Gershwin's Jazz Age concerto . . .

John Harbison (b.1938): Remembering Gatsby
Baltimore Symphony; David Zinman, cond.
Argo 444 454
&
George Gershwin (1898-1937): Piano Concerto in F
Peter Jablonski, piano;
Royal Philharmonic; Vladimir Ashkenazy, cond.
London 430 542

On George Gershwin
http://www.gershwinfan.com/home.html

Births:
1729 — (Baptism of) Spanish composer and organist, Padre Antonio Soler, in Olot;
1883 — Austrian composer Anton Webern, in Vienna;
1914 — American composer Irving Fine, in Boston;
1938 — Uruguayan-born American composer and conductor, José Serebrier, in Montevideo;

Deaths:
1941 — Norwegian composer Christian Sinding, age 85, in Oslo;
1978 — American composer William Grant Still, age 83, in Los Angeles;

Premieres:
1908 — Elgar: Symphony No. 1, at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England, with the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Hans Richter;
1913 — Franz Schmidt: Symphony No. 2, in Vienna;
1943 — Hanson: Symphony No. 4 ("Requiem"), with the Boston Symphony conducted by the composer; This work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music;
1954 — Walton: opera "Troilus and Cressida," at Covent Garden in London;
1963 — Copland: ballet "Dance Panels," in Munich;
1992 — John Harbison: Oboe Concerto, with soloist William Bennett and the San Francisco Symphony, Herbert Blomstedt conducting;

Other Anniversaries:
1721 — J.S. Bach marries his second wife, Anna Magdalena Wülken.

Tchaikovsky and Alex North endure some unkind cuts . . .

Peter Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35
Itzhak Perlman, violin;
London Symphony; Alfred Wallenstein, cond.
Chesky 12
&
Alex North (1910-1991): Opening Theme (unused), for 2001: A Space Odyssey
National Philharmonic; Jerry Goldsmith, cond.
Varese Sarabande 66225

On film composer Alex North
http://www.scorelogue.com/northmusic.html

Births:
1660 — (Baptism of) French composer André Campra, in Aix-en-Provence;
1879 — Irish composer and conductor (Sir) Hamilton Harty, in Hillsborough, County Down;

Deaths:
1935 — Norwegian composer Johan Halvorsen, age 71, in Oslo;
1953 — American composer Daniel Gregory Mason, age 80, Greenwich, Conn.;
1976 — British composer Benjamin Britten, age 63, in Aldeburgh;
1993 — American composer and guitarist Frank Zappa, age 52, in Los Angeles;

Premieres:
1693 — M.-A, Charpentier: opera, "Médée," in Paris;
1845 — R. Schumann: Piano Concerto in a, Op. 54, in Dresden, Ferdinand Hiller conducting, with Clara Schumann the soloist;
1898 — Dvorák: symphonic poem "Hero's Song," Op. 111, in Vienna;
1909 — Wolf-Ferrari: opera, "Il segreto di Susanna," in Munich, at the Hoftheater;
1920 — Korngold: opera "Die tote Stadt," in Hamburg;
1922 — Bax: Symphony No. 1, in London;
1949 — Dallapiccola: opera "Il prigioniero" as a radio broadcast.

A wild night with Berlioz . . .

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869): Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14
The Cleveland Orchestra; Pierre Boulez, cond.
DG 453 432

ADDITIONAL NFORMATION:
In his book "First Nights: Five Musical Premieres" [Yale University Press; ISBN #0-300-07774-2], Thomas Forrest Kelly devotes one of his chapters to a detailed account of the premiere of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique.

Births:
1687 — (Baptism of) Italian composer, violinist and theorist Francesco Geminiani, in Lucca;
1870 — Czech composer Vitezslav Novák, in Kamenice nad Lipou;

Deaths:
1791 — Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Vienna, age 35;

Premieres:
1749 — Rameau: opera "Zoroastre," in Paris;
1837 — Berlioz: "Requiem," in Paris, François Habeneck conducting (Berlioz later claimed that at one point he had to jump on stage and take over when Habeneck stopped to take snuff, but some eyewitnesses denied this happened);
1927 — Janácek: "Slavonic Mass," in Brno;
1930 — Milhaud: Concerto for Percussion and Small Orchestra, in Paris;
1930 — Sessions: "The Black Maskers" Suite, in Cincinnati;
1947 — Barber: "Medea" Ballet Suite, Op. 23, by Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;
1952 — Menotti: Violin Concerto, with Efrem Zimbalist, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting.

Brubeck sacred and profane . . .

Dave Brubeck (b. 1920): Blue Rondo a la Turk
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Columbia 40585
&
La Fiesta del Posada
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; Dennis Russell Davies, cond.
Columbia Legacy 64669

On Dave Brubeck as a composer . . .
http://www.schirmer.com/composers/brubeck_bio.html
. . . and as a jazz pianist
http://www.abbess.demon.co.uk/brubeck/

Births:
1550 — (Baptism of) Italian composer Orazio Vecchi, in Modena;
1933 — Polish composer Henryk Górecki, in Czernica;
1955 — Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng, in Shanghai;

Premieres:
1841 — R. Schumann: Symphony No. 4 (as his Symphony No. 2), by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Ferdinand David conducting;
1846 — Berlioz: dramatic legend, "The Damnation of Faust," at the Paris Opéra-Comique, with the composer conducting;
1890 — Berlioz: "La Prise de Troie" (the first part of "'Les Troyens"), posthumously in Karlsruhe, Germany;
1919 — Stravinsky: symphonic suite, "Le chant du rossignol," in Geneva, Ernest Ansermet conducting;
1929 — Stravinsky: "Capriccio" for Piano and Orchestra, at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, with the Paris Symphony conducted by Ernest Ansermet, with the composer as soloist;
1937 — Boris Blacher: "Concertante Musik," in Berlin;
1940 — Schoenberg: Violin Concerto, by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski, with Louis Krasner the soloist;
1974 — Wuorinen: Piano Concerto No. 2, in New York, with the composer as soloist on an amplified piano;
1977 — Corigliano: Clarinet Concerto, in New York;
1997 — Kernis: "Ecstatic Meditations," in Minneapolis, by the Plymouth Music Series, Philip Brunelle, conducting;

Other Anniversaries:
1786 — Mozart finishes his Symphony No. 38 in D, K.504 "Prague."

