Buda & Pest fêted in music by Bartók & Kodály...

Béla Bartók (1881-1945): Dance Suite
Philharmonia Hungarica; Antal Dorati, cond.
Mercury 432 017
&
Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967): Psalmus hungaricus, Op. 13
Lajos Kozma, tenor;
Brighton Festival Chorus; Wandsworth School Boys Choir;
London Symphony; István Kertész, cond.
London 443 488

Births:
1859 — Russian composer Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, in Gatchina;

Deaths:
1630 — German composer Johann Hermann Schein, age 44, in Leipzig;.
1828 — Austrian composer Franz Schubert, age 31, in Vienna;.
1825 — Bohemian composer Jan Vaclav Hugo Vorisek (or Worzischek), age 34, in Vienna;
1998 — American composer Earl Kim, age 78, in Cambridge, Mass.;

Premieres:
1739 — Rameau: opera "Dardanus," in Paris;
1875 — Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 3, in Moscow;
1953 — Elliott Carter: Sonata for flute, oboe, cello and harpsichord, in New York City;
1994 — John Adams: "John's Book of Alleged Dances" for string quartet and foot-controlled sampler, at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, by the Kronos Quartet;
2000 — Philip Glass: Double Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra, at Lincoln Center in New York, by the American Composers Orchestra;

Other Anniversaries:
1957 — Leonard Bernstein named Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, the first American-born and American-trained conductor to be so designated.

Mahler's First in Budapest and New York...

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): Symphony No. 1 in D
Minnesota Orchestra; Edo de Waart, cond.
Virgin 61258

Births:
1873 — American composer Daniel Gregory Mason, in Brookline, Massachusetts;
1942 — American composer and singer Meredith Monk, in Lima, Peru;

Deaths:
1518 — French composer Pierre de la Rue, in Courtrai, age ca. 58;
1894 — Russian composer Anton Rubinstein, in Peterhof, age 64, near St. Petersburg;

Premieres:
1805 — Beethoven: opera "Fidelio" (first version, with the "Leonore" Overture No. 2), at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, with the composer conducting;
1911 — Mahler: "Das Lied von der Erde," in Munich, conducted by Bruno Walter;
1925 — Copland: "Music for the Theatre," Serge Koussevitzky conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra;
1949 — Vaughan Williams: "An Oxford Elegy," in Dorking;
1952 — Roy Harris: Symphony No. 7 (first version), by the Chicago Symphony, Rafael Kubelik conducting;
1987 — John Harbison: String Quartet No. 2, at Jordan Hall in Boston, by the Emerson String Quartet.

Rehearsing Monteverdi and Reich...

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643): Orfeo
Monteverdi Choir;
English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, cond.
Erato 88032
&
Steve Reich (b. 1936): Tehillim
Schoönberg Ensemble; Percussion group The Hague
Reinbert De Leeuw, Cond.
Nonesuch 79295

On Monteverdi
http://npr.org/programs/specials/milestones/990519.motm.monteverdi.html

On Steve Reich
http://www.slis.keio.ac.jp/~ohba/Reich/srindex.html

Births:
1877 — German composer and organist Sigfrid Karg-Elert, in Oberndorf-am-Neckar;
1931 — Australian composer Malcolm Williamson, in Sydney;

Deaths:
1695 — English composer Henry Purcell, age c. 36, in Westminster, London;
1974 — Swiss composer Frank Martin, age 84, in Naarden, Holland;

Premieres:
1831 — Meyerbeer: opera, "Robert le Diable," at the Paris Opéra;
1896 — Dvorák: symphonic poem "The Noonday Witch," Op. 108, in London;
1881 — Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 2, by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Theodore Thomas, with Madeleine Schiller the soloist;
1901 — R. Strauss: opera "Feuersnot" (Fire Famine), in Dresden;
1935 — Stravinsky: Concerto for Two Pianos, the composer and his son as soloists;
1937 — Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5, by Leningrad Philharmonic, Yevgeny Mravinsky conducting;
1947 — Persichetti: Symphony No. 3, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;
1974 — Peter Mennin: Symphony No. 8, Daniel Barenboim conducting New York Philharmonic;
1984 — Gunther Schuller: "Concerto Quarterino" for flute, oboe, trumpet & orchestra, Zubin Mehta conducting New York Philharmonic;
1986 — John Harbison: cantata "The Flight into Egypt," at the New England Conservatory of Music, with soprano Lorraine Hunt, baritone John Osborne, and the Camerata Singers, David Hoose conducting; This work won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1987;
1996 — George Perle: "Transcendental Modulations," Jahja Ling conducting New York Philharmonic, a 150th anniversary commission.

Ravel's "Perfect 10"?

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937): Bolero
New York Philharmonic; Pierre Boulez, cond.
Sony 45482

Births:
1450 or 1451 — Flemish composer Jacob Obrecht, in either Bergen op Zoom or Sicily (the day confirmed, but year and location in dispute);
1709 — Baptism of Bohemian composer Frantisek Benda, in Staré Benátky;
1710 — German composer Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (eldest son of J. S.), in Weimar;
1899 — American pianist and songwruer Hoagy Carmichael, in Bloomington, Ind.;
1901 — Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo, in Sagunto;
1913 — English composer Benjamin Britten, in Lowestoft, Suffolk;
1925 — American composer, conductor, and author Gunther Schuller, in New York;
1936 — German composer and conductor Hans Zender, in Wiesbaden;

Deaths:
1900 — English composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, age 58, in London;
1955 — French composer Guy Ropartz, age 91, in Lanloup;

Premieres::
1739 — Handel: "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day," in London;
1907 — Charles Martin Loeffler: "A Pagan Poem," by the Boston Symphony, Karl Muck conducting;
1928 — Ravel: ballet "Bolero," danced by Ida Rubinstein, at the Paris Opéra;
1931 — Ferde Grofé: "Grand Canyon" Suite, in Chicago, by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra.

