12-06: Pavlos Sidiropoulos & Spiridoula : Flou 1978 - Wagner Die Walküre : King / Crespin / Frick / Nilsson / Hotter / Ludwig / Fassbaender / Watts / Solti 1965 - The Definitive Leadbelly 3 Discs

1716 – Benedictus Buns (Dutch Carmelite priest & composer)
1746 – Lady Grisel Baillie (Scottish songwriter)
1785 – Kitty Clive (English actress & soprano)
1865 – Sebastián Iradier Salaberri (Basque composer of habaneras "La Paloma" & "El Arreglito," the latter used by Bizet in Carmen)
1867 – Giovanni Pacini (Italian opera composer)
1903 – Frederic Grant Gleason (American composer)
1920 – Karel Kovařovic (Czech composer, conductor, harpist, clarinetist & pianist)
1933 – Auguste Chapuis (French composer, organist, choirmaster & teacher)
1939 – Charles Dalmorès (French operatic tenor)
1943 – Hermann Löhr (British composer of Austrian ancestry, active also in Australia)
1946 – Maximilian Steinberg [Максимилиан Штейнберг] (Russian composer, pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov, peer of Stravinsky, teacher of Shostakovich)
1949 – Lead Belly [Huddie Ledbetter] (American blues & folk singer, guitarist, accordionist, pianist, violinist & songwriter)
1951 – Léon Rothier (French operatic bass & violinist)
1957 – Evan Gorga (Italian lyric tenor, creator of Rodolfo in Puccini's La bohème in 1896)
1958 – Erwin Bodky (German-born American pianist, harpsichordist, clavichordist, composer & author)
1966 – Hermann Heiß (German composer, pupil of J.M. Hauer)
1971 – Hugo Godron (Dutch composer, violinist & teacher)
1973 – Justus Hermann Wetzel (German composer, author & teacher)
1983 – Lucienne Boyer (French diseuse & cabaret singer, "Parlez-moi d'amour")
1988 – Bill Harris (American R&B guitarist, The Clovers)
1988 – Roy Orbison (American rock & country singer, guitarist & songwriter)
1989 – Sammy Fain (American pop song composer & pianist, "I'll Be Seeing You")
1990 – Pavlos Sidiropoulos [Παύλος Σιδηρόπουλος] (Greek rock singer, songwriter & guitarist)
1995 – Claire Polin (American composer, musicologist & flutist)
1997 – Eliot Daniel (American popular composer, "I Love Lucy", "Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)")
2000 – Aziz Mian Qawwal [عزیز میاں قوال] (Pakistani quawwali singer, songwriter, harmonium player, poet, author & philosopher)
2003 – Hans Hotter (German bass-baritone)
2005 – Danny Williams (South African pop singer)

I'd been wanting to get through an entire Ring cycle before this blog has run its course. (No, we won't be here forever!) We've already had a fine Das Rheingold, and now Hans Hotter's moving and authoritative Wotan provides us with our next opportunity, in the superbly sung and recorded Die Walküre we have for you tonight. I mean, just look at that cast. And with Solti reining them all in... this particular installment of his studio Ring cycle is a sonic and performative landmark.

And Lead Belly. King of the 12-string. I guess with Wagnerian opera coming before, you could say he serves as the foil. This particular compilation is supposed to be the best, unless you want to have every song the man ever recorded.

Now about our headliner. Pavlos Sidiropoulos is considered perhaps the greatest singer in the history of Greek rock music. In the 70s, when almost all Greek rock musicians were still singing in English, he went against the grain and insisted on singing in Greek. He had substance abuse issues, and died young - but he's still one of the most popular rock singers in Greece, more than 20 years later. His 1978 album Φλου (Flou), recorded with the group Spiridoula, is one of his very best, and still gets a lot of airplay in Greece. I downloaded it, and listened to it, and of course I didn't understand a word... but I can understand how this music is loved and appreciated, and I hope to listen to it a lot more, and get it under my skin. You should too! Expand your minds, open your hearts. It's a big world out there, and maybe we no speak-a the same language, but music is universal.

12-05: Mozart Divertimenti K 247 334 563 / L'Archibudelli 1991 - Stockhausen : Mixtur 1964 | Telemusik 1966 | TRANS 1971 | Tierkreis 1975 - Karl Amadeus Hartmann Symphony 6 / Aspen 2011 - Fasch Orchestral Works / Tempesta di Mare 2008

Not shown above: Christoph Förster, Robert Kimmerling, Giuseppe Ciccimarra, Johann Peter Heuschkel, Yannis Angelopoulos & Peter Hall

