Mozart's "Don Giovanni" in Prague...

Wolfgang Mozart (1756-1791): Don Giovanni
Michele Pertusi (as Leporello);
London Philharmonic; Sir Georg Solti, cond.
London 455 500

On Wolfgang Mozart

Premieres:
1837—Donizetti: opera, "Roberto Devereux," at the.Teatro San Carlos, in Naples;
1940—Copland: Quartet for Piano and Strings, by the New York Quartet at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. at a Coolidge Festival concert; This work was commissioned by Mrs. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Coolidge Foundation;
1955—Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1, in Leningrad, with David Oistrakh as the soloist;
1956—Bernstein: musical "Candide" (original version) in Boston as a trial run at the Colonial Theater, directed by Tyrone Guthrie and conducted by Samuel Krachmalnick; The show opened officially on New York at the Martin Beck Theater on December 1, 1956;
1966—Milhaud: "Music for Indiana," by the Indianapolis Symphony;
1967—Persichetti: Symphony No. 8, in Berea, Ohio, by the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Orchestra, George Poinar conducting.

"What's in a name?" asks Aaron Copland...

Aaron Copland (1900-1990): Appalachian Spring
Saint Louis Symphony: Leonard Slatkin, cond.
EMI 73653

Births:
1894—English composer Peter Warlock (real name, Philip Heseltine), in London;

Premieres:
1882—Tchaikovsky: Trio, Op. 50, in Moscow, for Nicolas Rubinstein, at a Russian Musical Society concert;
1896—Amy Beach: "Gaelic" Symphony, in Boston;
1947—Weill: musical, "Lost in the Stars," in New York City;
1998—Anthony Davis: "Tales (Tails) of a Signifying Monkey," by the Pittsburgh Symphony, David Zinman conducting;

Other Anniversaries:
1935—First concert at The Composers' Forum-Laboratory in New York City, sponsored by the Federal Music Project features works by Roy Harris.

Libby Larsen and Franz Waxman do "The Monster Mash..."

Libby Larsen (b.1950): What the Monster Saw
Cleveland Chamber Symphony; Edwin London, cond.
GM Recordings 2039
&
Franz Waxman (1906-1967): The Bride of Frankenstein
National Philharmonic; Charles Gerhardt, cond.
RCA 0708

On Libby Larsen

On Franz Waxman

Births:
1806—American composer Louise Talma, in Arcachon, France;
1949—Cuban-American composer and conductor Odaline de la Martinez, in Matanzas, Cuba;

Premieres:
1866—Offenbach: operetta, "La Vie Parisienne," in Paris, at the Palais-Royal;
1875—Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 4 in c, Op. 44, in Paris at a concert conducted by Edouard Colonne, with the composer as soloist;
1887—Rimsky-Korsakov: "Capriccio Espagnol," in St. Petersburg;
1891—Mascagni: opera "L'amico Fritz," at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome;
1947—Chávez: "Toccata" for percussion, in Mexico City;
1966—Stravinsky: "The Owl and the Pussycat" (dedicated to Vera Stravinsky), in Los Angeles; This was Stravinsky's last composition;
1970—Crumb: "Ancient Voices of Children," in Washington, D.C.;
1985—Rorem: "String Symphony," by the Atlanta Symphony, Robert Shaw conducting.

Other Anniversaries:
1933—Arnold Schoenberg, accompanied by his wife, baby daughter, and family pet terrier "Witz," arrives in New York on the liner Isle de France.

Copland breaks in a new pony in Houston...

Aaron Copland (1900-1990): The Red Pony Suite
Dallas Symphony; Andrew Litton, cond.
Delos 3221

Copland's career as viewed by contemporary New York Times reviews and features
Minnesota Public Radio's "Top Ten" lists of Aaron Copland's life and music

Births:
1877 — English composer Roger Quilter, in Brighton;
1934 — Welsh composer William Mathias, in Whitland, Dyfed.

Deaths:
1942 — German composer Hugo Distler, age 34, commits suicide in Berlin;

Premieres:
1964 — Virgil Thomson: "The Feast of Love," for baritone and chamber ensemble, at the 13^th Coolidge Festival in Washington, D.C.

First — and last — orchestral pieces by Brahms and Harrison?