Colorful music by Sciabin and Torke...

Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915): Etude in F#, Op. 42, no. 4
Piers Lane, piano
Hyperion 66607
&
Michael Torke (b. 1961): Bright Blue Music
Baltimore Symphony; David Zinman, cond.
Argo 433071

On Michael Torke
http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/acc/torke.html

Births:
1876 — Spanish composer Manuel de Falla, in Cádiz;
1878 — French composer, conductor and arranger André Caplet, in Le Havre;
1928 — American musical composer Jerry Bock, in New Haven, Conn.;
1933 — Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, in Debica;

Deaths:
1585 — English composer and organist Thomas Tallis, age c. 80, in Greenwich;

Premieres:
1834 — Berlioz: "Harold in Italy," in Paris;
1850 — George Loder: overture, "Marmion," composer conducting Philharmonic Society of New York;
1890 — Dvorák: Piano Quartet No. 2 in Eb, Op., 87, in Prague;
1899 — Dvorák: opera "The Devil and Kate," in Prague;
1921 — Janácek: "Katya Kabanova," in Brno;
1928 — Daniel Gregory Mason: "Chanticleer (Festival Overture)", in Cincinnati;
1931 — Bartók: ballet, "The Wooden Prince," in Budapest;
1934 — Copland: "Short Symphony" in Mexico City, with Carlos Chávez conducting;
1948 — Virgil Thomson: film suite, "The Louisiana Story," Eugene Ormandy conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra;
1963 — Daniel Pinkham: Symphony No. 2 in Lansing, Michigan;

Other Anniversaries:
1885 — Austro-Hungarian conductor Anton Siefl, a Wagner protégé, makes his American debut conducting "Lohengrin" at the Metropolitan Oper;a;
1903 — Italian tenor Enrico Caruso debuts at New York's Metropolitan Opera in Verdi's "Rigoletto" — the first of his 607 performances with the Met.

Rags by two Scotts (Joplin & Kirby)...

Scott Kirby: Dance of the Antilles
Scott Kirby, piano
Viridiana 2001

On Scott Joplin
http://www.scottjoplin.org/

On Scott Kirby
http://www.viridianaproductions.com/kirby.htm

Births:
1868 — American ragtime composer Scott Joplin, in Texarkana, Texas; This is the date commonly celebrated as Joplin's birthday, but it may in fact be incorrect; The latest research suggests a date between June 1867 and mid-January 1868 is much more likely to be correct.
1897 — American jazz pianist and composer Willie ("The Lion") Smith, in Goshen, N.Y.;
1911 — Finnish composer Erik Bergman, in Uusikaarlepyy;
1927 — American composer Emma Lou Diemer, in Kansas City, Missouri;
1934 — Russian composer Alfred Schnittke, in Engels, near Saratov;
1953 — American composer, conductor and cellist Tod Machover, in New York City;

Premieres:
1839 — Berlioz: dramatic symphony, "Romeo and Juliet," at the Paris Conservatory;
1874 — Dvorák: opera "King and Collier," in Prague;
1932 — Hilding Rosenberg: opera "Voyage to America," in Stockholm;
1944 — David Diamond: "Rounds" for string orchestra, by the Minneapolis Symphony,. Dimtri Mitropoulos conducting;
1945 — Elie Siegmeister: "Western Suite," by the NBC Symphony, Arturo Toscanini conducting;
1949 — Carl Ruggles: "Organum" for large orchestra, by the New York Philharmonic, Leopold Stokowski conducting;
1976 — Bernstein: "Four Songs," composer conducting New York Philharmonic.

Other Anniversaries:
1859 — The legendary American soprano Adelina Patti makes her operatic debut at age 16 in New York, singing in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor";
1963 — Leonard Bernstein conducts New York Philharmonic in Mahler's Symphony No. 2 as JFK Memorial Concert telecast on CBS-TV.

Tailor-made music by Walter Piston...

Walter Piston (1894-1976): Symphony No. 6
Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, cond.
Delos 3074

On Walter Piston
http://www.schirmer.com/composers/piston_bio.html

Births:
1785 — Austrian composer Franz Gruber, in Unterwweizberg; In 1818 he wrote the famous Christmas carol "Silent Night";
1856 — Russian composer Sergei Taneyev, in the district of Vladimir;
1896 — American composer and music critic Virgil Thomson, in Kansas City, Mo.;
1924 — American jazz saxophinist Paul Desmond, in San Francisco;

Deaths:
1901 — German composer and organist Josef Rheinberger, age 62, in Munich;

Premieres:
1847 — Flowtow: opera "Martha," in Vienna;
1882 — Gilbert and Sullivan: operetta "Iolanthe" at the Savoy Theater, London and in New York;
1901 — Mahler: Symphony No. 4, by the Kaim Orchestra of Munich, with soprano soloist Margarete Michalek and the composer conducting;
1951 — Lou Harrison: "Seven Pastorales, in New York City, by the Collegium Musicum, Fritz Rikko conducting;
1958 — John La Montaine: Piano Concerto No. 1, in Washington, D.C.; This work won the Pulitzer Prize in 1959.