1663 – Severo Bonini (Italian composer, organist & author)
1745 – Christoph Förster (German composer)
1758 – Johann Friedrich Fasch (German violinist & composer)
1791 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Austrian composer)
1799 – Robert Kimmerling (Austrian Benedictine monk & composer)
1836 – Giuseppe Ciccimarra (Italian operatic tenor & teacher)
1853 – Johann Peter Heuschkel (German oboist, organist, teacher & composer, teacher of C.M. von Weber)
1902 – Henry Stephen Cutler (American organist, choirmaster & composer)
1916 – Hans Richter (Austrian conductor, premiered major works of Wagner, Brahms, Bruckner, Elgar & Tchaikovsky)
1940 – Jan Kubelík (Czech violinist & composer, father of Rafael)
1943 – Yannis Angelopoulos [Γιάννης Αγγελόπουλος] (Greek operatic baritone)
1953 – Jorge Negrete (Mexican ranchera singer & actor)
1963 – Karl Amadeus Hartmann (German composer)
1973 – Walter Hofermayer (Austrian baritone)
1986 – Carmol Taylor (American country songwriter & singer)
1987 – "Fat" Larry James (American funk & disco drummer & singer, Fat Larry's Band)
1989 – Sir John Pritchard (English conductor, violinist & pianist)
1993 – Doug Hopkins (American rock guitarist & songwriter, Gin Blossoms)
1996 – Peter Hall (British folklorist & musician)
1996 – Montana Slim [Wilf Carter] (Canadian country singer, songwriter, guitarist & yodeller)
2007 – Karlheinz Stockhausen (German composer)
2007 – Andrew Imbrie (American composer)
2008 – Anca Parghel (Romanian jazz singer, composer, pianist & teacher)

Amadeus!!

It was the middle name of... the composer many think was the finest German symphonist of the 20th century, giving others like Henze and Hindemith a run for their money. There's one of those symphonies for you here, played live and well-recorded this past summer at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado.

And then there's Sir John Pritchard, who was known especially for his interpretations of a little-known composer by the name of Mozart. No Pritchard for you today, but perusing "The Dead and Dying" will reveal that you already have some nice choices in the way of this Mozart character. If that's not enough for you, how about some of his divertimenti played on period instruments? I had a feeling you might enjoy that. Always good to get to know some of the lesser lights of the musical pantheon, isn't it?

And of course, Karlheinz Stockhausen, who was right there at the top of the heap of the post-war European avant garde, along with Pierre Boulez, and Luigi Nono, and just a few others who might deserve to be mentioned in the same breath. Read about them... learn about Darmstadt, and what came out of it, the actions and the reactions. And listen! This stuff happened half a century ago, but it's had a profound effect on you, whether you realize it or not.

Well, maybe not. But anyway, it's Stockhausen. Essential stuff. Not any of his seminal early works from the 50s and early 60s, but essential stuff nonetheless. Listen to it, it's good for you.

And my, isn't Blogger being a buggy little bitch today?

12-04: Zappa : Mount St Mary's 1963 | Montreux 1971 - Britten : Billy Budd Gunn / Bostridge 2008 | 4 Sea Interludes & Passacaglia / Bernstein 1973 - Tommy Bolin / Billy Cobham Spectrum Sessions 1973 - Hubert Sumlin I Know You 1998

Not shown above: Petronio Franceschini, Daniel Read, Maria Koubatová & Karl Walter

1676 – Johann Georg Ebeling (German composer, cantor & teacher)
1732 – John Gay (English poet & dramatist, The Beggar's Opera)
1680 – Petronio Franceschini (Italian composer & cellist)
1836 – Daniel Read (American composer)
1867 – Constance Nantier-Didier (French mezzo-soprano)
1884 – Alice Mary Smith (English composer)
1897 – Caradog [Griffith Rhys Jones] (Welsh conductor, South Wales Choral Union)
1902 – Fyodor Stravinsky [Фёдор Стравинский] (Russian operatic bass & actor, father of Igor)
1913 – Maria Koubatová (Czech soprano)
1915 – Gustav Hollaender (German violinist, conductor & composer)
1929 – Karl Walter (German organist, teacher, musicologist & authority on organ & bell construction)
1935 – Johan Halvorsen (Norwegian composer, conductor & violinist)
1938 – Dina Appeldoorn (Dutch composer & pianist)
1953 – Daniel Gregory Mason American composer & music critic)
1959 – Hubert Marischka (Austrian tenor, actor, film director & screenwriter)
1964 – Vera Schwarz (Croatian soprano)
1965 – Franz Völker (German dramatic tenor)
1969 – Alceo Toni (Italian composer & author)
1976 – Tommy Bolin (American rock guitarist, Zephyr, Energy, James Gang, Deep Purple, Billy Cobham, Moxy)
1976 – Benjamin Britten (English composer, conductor & pianist)
1980 – Zdeněk Otava (Czech operatic baritone)
1985 – Marcel Boereboom (Belgian musicologist)
1993 – Frank Zappa (American composer & rock songwriter, guitarist & singer)
2004 – Teo Peter (Romanian rock bass guitarist, Compact)
2004 – Elena Souliotis [Έλενα Σουλιώτη] (Greek operatic soprano)
2005 – Gloria Lasso (Spanish pop singer, active in France)
2007 – Pimp C (American rapper, singer & producer)
2009 – Liam Clancy (Irish folk singer, guitarist & concertinist)
2011 – Hubert Sumlin (American blues guitarist, Howlin' Wolf)

Here's one of those big days I was talking about... although tomorrow promises to be even bigger.

