Composer Iannis Xenakis

The passing of Iannis Xenakis ...

Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001): Opening of A Colone
New London Chamber Choir;
Critical Band; James Wood, cond.
Hyperion 66980
&
Huuem-Duhey
Edna Michell, violin; Michael Kanka, cello
Angel 57179

On composer Iannis Xenakis:
http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/Leonardo/isast/spec.projects/Xenakisbib.html
&
http://www.boosey.com/publishing/pages/Composer/composer_main_page.asp

Births:
1740—Swedish song composer Carl Michael Bellman, in Stockholm;
1892—Finnish song composer Yrjo Kilpinen, in Helsingfors;
1893—American composer Bernard Rogers, in New York;

Deaths:
1781—Bohemian-born composer Josef Mysliveczek, age 43, in Rome;
1997—American composer Ross Lee Finney, age 90, in Carmel, Calif.;

Premieres:
1945—Hovhaness: "Lousadzek" (Coming of Light) for piano and strings, in Boston;

Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi

Verdi's "Otello" premieres ...

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): Act I excerpt, from Otello
Ambrosian Opera Chorus;
New Philharmonia Orchestra; Sir John Barbirolli, cond.
EMI Classics 65296

Recordings by the tenor who first sang the role of Otello - Francesco Tamagno (1850-1905) - and the baritone who was the first Iago - Victor Maurel (1848-1923) - have been reissued on a number of compact disc labels specializing in historic vocal recordings, including Pearl and Nimbus.

Births:
1810—Norwegian composer and violinist Ole Bull, in Bergen;
1909—Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz, in Lódz;
1943—French-American composer Ivan Tcherepnin, in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris;

Deaths:
1907—German composer Ludwig Thuille, age 45, in Munich;
1962—French composer Jacques Ibert, age 71, in Paris;

Premieres:
1895—Ippolitov-Ivanov: "Caucasian Sketches," in Moscow, with the composer conducting;
1939—Carl Orff: opera "Der Mond" (The Moon), in Munich at the Nationaltheater;
1958—Tippett: Symphony No. 2, in London, by the BBC Symphony, with Sir Adrian Boult conducting;
1969—Thea Musgrave: Clarinet Concerto, in London;
1970—Elliott Carter: "Concerto for Orchestra" by the New York Philharmonic;

American composer Stephen Paulus

Stephen Paulus and the Commissioning Club ...

Stephen Paulus (b. 1949): Dramatic Suite
Judith Ranheim, flute; Chouhei Min, violin; Korey Konkol, viola; Mina Fisher, cello; Thelma Hunter, piano
innova 539

On composer Stephen Paulus:
http://www.stephenpaulus.com/

Births:
1818—English composer and pianist Henry Charles Litolff, in London;
1941—American composer Stephen Albert, in New York;

Deaths:
1497—Flemish composer Johannes Ockeghem, age c. 76, in Tours;

Premieres:
1813—Rossini: opera "Tancredi," in Venice at the Teatro La Fenice;
1851—R. Schumann: Symphony No. 3 ("Rhenish"), in Düsseldorf, conducted by the composer;
1930—Roussel: "Petite Suite" for orchestra, in Paris;
1933—Henry Brant: "Angels and Devils" for flute ensemble, in New York City;
1941—Hindemith: Cello Concerto, at the Sanders Theater (Cambridge, Mass.) by the Boston Symphony conducted by Serge Koussevitzky, with Gregor Piatigorsky the soloist;
1944—Schoenberg: Piano Concerto, by the NBC Symphony conducted by Leopold Stokowski, with Eduard Steuermann as soloist;
1959—Poulenc: opera "La voix humaine" (The Human Voice), in Paris at the Opéra Comique;
1976—John La Montaine: opera "Be Glad, Then, America," at University Park, Pa.;

German composer Ludwig van Beethoven

Barber borrows an idea from Beethoven ...

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Violin Concerto, Op. 61
Hilary Hahn, violin;
Baltimore Symphony; David Zinman, cond
Sony 60584
&
Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Violin Concerto, Op. 14
Hilary Hahn, violin;
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; Hugh Wolff, cond.
Sony 89029

On composer Samuel Barber
http://www.schirmer.com/composers/barber_bio.html

Births:
1871—Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar, in Stockholm;
1883—American jazz pianist and song composer Eubie Blake, in Baltimore;
1897—American composer Quincy Porter, in New Haven, Conn.;
1925—Rumanian-born French composer Marius Constant, in Bucharest;

Deaths:
1779—English composer and organist William Boyce, age 67, in Kensington;

Premieres:
1786—Mozart: opera "Der Schauspieldirektor" (The Impressario), in Vienna at the Orangerie at Schönbrunn;
1792—Cimarosa: opera "Il Matrimonio segreto" (The Secret Marriage), in Vienna at the Burgtheater;
1873—Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 2 ("Little Russian"), in Moscow;
1875—Lalo: "Symphonie espagnole" for Violin and Orchestra, in Paris, Edouard Colonne conducting, with Pablo de Sarasate the soloist;
1893—Brahms: Capriccio in d, No. 7 from "Fantasies" for Piano, Op. 116, in Vienna;
1908—Chadwick: "Symphonic Sketches," by the Boston Symphony;
1931—Deems Taylor: opera "Peter Ibbetson" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York;
1964—Sessions: Symphony No. 5, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;
1988—Tan Dun: "Out of Peking Opera" for violin and orchestra, at Lincoln Center, with soloist Vera Weiling Tsu and the New York City Symphony, David Eaton conducting;

Others:
1973—Jazz pianist and song composer Eubie Blake, the son of former slaves, is honored on his 90th birthday by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

Virgil Thomson and Wallace Stevens in Hartford ...

