Jazz classics by Bolcom and Mingus

William Bolcom (b. 1938): Violin Concerto
Sergiu Luca, violin;
American Composers Orchestra; Dennis Russell Davies, cond.
Argo 433 077
&
Charles Mingus (1922-1979)/arr. Schuller: Noon Night, from Epitaph
jazz ensemble; Gunther Schuller, cond.
Sony/Columbia 45428

On William Bolcom...
http://www.bolcomandmorris.com

Births:
1801 - Czech opera composer Franz (František) Škroup, near Pardubice; One of his songs was eventually used as the Czech national anthem;
1832 - French operetta composer Charles Lecocq, in Paris;

Deaths:
1875 - French composer Georges Bizet, age 36, at Bougival;
1899 - Austrian composer Johann Strauss, Jr., age 73, in Vienna;
1939 - Spanish composer and conductor Enrique Fernandez Arbos, in San Sebastian;

Premieres:
1896 - Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 5, in Paris, with the composer as soloist;
1922 - Stravinsky: opera "Marva," at the Paris Opéra;
1947 - Poulenc: opera "Les Mamelles de Tirésias" (The Breasts of Tiresias) in Paris at the Opéra-Comique;
1964 - Menotti: opera "Martin's Lie," at Bristol Cathedral in Bath, England;
1979 - Menotti: opera "La Loca," in San Diego, Calif.

Ocean - and urban - music by Sibelius and Danielpour

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957): The Oceanides
Finnish Radio Symphony; Jukka-Pekka Saraste, cond.
RCA/BMG 60401
&
Richard Danielpour (b. 1956): Urban Dances
The Philharmonia Orchestra; Zdenek Macal, cond.
Sony Classical 60779

On Jean Sibelius:
http://virtual.finland.fi/finfo/english/sibelius.html

Births:
1770 - British-born American composer James Hewitt, in Dartmoor;
1932 - American composer and jazz arranger Oliver Nelson, in St. Louis;

Deaths:
1872 - Polish opera composer Stanislaw Moniuszko, age 53, in Warsaw;
1907 - Norwegian composer Agathe Backer-Groendahl, age 59, in Ormöen;
1951 - Russian conductor and music patron, Serge Koussevitzky, age 76, in Boston;

Premieres:
1811 - Weber: opera, "Abu Hassan." In Munich;
1935 - Shostakovich: ballet "The Limpid Stream," in Leningrad at the Maliiy Opera Theater;
1935 - R. Strauss: opera "Die schweigsame Frau" (The Silent Woman), in Dresden at the Staatsoper;
1994 - Philip Glass: opera "La Belle et la Bête" (Beauty and the Beast - based on the film by Jean Cocteau), by the Philip Glass Ensemble at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville (Spain), with Michael Riesman conducting;
1999 - Tan Dun: "Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra (In Memory of Toru Takemitsu)," at Lincoln Center, with percussionist Christopher Lamb and the New York Philharmonic conducted by Kurt Masur;
1999 - Esa-Pekka Salonen: "Five Images after Sappho" for voice and orchestra, at the Ojai Festival in California, with soprano Dawn Upshaw and the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, conducted by the composer.

Geirr Tveitt

Geirr Tveitt (1908-1981): Piano Concerto No. 1
Havard Gimse, piano;
Royal Scottish National Orchestra; Bjarte Engeset, cond.
Naxos 8.555077

On Geirr Tveitt:
http://www.notam02.no/nmi/bio/tveitt.htm
&
http://web02.hnh.com/composer/btm.asp?fullname=Tveitt,%20Geirr

Births:
1923 - American composer Daniel Pinkham, in Lynn, Mass.;

Deaths:
1625 - English composer Orlando Gibbons, age 41, in Canterbury;
1722 - German composer Johann Kuhnau, age 61, in Leipzig;
1816 - Italian opera composer Giovanni Paisiello, age 76, in Naples;
1826 - German composer Carl Maria von Weber, age 39, in London;
1944 - Italian opera composer Riccardo Zanonai, age 61, in Pesaro;

Premieres:
1913 - Paris premiere of Mussorgsky: opera, "Khovantschina," in a version completed and orchestrated by Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel;

Others:
1971 - Conductor James Levine makes his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, conducting a post-tour production of Puccini's "Tosca"; In 1973, Levine became the Met's principal conductor and in 1976 its music director.

