#ClassicsaDay #FallBreak, Week 2
By Ralph Graves
For several years now the Classics a Day team has come up with a new theme for each month. But sometimes we all need a break. Plus, none of the suggested themes seemed particularly inspired. So this month there’s no theme.
10/10/22 Arnold Bax – Tintagel
If I could only recommend one Bax composition for someone to listen to, this would be it.
10/11/22 Charles Ives – Symphony No. 2
Mashups started much earlier than you think. Ives put several well-known American tunes into the blender and pureed them for this 1897 classic.
10/12/22 Antonin Dvorak: Symphony No. 1 in C minor “The Bells of Zlonice”
Dvorak wrote this symphony for a competition contest. It didn’t win. I’ve always wondered whose symphony did win, and what it sounds like.
10/13/22 Florence Price: Symphony No. 1 in E minor
If I had my way, orchestras would give Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 a rest and program Price’s symphonies instead. Just for a year or so. That might be enough to get these into the repertoire. (no disrepect to Dvorak intended)
10/14/22 Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 66 Hymn to Glacier Peak
Yes, I (like many others) first fell in love with Hovhaness’ music because of his Symphony No. 2. But over time, I’ve come to like this symphony even more.
