Monday, October 12
No, Columbus Day hasn't inspired gobs and gobs of concert music, but there's a bit out there. We hear three pieces.
- In 1942 William Walton wrote music for a radio play celebrating the 450th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas. From the suite from that show, we hear "Fiesta." The crowd cheers the king and queen, who have just completed the Christian reconquest of Spain.
- Composer Nikolai Lopatnikoff was born in Estonia in 1903 and made his way through Europe to the United States, arriving in 1939. His Festival Overture was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company and dedicated to the automobile industry. The Detroit Symphony premiered it on Columbus Day 1960.
- Joseph Bertolozzi wrote "An Age Will Come..." for the Columbus quincentennial in 1992. The title comes from Seneca's Medea: "An age will come after many years when the Ocean will loose the chain of things, and a huge land lie revealed." Christopher Columbus's son wrote into his father's copy of Medea: "This prophesy was fulfilled by my father the Admiral in the year 1492."
- Walton: Christopher Columbus, Suite: Fiesta. City of London Sinfonia, Westminster Singers, Hickox. Chandos 8824.
- Bertali: Sonata No. 11 from Book 2 of A Desire for the Choicest Sonatas (1672). Chatham Baroque. Dorian 90706.
- Godard: Violin Concerto No. 2. Chloe Hanslip, Slovak State Phil, Trevor. Naxos 8.570554.
- Berlioz: The Corsaire, Overture. Berlin Phil, Levine. DG 429 724.
- Traditional Flamenco: Paterna - Peteneras. Paco Pena. Wigmore 0016.
12 N
- Lopatnikoff: Festival Overture. Albany (NY) Sym, Miller. Albany 591.
- Arnold: Grand Fantasia. East Winds. Naxos 8.570294.
- Hoyer: "Macbeth" String Quartet: Pride and Prophecy. Daughters of Eve. ERM 6808.
- Corelli: Sonata in G major for two violins and continuo, Op. 4/10. Rebel, Schwarz. Dorian 90703.
- Ginastera: Suite of Creole Dances, Op. 15. Fernando Viani. Naxos 8.557911-12.
- Bertolozzi: "An Age Will Come..." SeattleMusic, Suben. BWP 8806.
1 PM
- Stanford: Symphony No. 1 in B-flat. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Lloyd-Jones. Naxos 8.570356.