The Philharmonic does Beethoven . . .

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 5
Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique; John Eliot Gardiner, cond.
DG Archiv 439 900

Excerpts from the diary of George Templeton Strong, Sr., were quoted to great effect in the Ken Burns PBS television series, The Civil War, and also were used during the Ric Burns PBS documentary series on the history of New York City. A one-volume paperback edition of The Diary of George Templeton Strong, edited by Allan Nevins and Milton Halsey Thomas and abridged by Thomas J. Pressly has been published by the University of Washington Press (ISBN #0-295-96512-6).
Oddly enough, despite his great love of music, Strong tried to talk his son, George Templeton Strong, Jr., out of pursing a career as an oboist and composer — and so Junior left home! Naxos has released a compact disc of some of the younger Strong's orchestral music (Naxos #8.559018);

Births:
1863 — Italian composer Pietro Mascagni, in Livorno;
1887 — Austrian-born American composer Ernst Toch, in Vienna;
1910 — American composer and bandmaster Richard Franko Goldman, in New York City;

Premieres:
1861 — Brahms: "Handel Variations," in Hamburg, pianist Clara Schumann;
1889 — Gilbert & Sullivan: operetta, "The Gondoliers." in London, at the Savoy Theatre;
1924 — Carl Ruggles: "Men and Mountains," in New York City;
1939 — Walton: Violin Concerto, by the Cleveland Orchestra, Artur Rodzinski conducting, with Jascha Heifetz (who commissioned the work) as the soloist;
1975 — Lou Harrison Symphony No. 2 ("Elegiac"), by the Oakland Youth Symphony, Denis de Coteau conducting;
1999 — Gunther Schuller: Saxophone Sonata, in New York, by members of the Washington Square Contemporary Music Society;

Beethoven and Kernis in a somber mood . . .

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 7
Vienna Philharmonic; Carlos Kleiber, cond.
DG 447 400
&
Aaron Jay Kernis (b. 1960): Meditation (in memory of John Lennon)
The Eberli Ensemble
Phoenix 142

On Aaron Jay Kernis
http://www.schirmer.com/composers/kernis/bio.html

Births:
1865 — Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, in Tavastehus;
1882 — Mexican composer Manuel Ponce, in Fresnillo, Zacatecas;
1890 — Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu, in Policka;

Deaths:
1562 — Flemish composer Adrian Willaert, age. C. 72, in Venice;
1924 — German composer and pianist Xaver Scharwenka, age 74, in Berlin;

Premieres:
1844 — Schumann: Piano Quartet, Op. 47, in Leipzig, at the Gewandhaus, with pianist Clara Schumann, violinist Ferdinand David and violist Niels W. Gade;
1849 — Verdi: opera "Luisa Miller," in Naples;
1915 —1915 — first version (of three) of Sibelius: Symphony No. 5, with the Helsinki Municipal Orchestra, with the composer conducting( on his 50th birthday);
1931 — Gershwin: musical show, "Of Thee I Sing," in Boston, at the Majestic Theater.

Lou Harrison takes "Old Granddad" out for a ride . . .

Lou Harrison (b. 1917): Suite for Violin and American Gamelan
David Abel, violin; American Gamelan; John Bergamo, cond.
New Albion 15

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

Births:
1837 — French composer Emil Waldteufel, in Strasbourg;
1843 — Czech cellist and composer David Popper, in Prague;
1882 — Spanish composer and pianist Joaquín Turina, in Seville;

Premieres:
1832 — Berlioz: the lyric monodrama "Lélio, ou Le Retour à la vie" (Lelio, or The Return to Life" — performed with "Symphonie fantastique" as its sequel — in Paris, with François-Antoine Habaneck conducting and the composer performing as an extra timpanist;
1836 — Glinka: opera "Russlan and Ludmilla," in St. Petersburg;
1900 — Debussy: "Nuages" and "Fêtes" (two of the three "Nocturnes" for orchestra), in Paris at a Lamoureux concert conducted by Camille Chevillard;
1905 — R. Strauss: opera "Salome," in Dresden;
1926 — Milhaud: "Carnival d'Aix" for piano and orchestra, in New York, with the composer as the piano soloist;
1938 — Cage: "Trio for Percussion," in Santa Monica;
1939 — Cage: "First Construction (in Metal)," for six percussionists, in Seattle;
1942 — Copland: "Danzón Cubano" for Two Pianos at a League of Composers 20th Anniversary concert at the Town Hall Forum, with the composer and Leonard Bernstein; 1942 — Khachaturian: ballet "Gayne" in Molotov (perm).
1949 — Barber: Piano Sonata, by Vladimir Horowitz, in Havana, Cuba;
1969 — Peter Maxwell Davies: "Vsalii Icones," in London.