---FIRST HALF HOUR---
:04—Edward Elgar (1857-1934): “The Spanish Lady,” burlesco, William Boughton [Nimbus 5008]. Elgar never went to Spain.
:06—Pytr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): “Souvenir de Florence” in D minor, Op. 70, for strings, finale, Philippe Entremont, Vienna Chamber Orchestra [Naxos 8.550404].
:14—Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): “American Overture,” 1941, Myer Fredman, New Zealand Symphony [Naxos 553107]. Commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra but either rejected or never delivered, then forgotten. Britten found it later but never did anything with it. It sounds faintly American.
:24—George Gershwin (1898-1937): “An American in Paris,” 1928, Eduardo Mata, Dallas Symphony [RCA 14551]. Made sketches on a European vacation.
---SECOND HALF HOUR---
:30—Aaron Copland (1900-1990): “El Salon Mexico,” excerpt, 1936, Antal Dorati, Detroit Symphony [London 414 273]. Copland went to Mexico as a guest of Carlos Chavez in 1932 and heard Mexican music in a cantina.
:35—Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908): “Capriccio espagnol,” fourth and fifth moves., Antal Dorati, London Symphony [Mercury 434 308].
:44—Pytr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): “Capriccio Italien,” Op. 45, Erich Kunzel, Cincinnati Symphony [Telarc 80041]
---THIRD HALF HOUR---
:04—Carl Nielsen (1865-1931): “Aladdin Suite,” first move., Op. 34, Myung-Whun Chung, Gothenburg Symphony [BIS 247].
:08—Arthur Foote (1853-1937): “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Op. 48, 1900, finale, Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony [Naxos 8.559365]. Foote never set foot in the Middle East. Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) left poetry in Persian. Edward FitzGerald (1809-1883) translated them into English.
:14—Vincent D’Indy (1851-1931): “Diptyque Mediterranean,” Op. 87, second move., “Evening Sun,” Rumon Gamba, Iceland Symphony [Chandos10585]. This Parisienne composer doubtless went to the South of France, but certainly he was not describing his usual haunts, nor his usual holidays, often spending hiking mountains.
:23—Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894): “Espana,” John Eliot Gardiner, Vienna Philharmonic [DG 447 751].
---FOURTH HALF HOUR---
:30—Bernard Rogers (1893-1968): “”Dances with Pennons,” from “Three Japanese Dances,” Frederick Fennell, Eastman Wind Ensemble [Mercury 432 754].
:34—Darius Milhaud (1892-1974): “Corcovado,” from “Saudades do Brasil,” Op. 67, 1920, Leonard Bernstein, French National Orchestra [EMI 47845]. Twelve dances representing 12 neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro. “Saudade” is often translated as “souvenir” but it really means longing for something lost. Milhaud worked in the French embassy in Rio from 1917 to 1919.
:37—Claude Debussy (1862-1918): “Morning of the Festival,” from “Iberia,” Pierre Boulez, Cleveland Orchestra [DG 435 766].
(TRICK QUESTION: DOES THIS FIT THE THEME?)
:42—Niels Gade (1817-1890): “Hamlet” overture, Op. 37, Dmitri Kitajenko, Danish National Radio Symphony [Chandos 9422]. It’s Hamlet, who was Danish, and Gade was Danish and lived in Denmark, but “Hamlet” was written by Shakespeare, who was English and never went to Denmark, so….
:44—Carl Nielsen (1865-1931): “Aladdin Suite,” finale, Op. 34, Myung-Whun Chung, Gothenburg Symphony [BIS 247].
:49—Aaron Copland (1900-1990): “Danzon Cubano,” David Zinman, Baltimore Symphony [Argo 440 639].
:57—Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): “Amazonas,” 1916, Roberto Duarte, Brataslava Radio Symphony [Marco Polo 223357]. Villa-Lobos was a city boy, Rio born and raised, but in his twenties he traveled into the Amazon.