Shaw on Mozart and Loewe on Shaw

Wolfgang Mozart (1770 - 1791): Don Giovanni
Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Sir Charles Mackerras, cond.
Telarc 80442
&
Frederick Loewe (1904 - 1988): My Fair Lady
New York City Opera Orchestra; Paul Gemignani, cond.
MusicMasters 67099

Oops. Some older editions of the Grove dictionary and other standard reference works list Frederick Loewe's birthplace as Vienna, but in fact he was born in Berlin to Viennese parents.

On George Bernard Shaw . . .
http://www.georgebernardshaw.com

More on Frederick Loewe . . .
http://www.frederickloewe.org

. . . and on Lerner and Loewe:
http://www.kennedy-center.org

Births:
1840 - English composer Sir John Stainer, in London;
1869 - German composer and conductor Siegfried Wagner, in Triebschen, Switzerland; He was the son of Richard Wagner and Cosima Liszt-von Bulow;
1903 - Soviet-Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian, in Tiflis;
1915 - American composer Vincent Perischetti, in Philadelphia;
1922 - Scottish composer Iain Hamilton, in Glasgow;
1939 - Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, in Utrecht;

Deaths:
1881 - Belgian composer and violinist Henri Vieuxtemps, age 61, in Mustapha, Algiers;

Premieres:
1921 - Hindemith: one-act opera "Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen" (Murder, Hope of Women) and Burmese puppet-play "Nusch-Nuschi," in Stuttgart;
1921 - Milhaud: ballet "L'Homme et son désir" (Man and His Desire), in Paris;
1924 - Schoenberg: one-act melodrama "Erwartung" (Expectation), in Prague at the New German Theater;
1925 - Prokofiev: Symphony No. 2, in Paris, at a Koussevitzky concert;
1928 - R. Strauss: opera "Die aegyptische Helena" (The Egyptian Helen), in Dresden at
the Staatsoper;
1931 - Cowell: "Synchrony," in Paris;
1943 - Shostakovich: Piano Sonata No. 2, in Moscow, by the composer;
1998 - Esa-Pekka Salonen: "Gambit" at the Holland Festival, by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic conducted by the composer.

Musical landscapes by Vaughan Williams and Crumb

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958): A Pastoral Symphony (No. 3)
London Symphony; André Previn BMG 60583
&
George Crumb (b. 1929): A Haunted Landscape
New York Philharmonic; Arthur Weisberg, cond.
New World 326

On Ralph Vaughan Williams . . .
http://www.cs.qub.ac.uk/~J.Collis/RVW.html

. . .and George Crumb:
http://www.puk.ac.za/music/crumb/crumb.html

Premieres:
1896 - Hugo Wolf: opera "Der Corregidor" (The Governor) (1st version) in Mannheim at the Nationaltheater;
1920 - Gershwin: musical revue, "George White's Scandals of 1920," at the Globe Theater in New York City;
1927 - Prokofiev: ballet, "Pas d'Acier," in Paris, by the Ballet Russe;
1933 - Weill: "The Seven Deadly Sins of the Bourgeoisie," in Paris; book by Bertolt Brecht;
1945 - Britten: opera "Peter Grimes," in London at Sadler's Wells Theater;
1951 - Dutilleux: Symphony No. 1, in Paris;
1972 - Copland: "Three Latin American Sketches," at Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall) in New York City, by New York Philharmonic conducted by André Kostelanetz.

