Ocean and urban music by Sibelius and Danielpour

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) The Oceanides Finnish Radio Symphony; Jukka-Pekka Saraste, cond. RCA/BMG 60401

Richard Danielpour (b. 1956) Urban Dances Philharmonia Orchestra; Zdenek Macal, cond. Sony Classical 60779

On This Day

Births

• 1770 - possible birthdate of the British-born early American composer, conductor, and music publisher James Hewitt, in Dartmoor;

• 1932 - American composer and jazz arranger Oliver Nelson, in St. Louis;

Deaths

• 1872 - Polish opera composer Stanislaw Moniuszko, age 53, in Warsaw;

• 1907 - Norwegian composer Agathe Backer-Groendahl, age 59, in Kristiania (now Oslo);

• 1951 - Russian-born American double-bass player, conductor and new music patron, Serge Koussevitzky, age 76, in Boston;

Premieres

• 1811 - Weber: opera, "Abu Hassan." In Munich;

• 1883 - Tchaikovsky: "Festival Coronation March," in Moscow (Julian date: May 23); Tchaikovsky conducted this march at the gala opening concert of Carnegie Hall (then called just "The Music Hall")in New York on May 5, 1891;

• 1912 - Chadwick: tone poem "Aphrodite" in Norfolk, Conn., at the Litchfield Festival;

• 1914 - Sibelius: "Oceanides," in Norfolk, Conn., at the Litchfield Festival, with the composer conducting;

• 1935 - Shostakovich: ballet "The Limpid Stream," in Leningrad at the Maliiy Opera Theater;

• 1935 - R. Strauss: opera "Die schweigsame Frau" (The Silent Woman), in Dresden at the Staatsoper;

• 1994 - Philip Glass: opera "La Belle et la Bête" (Beauty and the Beast) based on the film by Jean Cocteau), by the Philip Glass Ensemble at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville (Spain), with Michael Riesman conducting;

• 1997 - Richard Danielpour: ballet "Urban Dances," at New York State Theater by the New York Ballet, choreographed by Miriam Mahdaviani;

• 1999 - Esa-Pekka Salonen: "Five Images after Sappho" for voice and orchestra, at the Ojai Festival in California, with soprano Dawn Upshaw and the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, conducted by the composer.