I don't need to tell you anything about Frank Zappa, do I? To me, he's the figure who represents, more than anyone else, the state of Western music in the late 20th century. He's the man who embraced rock 'n' roll and the avant garde with equal gusto, who took on those powers who called for censorship on behalf of the age-old reactionary quest for "decency"... and he could play a hell of a guitar solo too!

And then there's Benjamin Britten, the composer who with his Peter Grimes and subsequent works single-handedly revitalized the state of English opera, which had declined ever since the death of Henry Purcell two and a half centuries earlier. And it's appropriate that he should have passed on the anniversary of the passing of John Gay, not just because he was (the relationship between Britten and Peter Pears, in fact, being famously among the most successful artistic/romantic collaborations in modern history), but because Britten made his own excellent adaptation of The Beggar's Opera in 1948, fleshing out all the many harmonic and instrumental details that were missing from the original Gay-Pepusch political satire that's been handed down to us.

So much that I could say as well about Tommy Bolin, about Stravinsky's father Fyodor, about Liam Clancy and Teo Peter and Hubert Sumlin... but we've got to keep moving around here...

12-03: William Grant Still Symphonies 4 & 5 / Jeter 2009 - Original Dixieland Jazz Band 1917-1936 - Vocalion Piano Blues 1928-1930 - Schumann | Kalliwoda | Pixis Oboe Works : Dombrecht 1984

Not pictured above: Roque Ceruti, Carl August Thielo, Joseph Pouteau, Gustav Hölzel & Richard Henry Warren.

1706 – Æmilie Juliane von Barby-Mühlingen (German countess & writer of about 600 hymns)
1760 – Roque Ceruti (Italian composer, active in Peru)
1763 – Carl August Thielo (Danish composer & theatrical director)
1823 – Joseph Pouteau (French composer)
1826 – Elizaveta Sandunova [Елизавета Сандунова] (Russian actress & mezzo-soprano)
1866 – Jan Václav Kalivoda [Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda] (Czech composer, conductor & violinist, active in Germany)
1876 – Hermann Goetz (German composer & organist)
1883 – Gustav Hölzel (Austro-Hungarian bass-baritone & composer)
1889 – Baltasar Saldoni i Remendo (Spanish composer)
1933 – Richard Henry Warren (American composer, conductor & organist)
1941 – Christian Sinding (Norwegian composer & violinist)
1942 – Wilhelm Peterson-Berger (Swedish composer & music critic)
1948 – Alexander Kirchner (Austrian tenor)
1954 – Enrique Soro Barriga (Chilean pianist, composer & teacher)
1955 – Cow Cow Davenport (American blues pianist, organist & singer)
1960 – Hermann Stephani (German musicologist & composer)
1961 – Jēkabs Graubiņš (Latvian composer)
1970 – Hedwig von Debicka (Polish soprano, active in Germany, Italy & Austria)
1972 – Bill Johnson (American jazz bassist & banjoist, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band)
1973 – Emile Christian (American jazz trombonist, cornetist, bassist & composer, Original Dixieland Jazz Band)
1975 – Hedwig Fichtmüller (Czech mezzo-soprano & teacher)
1978 – William Grant Still (American composer, conductor & pianist)
1988 – Sonia Sharnova (American contralto & teacher)
1998 – Pierre Hétu (Canadian conductor & pianist)
1999 – Scatman John (American pop & jazz singer, rapper & pianist)
2000 – Hoyt Curtin (American composer & musical director, Hanna-Barbera Productions)
2006 – Logan Whitehurst (American graphic designer & alt-rock multi-instrumentalist, The Velvet Teen, Junior Science Club)

I could go on and on about how I've been slacking off, how I feel like crap, how I'm getting farther behind, how I really need an entire team of researchers to do this blog like it should be done, how I've neglected many musicians who died in 2011 because I don't keep up enough with the news (Bob Brookmeyer is another one I just found out about), how bla bla bla... have you died of boredom yet? Don't worry... if you're a prominent musician, it will be years before I get around to recognizing you...

But today we soldier on. And we have William Grant Still, who has the distinction of having had his works performed by major symphony orchestras, and who himself conducted a major symphony orchestra, earlier than any other African-American composer.

We also have some important European composers whose works have fallen into neglect, in particular Christian Sinding, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, Hermann Goetz, and Johann Kalliwoda (Jan Kalivoda), a Czech composer who is seen as an important link between Beethoven and early Romantics like Schumann and Mendelssohn.

And some important figures from the early years of jazz and blues: Emile Christian, trombonist for the very first jazz band to ever appear on record (although he didn't join them until the year after they played those first 1917 sessions); King Oliver's bassist and banjoist Bill Johnson, who it's said invented the "slap bass" style; and Cow Cow Davenport, a pioneer of boogie woogie.

All in all, kind of a big day... but we have some much bigger days coming up very soon... wish me luck!