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
John Birge
YourClassical MPR
Composers Datebook®
Reminding you that all music was once new ® • with host John Birge
Harbison's First
John Harbison (b. 1938) Symphony No. 1 Boston Symphony; Seiji Ozawa, cond. New World 80331
Schubert's Ninth
Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828) Symphony No. 9 in C Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; Kurt Masur, cond. Philips 426 269
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
Carpenter perambulates
John Alden Carpenter (1876 -1951) Adventrues in a Perambulator National Symphony of Ukraine; John McLaughlin Williams, cond. Naxos 8.559065
Rachmaninoff makes the cut
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943) Piano Concerto No. 4 Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano; Cleveland Orchestra; Vladimir Ashkenazy, cond. London 458 930
Moby Crumb?
George Crumb (b. 1929) Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) Zizi Mueller, flute; Fred Sherry, cello; James Gemmell, piano New World 357
Massenet's "Meditation"
Jules Massenet (1842 - 1912) Meditation, fr Thaïs Nigel Kennedy, violin; English Chamber Orchestra EMI 57330
Beethoven's Fourth
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4 Chamber Orchestra of Europe; Nikolaus Harnoncourt, cond. Teldec 46452
The Amazing Mr. Ornstein
Leo Ornstein (1892? - 2002) Piano Sonata No. 7 Janice Weber, piano Naxos 8.559104
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.