Menotti, Thomson and Luening Reups - Plus Much More

Today, two of my favorite records of American music newly remastered and reupped by request - Gian Carlo Menotti's Sebastian ballet suite, Virgil Thomson's The River and Otto Luening's Prelude on a Hymn Tune by William Billings and Two Symphonic Interludes.

Plus there are a variety of bonus uploads that have appeared in the comments to recent posts, courtesy of frequent contributors Eric and David.

Details below. On all items, go to the comments on the original post for the link.

Menotti - Sebastian Ballet Suite

Dimitri Mitropoulos led members of the Philadelphia Orchestra in this, the first recording of music from Menotti's 1944 ballet Sebastian. The transfer comes from the 78 set on Columbia first issued in 1944.

The performances are all that one could wish and the sound is good. It even has a typical Alex Steinweiss cover. The original post is here.

Thomson - The River, Luening - Prelude and Symphonic Interludes

Side one of this LP contains one of Virgil Thomson's best known works, The River, a suite derived from the music from Pare Lorentz's 1938 documentary on the Mississippi, in its first recording, led by Walter Hendl.

Also on the early ARS album are fine works by Otto Luening, conducted by the estimable American expatriate conductor, Dean Dixon - the Prelude on a Hymn Tune by William Billings and Two Symphonic Interludes, again in first recordings.

Here is a link to the original post.

Bonus Uploads

My friends David Federman and Eric have left behind bonuses in the comments to a number of recent posts. The items of interest are as follows.

Under First Recordings of Piston and MacDowell from the Boston Pops - Eric provided a recording of Piston's Violin Sonata with the composer and Louis Krasner, plus MacDowell's Indian Suite under Howard Barlow and a recording of "To a Wild Rose."

Under Remembering Johnny Mandel and Ida Haendel - David provided two 24-selection tributes to Mandel as a great songwriter; Eric added the album Bill Perkins Plays Johnny Mandel. Eric also provided several solo selections by Ida Haendel.

Under Jack Jones, Plus Margaret Whiting and Bob Manning Reups - Eric added Jones' This Love of Mine and There's Love & There's Love.

Under Gordon MacRae in The Student Prince and The Merry Widow - Eric contributed Mario Lanza's stereo version of The Student Prince.

Thanks as always to Eric and David!