jmc's classics
Tower Records also sells classical CDs on line. I have yet to try them. Arkiv Music is more difficult to use now. towerrecords.com. They are are established retailer but they did not have any stores in St. Louis.
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This is the birthday of Miles Davis(1926-1991) who was a Jazz Musician. He was one of the most influential figures in Jazz. He mainly played the trumpet and flugelhorn. He was born in Alton IL. His father was a dentist and his mother was a violinist and music teacher. He was married three times. The third was to actress Cicely Tyson. Some biographies put his birthday as on May 25 and some on May 26.
He was influenced by other jazz artists of the time. He was in his high school marching band. He got trumpet lessons form Joseph Gustat who was the principal trumpetist with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. At that time the SLSO was big but not as important as the Big Five Orchestras. This eventually got Davis in to the Julliard school in New York, which is the most prestigious music conservatory in America. However, he skipped classes and eventually dropped out. He spent his time looking for his idol Charlie Parker. The Big Five orchestras were New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Chicago. Alton Il is part of the St. Louis metropolitan area. There is still a lot of classical influence in jazz. Unfortunately, his music career ended early du to illness and creative burnout. He went in to retirement for a while. He made a comeback in the early 1980's. He left a good body of work which is still popular. His music is still popular today and is regarded as one of the most important jazz musicians. King Charles lll is now the British king. It is difficult to refer to him as "king" now. I am used to "prince". He did have a connection to Leonard Bernstein.
Evedently, The king when he was a prince was an ametur artist. The Royal trust sponsored a 100 album series of Bernstein recordings with photos of the now king's artwork which was water colors. It was on the Sony label. I have two CDs from that series. The first is Volume 21 with Brahms Fourth Symphony and the Academic Festival Overture and Tragic Overture (Opus Numbers (98, 80 and 81) the other is Volume 55 of Mozart's 36th and 40th symphonies along with Serenade in G major "Ein kleine Nachtmusic. (K425, K550 and K525). These are good recordings. I recomend this series. When we think of Richard Strauss, usually we do not think of ballet. He is not associated with this genre. However, he did write two ballets: Josephslegende (Opus#63) and Schlagobers (Opus #70). They are not as popular as other ballets or Richard Strauss' tone poems and operas. The most popular ballets were the ones by Tchaikovsky.
Josephslegnde premiered on May 14 1914 in Paris-just before the outbreak of WWl. It is based on the story of Joseph in the Old Testament. The libretto was by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Graf Kessler. The other Schlagobers (whipped cream) premiered on May 9 1924. Strauss along with conductor Franz Schalk served as co-directors of the Vienna State opera in the 1920's and wanted to revers the fortune of its ballet company. Tis ballet was part of the results. It revolves around the story of children celebrating their confirmation at a Viennese cake shop and confections coming to life. It is reminiscent of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. I do not own any recordings of either work. It would be difficult for me to make a recommendation of any. there are versions of these works on You Tube. There is classical ballet and a lot of modern ballets Both Brahms and Tchaikovsky were born on May Seventh. In 1833 and 1840 respectively. Both were important mainstream composers and their music is still popular today.
The two of them did meet on New Years Day of 1888 in Leipzig, Germany. Tchaikovsky did not like Brahms' music. Both men got along. With the coronation of the King of England there will be a lot of music. Some of which was written especially for the coronation.
In America there is too much of a fascination for the British monarchy. We had the revolution and the war of 1812 in order to keep the British out of this country. The coronation will be interesting. There are other European Royals that are more interesting. They are not Hollywood celebrities. There is a big difference between the royals and Hollkywood. The Metropoliatan Opera now broadcasts some performances to certain movie theatres. With everything of TV and some theatres are having hard times it is a good idea. As of now, I have not attended any performances. A trip to NY is expensive. NY is an expensive city. So watching a performance in a local theatre is more economical.
May First is May Day. In former communist countries it was a holiday and was considered a celebration of workers' rights. It is not an important holiday in America.
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