jmc's classics
. Today is Annunciation Day. it is the anniversary of the Death of Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and the birth day of Arturo Toscanini (1867-19570 Toscanini was one of the Most famous conductors of his day. he was the Principal conductor of the New York Philharmonic and the orchestra of La Scala Opera House in Milan Italy. In 1938 NBC Radio Created the NBC Symphony Orchestra especially for him. Unfortunately it disbanded after his death. It survived briefly being known as "The Symphony of the Air" This was a Radio Orchestra which played concerts that were broadcasted on the radio. This was before the invention of television. Toscanini was the father in law of pianist Vladimir Horowitz (1905-1989). Horowitz was a Russian Jew. There are many recordings available of Toscanini. I liked his conducting style. I wish that the NBC Symphony Orchestra would be re-created. It is just a fantasy of mine.
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Many orchestras are not playing Tchaikovsky's works as well as other Russian composers. They are also not allowing Russian musicians to play with them. They should not be punished.
Vladimir Putin is a thug. He along with Slobodan Milosevich in Serbia are former communists who are playing on Nationalism to hold on to power. Stalin Starved around 8 million Ukrainians in the early 1930's which we don't hear much about. Stalin was not Russian. He was from the Republic of Georgia (Not to be confused with the American State). Stalin also killed millions of Russians, Georgians and other people in Russia. Putin or Houssein would be benevolent compared to Hillter or Stalin. The Republic of Georgia is an ancient nation. it was one of the first nations to adopt Christianity as the official religion which took place around 300 AD. They were independent until 1801 when they were absorbed in to the Russian Empire. They were independent from 1918-2921 then they were absorbed in to the Soviet Union. After the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991 Georgia became independent again. This nation has an interesting history and interesting music. The Russians and Ukrainians are both Slavic peoples and Speak similar languages. The Georgian language is not related to Russian or Ukranian or any other Indo-European language. Choreographer George Balanchine was of Georgina decent. The Russian people should not be punished. I hope and pray the situation in Russia and Ukraine gets better. This is a difficult history and situation and would take too long wo write about in one sitting. With St. Patrick's Day coming up people are supposed to celebrate the Irish. The Irish have contributed a lot to music. I think that St. Patrick's day is just an excuse to go drinking.
They have contributed many opera singers such as tenor John Mccormack (1884-1945) who is not to be confused with the speaker of the House of Representative who had the same name. I do like some Irish music. This is the anniversary of the death of French organist and composer Charles Marie Widor (1844-1937). he is remembered for his Tacata for organ played at weddings. It comes from his Symphony for Organ (Opus #42). I am not much in to organ music.
Although he is remembered as an organist he was also a prolific composer. he wrote a wide body of organ music. He also wrote two symphonies for orchestra. Opuses 16 and 54 dating from 1870 1nd 1882 respectively. A cello concerto (Opus#41) from 1878 and a violin concerto with o opus number dating from 1877. I like his cello concerto and his les Pecheurs de Saint-Jean. the later is an orchestral piece lasting about 10 minutes dating from 1905. I especially like the final parts of these pieces. The only copies that I can find of these works are by the royal Scottish National Orchestra with Martin yates conducting. It is on the Dutton label. It also contains the Second symphony. The first symphony is also on the same label and orchestra coupled with the first symphony and the la Nuit de Walpurgis (Opus#60). I have both discs. I with that his Cello concerto was more popular. It is in the standard three movements: Allegro, Andantino and Allegro Vivace. It lasta about 20 minutes. Another obscure Cello concerto is that Of Johan Svendsen which I also like. Svendsen was Norwegian and is remembered mainly for his Romance for Violin and Orchestra (Opus #26). I am not much in to organ music. I like orchestra and chamber music. i hope that Widor's orchestreal music becomes more popular in the near future. |
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