Virgil Thomson (1896-1989): Four Saints in Three Acts
Orchestra of Our Time; Joel Thome, cond.
Nonesuch 79035

On composer Virgil Thomson (scroll down under "Composer/Search"):
http://www.boosey.com/publishing/pages/Composer/composer_main_page.asp

Births:
1741—Belgian-born French composer André Grétry, in Liège;
1932—American composer and conductor John Williams, in New York City;

Deaths:
1709—Italian composer Giuseppe Torelli, age 50, in Bologna;

Premieres:
1874—Mussorgsky: opera, "Boris Godunov" (definitive version), in St. Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theater;
1904—Sibelius: Violin Concerto (first version), in Helsinki, by the Helsingsfors Philharmonic conducted by the composer, with Victor Novácek as soloist;
1907—Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1 in Vienna, with the Rosé Quartet and members of the Vienna Philharmonic;
1942—Stravinsky: "Danses concertantes," by the Werner Janssen Orchestra of Los Angeles, with the composer conducting;
1946—Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3 (completed by Tibor Serly after the composer's death), by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting and György Sándor as the soloist;
1959—Elie Siegmeister: Symphony No. 3, in Oklahoma City;
1963—Benjamin Lee: Violin Concerto, in Boston;
1966—Lou Harrison: "Symphony on G" (revised version), at the Cabrillo Music Festival by the Oakland Symphony, Gerhard Samuel condicting;
1973—Crumb: "Makrokosmos I" for amplified piano, in New York;
1985—Earle Brown: "Tracer," for six instruments and four-track tape, in Berlin;
1986—Daniel Pinkham: Symphony No. 3, by the Plymouth (Mass.) Philharmonic, Rudolf Schlegel conducting;
2001—Sierra: "Concerto for Orchestra," by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch conducting;

Mozart starts keeping track ...

Wolfgang Mozart (1756-1791): Piano Concerto No. 14, K. 415
Murray Perahia, piano & cond.;
English Chamber Orchestra
CBS/Sony 415
&
Freemason Cantata, K. 623
Boston Early Music Festival Chorus and Orchestra; Andrew Parrott, cond. Denon 9152

For a Mozart tour:
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Strasse/1025/index.html

Births:
1834—German composer Franz Xaver Witt, in Walderbach, Bavaria;
1885—Austrian composer Alban Berg, in Vienna;
1909—German composer Harald Genzmer, in Blumenthal, near Bremen;

Deaths:
1812—German composer Franz Anton Hoffmeister, age 57, in Vienna;
1960—Hungarian composer Ernö (Ernst von) Dohnányi, in New York City, age 82;

Premieres:
1893—Verdi: opera, "Falstaff," in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala; This was Verdi's last opera;
1909—Albéniz: piano suite, "Iberia," in Paris;

Portrait of American composer Howard Hanson

Hanson's "Merry Mount" at the Met ...

Howard Hanson (1896-1981): Merry Mount Suite
Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, cond.
Delos 3105

On composer Howard Hanson:
http://www.carlfischer.com/hansonbio.html

Births:
1908—Canadian composer and pianist Jean Coulthard, in Vancouver;
1929—American film score composer Jerry Goldsmith;
1939—American composer Barbara Kolb, in Hartford, Conn.;

Premieres:
1744—Handel: oratorio "Semele," in London at Covent Garden;
1860—Brahms: Serenade No. 2 in A, Op. 16, in Hamburg;
1881—Offenbach: opera "The Tales of Hoffmann," posthumously, in Paris at the Opéra Comique;
1882—Rimsky-Korsakov: opera "The Snow Maiden," in St. Petersburg;
1896—Walter Damrosch: opera "The Scarlet Letter," in Boston;
1927—Krenek: "jazz" opera "Jonny spielt auf" (Johnny Strikes Up the Band), in Leipzig at the Stadttheater;
1950—William Schuman: Violin Concerto, by Isaac Stern with the Boston Symphony conducted by Charles Munch;
1961—Piston: Symphony No. 7, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting; This work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1961;
1966—Richard Rodney Bennett: Symphony No. 1, in London;
1976—Ulyssess Kay: "Southern Harnony," by the North Carolina Symphony;
2001—Pierre Jalbert: "L'amour infini," (Infinite Love), by the Albany Symphony, David Alan Miller conducting;

Others:
1841—American premiere of Beethoven: Symphony No. 5, at the Boston Academy of Music; This symphony was also performed at the first concert of the Philharmonic Society of New York on December 7, 1842;