Orff's "Carmina Burana"

arl Orff (1895 - 1982): Carmina Burana
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; Donald Runnicles, cond.
Telarc 80575

On Carmina Burana . . .
http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/works/orff-cb/carmina.html

Births:
1671 - Italian composer Tomaso Albinoni, in Venice;
1810 - German composer Robert Schumann, in Zwickau;
1894 - Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff, in Prague;

Deaths:
1612 - German composer Hans Leo Hassler, age 47, in Frankfurt;
1884 -American composer Henry Clay Work, age 51, in Hartford, Conn.;
1940 - American composer Frederick Shepherd Converse, age 69, in Westwood, Mass.;
1998 - German-born American composer Margaret Buechner, age 76, in Midland, Mich.;

Premieres:
1912 - Ravel: ballet, "Daphnis et Chloé," in Paris, by Diaghilev and the Ballet Russe, Pierre Monteux conducting;
1929 - Hindemith: "Neus vom Tage" (News of the Day), in Berlin at the Krolloper;
1941 - Harold Shapero: "Nine Minute Overture," in New York City;
1953 - Britten: opera "Glorianna," in London at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden;
1974 - Henry Brant: "An American Requiem," in Mt. Lebanon, Pa.

Mahler and Salonen on busmans' holidays

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911): Symphony No. 3
Los Angeles Philharmonic; Esa-Pekka Salonen, cond.
Sony Classical 60250
&
EsaPekka Salonen (b. 1958): Mimo II
Bengt Rosengren, ob;
Swedish Radio Symphony; Esa-Pekka Salonen, cond.
Daphne 1002 (distributed by Albany Records)

On Gustav Mahler . . .
http://www.netaxs.com/~jgreshes/mahler/

Births:
1810 - German composer and conductor Otto Nicolai, in Königsberg;
1865 - French composer Alberic Magnard, in Paris;
1865 - Danish composer Carl Nielsen, in Noerre-Lyndelse;
1891 - American composer Cole Porter, in Peru, Ind.;
1912 - German-born American composer and pianist, Ingolf Dahl, in Hamburg;
1938 - American composer Charles Wuorinen, in New York;

Deaths:
1964 - American composer Louis Gruenberg, age 75, in Los Angeles;

Premieres:
1860 - R. Schumann: Cello Concerto, posthumously, by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, at a concert on the occasion of the late composer's 50th birthday, with soloist Ludwig Ebert;
1912 - At a private home in Bellevue, France, Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky perform a four-hand piano version of the latter's new ballet score for "The Rite of Spring," which the Ballet Russe would premiere the following year in Paris;
1940 - Copland: "Our Town" orchestral suite (from the film score), on a CBS radio broadcast;
1951 - Haydn: opera "Orpheus and Eurydice," posthumously, in Florence at the Teatro della Pergola;
1966 - Britten: church opera "The Burning Fiery Furnace," in Orford Church (near Aldeburgh);

Others:
1840 - Franz Liszt gives a solo performance at the Hanover Square Rooms in London billed as "Recitals" (This was the first time the term "recital" was used to describe a public musical performance);
1904 - The London Symphony gives its first concert, with Hans Richter conducting;
1968 - Leonard Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic in the "Adagietto" movement from Mahler's Symphony No. 5 at a memorial concert for Robert Kennedy at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.

Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde"

Richard Wagner (1813-1883): Act II Prelude, from Tristan und Isolde
Bayreuth Festival Orchestra; Karl Böhm
Philips 434 425

On Wagner and his operas:
http://www.ipl.org/exhibit/mushist/rom/wagner.htm

Births:
1904 - German-born Austrian-American musical composer Frederick Loewe, in Berlin, to Viennese parents;
1913 - Soviet composer Tikhon Khrennikov, in Elets;
1960 - English composer Mark Anthony Turnage, in Grays, Essex;

Deaths:
1899 - French composer Ernest Chausson, age 44, after a bicycle accident near LiJune;
1918 - Italian opera composer and librettist Arrigo Boito, age 76, in Milan;
1934 - British composer Frederick Delius, age 72, in Grez-sur-Loing, France;

Premieres:
1921 - Stravinsky: "Symphonies of Wind Instruments" (in memory of Claude Debussy), in London at Queen's Hall, with Serge Kousevitzky conducting;
1939 - Vaughan Williams: "Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus," by New York Philharmonic;
1941 - Poulenc: Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani, in Paris;
1968 - Britten: church opera "The Prodigal Son," in Orford Church (near Aldeburgh).