Poster John Birge
John Birge
YourClassical MPR

Composers Datebook®

Reminding you that all music was once new ® • with host John Birge

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Symphonic Mazuyumi

Toshiro Mayazumi ( 1929 - 1997) Nirvana Symphony Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony; Hiroyuki Iwaki, cond. Denon 78839

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Madeleine Dring

Madeleine Dring (1923 - 1977) Three Piece Suite Cynthia Green Libby, oboe; Peter Collins, piano Hester Park 7707

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Shostakovich in America

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975) Symphony No. 5 USSR Cultural Ministry Symphony; Gennady Rozhdestvensky, cond. MCA 32128

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Bach's "Coethen" Concertos?

J.S. Bach (1685 – 1750) Brandenburg Concertos The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Delos 3185

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Bartok's Violin Concerto

Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945) Violin Concerto No. 1 Kyung-Wha Chung, violin; Chicago Symphony; Sir Georg Solti, cond. London 411 804

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Harbison's First

John Harbison (b. 1938) Symphony No. 1 Boston Symphony; Seiji Ozawa, cond. New World 80331

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Schubert's Ninth

Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828) Symphony No. 9 in C Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; Kurt Masur, cond. Philips 426 269

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Handel passes the hat

George Frederic Handel (1685 - 1757) Organ Concerto in A Peter Hurford, organ; Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra; Joshua Rifkin, cond. London 430 569

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Carpenter perambulates

John Alden Carpenter (1876 -1951) Adventrues in a Perambulator National Symphony of Ukraine; John McLaughlin Williams, cond. Naxos 8.559065

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Rachmaninoff makes the cut

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943) Piano Concerto No. 4 Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano; Cleveland Orchestra; Vladimir Ashkenazy, cond. London 458 930

About Composers Datebook®

Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.

He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.