The great voice-over actor, Mel Blanc, was born on this day, May 30th, in 1908. He created voices for Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepe Le Pew, and so many memorable characters in Warner Brothers cartoons. We'll celebrate Mel Blanc's birthday with a few excerpts from classic cartoons, and highlight the classical music they so often featured.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Charles Gounod: Funeral March of a Marionette
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Yan Pascal Tortelier
Franz von Suppe: Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna
Vienna Philharmonic; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
Gioacchino Rossini: William Tell: Overture
New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor
Gioacchino Rossini: Barber of Seville: Overture
Academy of St Martin in the Fields; Neville Marriner, conductor
Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in b minor - Mvt. I Allegro moderato
Cleveland Orchestra; Christoph von Dohnanyi, conductor
Franz Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Lang Lang, piano
Hour 2
Max Reger: Four Tone Poems after Arnold Bocklin, Op. 128, IV. Bacchanale
Buffalo Philharmonic; JoAnn Falletta, conductor
John Dowland: Four Galliards
Nigel North, lute
Sundin Hall - Hamline University
John Dowland: Come again! Sweet love doth now invite (arr. Patrick Russ)
Kathleen Battle, soprano; Christopher Parkening, guitar
William Byrd: In nomine
Piffaro Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia
Joseph Haydn: Piano Sonata in e minor, Hob. XVI/34
Marc-Andre Hamelin, piano
Live from WFMT - Levin Performance Studio, Chicago, IL
Franz Schreker: Prelude to a Drama
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; JoAnn Falletta, conductor
Kleinhans Music Hall; Buffalo, NY
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American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at APM Distribution.
Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.
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