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Variations on a theme by Haydn, Op. 56a
Cleveland Orchestra; Christoph von Dohnanyi, cond.
Teldec 8.44005
&
Lou Harrison (b. 1917): Symphony No. 4 (Last Symphony)
California Symphony; Barry Jekowsky, cond.
Argo 455 590

On Lou Harrison
http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/music_dance/centers/harrison/harrison.html

Births:
1739 — Austrian composer and violinist Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, in Vienna;
1752 — Russian diplomat, violinist and music lover Count (later Prince) Andrei Razumovsky, in St. Petersburg; He was the Russian ambassador to Vienna from 1783 to 1809; Beethoven dedicated his three String Quartets, Op. 59, to him;
1929 — American composer and conductor Harold Farberman, in New York;
1946 — Italian composer and conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli, in Venice;

Deaths:
1960 — Greek conductor (and composer) Dimitri Mitropoulos, age 64, of a heart attack, while rehearsing Mahler's Symphony No. 3 with the La Scala Orchestra in Milan;

Premieres:
1877 — Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 4 in C minor, in Paris, composer at piano;
1882 — Dvorák: String Quartet No. 11, in Berlin;
1939 — Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Piano Concerto No. 2, by the New York Philharmonic, John Barbirolli conducting with the composer as soloist;
1945 — Menotti: Piano Concerto, by the Boston Symphony, Richard Burgin conducting with Rudolf Firkusny as the soloist;
1978 — Druckman: Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, soloist Sol Greiyzer, with James Levine conducting.

Middle-Eastern sounds from Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Reza Vali...

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908): Scheherazade, Op. 35
Atlanta Symphony; Robert Spano, cond.
Telarc 80568
&
Reza Vali (b. 1952): Folk Songs Set No. 9
Alberto Almarza, flute; Alvaro Bitran, cello
New Albion 077

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

On Reza Vali
http://newalbion.com/artists/valir/

Births:
1587 — Baptism of German composer and organist Samuel Scheidt, in Halle-on-Saale;
1801 — Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini, in Catania, Sicily;
1911 — Russian-American composer Vladimir Ussachevsky, in Hailar, Manchuria; He was associated with the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center;

Deaths:
1939 — French composer and organist Charles Tournemire, age 69, in Arcachon, France;
1993 —Russian inventor Lev Sergeivitch Termen (anglicized to Leon Theremin), age 97, in Moscow; He invented the theremin, an electronic instrument used in a number of film scores ("Spellbound," "The Day the Earth Stood Still", etc.) and in the Beach Boys' song "Good Vibrations";

Premieres:
1899 — Rimsky-Korsakov: opera "The Tsar's Bride," in Moscow;
1943 — Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8, at the Moscow Conservatory by the USSR State Symphony, conducted by Yevgeny Mravinsky, for an invited audience of musicians, artists, critics, and journalists; The first public performance took place the following evening;
1958 — Per Norgaard: "Constellations" for 12 solo strings, in Copenhagen;
1962 — Khachaturian: "Concerto-Rhapsody" for Violin and Orchestra, in Moscow, with Leonid Kogan the soloist.

A second wind for Reicha & Ward-Steinman?

Antonin Reicha (1770-1836): Wind Quintet No. 23 in a No. 23, Op. 100
Albert Schweitzer Quintet
CPO 999027
&
David Ward-Steinman (b. 1936): Woodwind Quintet No. 2 (Night Winds)
Arioso Quintet
Fleur de Son Classics 57935

On David Ward-Steinman
http://www.presser.com/wardsteinman.html

Deaths:
1847 — German composer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, age 38, in Leipzig.
1924 — French composer Gabriel Fauré, age 79, in Paris;
1939 — French composer and organist Charles Tournemire, age 69, Arcachon;
1953 — Music patroness and amateur composer Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, age 89, in Cambridge, Mass.; She organized concerts and music festivals in Washington, D.C., and her Foundation commissioned works from Bartók, Malipiero, Schoenberg, Copland, Hanson, Piston, and many others;
1957 — French composer and writer, Marie Joseph Canteloube (de Malaret), age 78, in Grigny (Seine-et-Oise); His "Songs of the Auvergne" (4 sets, 1923-30) are frequently performed and recorded;

Premieres:
1863 — Berlioz: part 2 ("Les Toryens à Carthage") of the opera "Les Troyens" at the Théatre-Lyrqiue in Paris; The complete opera was not staged in France until 1920;
1783 — Mozart: Symphony No. 36 ("Linz"), by the orchestra of Count Thun in Linz;
1876 — Brahms: Symphony No. 1, in Karlsruhe, Germany, with Otto Dessoff conducting;
1883 — Chabrier: "España" in Paris, with Charles Lamoureux conducting;
1890 — Borodin: opera "Prince Igor" (completed posthumously by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov), in. St. Petersburg;
1932 — Revueltas: "Ventanas" for orchestra, in Mexico City;
1948 — Schoenberg: "A Survivor from Warsaw" for narrator, chorus and orchestra, by the Civic Symphony of Albuquerque, New Mexico, with Kurt Frederick conducting;
1955 — Wm. Schuman: "Credendum" for orchestra (commissioned by the Department of State for UNESCO), by the Cincinnati Symphony, Thor Johnson conducting;
1976 — Donald Erb: Cello Concerto, by cellist Lynn Harrell with the Rochester (New York) Philharmonic conducted by David Zinman.