work mentioned in today's Composers Datebook is the International Dictionary of Black Composers prepared by the Center for Black Music Research in Chicago. This two-volume work is published by Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers (919 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 760, Chicago, Illinois, 60611).

Births:
1901 - English composer Gerald Finzi, in London;

Deaths:
1674 - English composer and chorister Pelham Humfrey, in Windsor, age 27;

Other:
1888 - Founding of first American record company, North American Phonograph, by Jesse Lippincott, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.