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Sunday, March 6, 2016

You can listen to the Classical Music Almanac Podcast Daily here.

Birthdays

Lorin Maazel

In 1930 Lorin Maazel was born in Neuilly, France. He was an American conductor, violinist and composer. Making his debut at the conducting podium at the age of eight, he embarked on his career in earnest in 1953, establishing a reputation in European concert halls by 1960 but, by comparison, his career in the U.S. progressed far more slowly. However, he would later be appointed music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic (NYP), among other posts. Maazel was well-regarded in baton technique and possessed a photographic memory for scores. Described as mercurial and forbidding in rehearsal, he mellowed in old age. 1

Kiri Te Kanawa

Happy birthday Kiri Te Kanawa! She is a New Zealand soprano who has had a successful international opera career since 1968. She possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as “mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced”. Te Kanawa has received accolades in many countries abroad, singing a wide array of works in multiple languages from the 17th to the 20th centuries. She is particularly associated with the works of Mozart, Strauss, Verdi, Handel and Puccini, and has found particular success in portraying princesses, noble countesses and other similar characters on stage. Although she now only rarely sings in operas, Te Kanawa still frequently performs in concert and recital, while giving masterclasses and supporting young opera singers in launching their careers. 2

Premieres

In 1952 Guiseppe Verdi’s opera La traviata was premiered in Venice.

In 1885 Tchaikovsky’s Concert Fantasia for piano and orchestra was premiered in Moscow.

In 1896 Arthur Foote’s Suite in D was premiered by the Boston Symphony with Emil Paur conducting.

In 1926 Paul Hindemith’s Concerto for Orchestra was premiered by the Boston Symphony with Serge Koussevitzky conducting.

In 1934 Benjamin Britten’s A Simple Symphony was premiered in Norwich.

In 2003 John Harbison’s Requiem was premiered by vocal soloists Christine Brewer, Margaret Lattimore, Paul Groves, and Jonathan Lemalu, with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and the Boston Symphony conducted by Bernard Haitink.

On This Day in Classical Music

In 1844 Rimsky-Korsakov completed The Flight of the Bumblebee.

In 1934 Arnold Schoenberg and Albert Einstein meet after Schoenberg gave a lecture at Princeton University.

In 1937 Benjamin Britten met Peter Pears. They would remain lifelong friends.

In 1947 the New Zealand National Orchestra gave its inaugural concert.

Recommended Listening

Tchaikovsky’s Concert Fantasia for piano and orchestra performed by Mikhail Pletnev and the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Fedoseyev.

  1. Wikipedia contributors, “Lorin Maazel,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lorin_Maazel&oldid=702878730 (accessed March 2, 2016).
  2. Wikipedia contributors, “Kiri Te Kanawa,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kiri_Te_Kanawa&oldid=706922273 (accessed March 2, 2016).