The Music Library has mounted an exhibit to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of jazz legend Red Norvo (b. March 31, 1908). It is particularly appropriate to honor this artist, who may be regarded as a local boy, having been born in nearby Beardstown, IL.

Red is credited with being the first to integrate mallet instruments (xlyophone, marimba, vibraphone) into jazz. Having made his start in vaudeville, he graduated to his first love, jazz, and played with many of the great bands of the swing era led by such greats as Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet, & Woody Herman. In the years after WWII he successfully migrated to the new jazz style “Bop”, performing with Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, and Charles Mingus, among others. His subtle style of playing on vibes was particularly suited to that genre of jazz called “cool.” He played on into the 1980’s when health problems forced him to retire. He lived to the grand old age of 91. Please stop by the library (Sallee 108), view the display, and listen to some tracks of Red in action.

This display coincides with the Smithsonian Institution’s Jazz Appreciation Month.

The picture could be worth millions
A portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that lay unidentified for more than 200 years has been proved to be authentic, according to an expert on the composer.
Professor Cliff Eisen from London’s King’s College has spent more than a year trying to confirm that the picture was of Mozart, who died in 1791.

He said: “This is arguably the most important Mozart portrait to be discovered since the composer’s death.” Its significance came to light after it was bought by a US collector in 2005.

The portrait of Mozart shows the composer in profile in a red jacket.

Prof Eisen said the coat was almost exactly the same as one Mozart described to his father in a letter on 28 September 1782, even down to the buttons.

Given that there are very few authentic pictures of Mozart from the last 10 years of his life, the discovery is an inherently significant one

The picture is thought to date from about 1783 and be the work of Austrian artist Joseph Hickel.

King’s College said the portrait was previously owned by the family of Johann Lorenz Hagenauer, a close friend and one-time landlord of the Mozarts in Salzburg, Austria.

A family story suggested Hickel gave Mozart the portrait after Mozart composed the wind serenade K375 for a member of Hickel’s family.

For Women’s History Month, 2008, the Music Library has mounted a display “Women Composers and Conductors.” The exhibit, located on the north side at the east end of the library, includes a timeline and items from the collection illustrating the progress women have made in these areas of musical activity that have been particularly hard for them to break into. The display continues until the end of March and can be viewed during the hours the library is open. The library items on display may be checked out.

The first in an occasional series of musings on aspects of the Music Library collection by Rod Sharpe, Music Librarian (rl-sharpe @ wiu.edu).

Lists!

Most people seem to be fascinated by lists; the 10 or 100 best (or worst) of this or that. Musicians are no different. We have in our collection The Book of Classical Music Lists by Herbert Kupferberg (Reference ML63.K88 1985). It gives, among other things, a list of the names of Johann Sebastian Bach’s twenty children! Most record labels recycle their old recordings by packaging them under some rubric such as Laserlight’s 100 Masterpieces of Classical Music.

In a recent addition to our books collection, “Life and Death of Classical Music” (MUSIC. ML3790 .L439 2007), the author, Norman Lebrecht, lists what he considers to be the 100 best classical recordings ever made. This is a presumptive and subjective exercise, of course, and he takes up half the book justifying his pick. If I were to compile my own list there would probably be some he and I shared in common but I’d end up with a quite different list. However, I was just curious to find out how many of his picks the Music Library owns.

It turns out we own 41 out of the 100 recordings on Lebrecht’s list (we’ve included the call numbers so that you can check ‘em out). A few more are available through our streaming audio database Naxos Music Library. This may not seem like a very high percentage, but bear in mind that the criterion for inclusion is the quality of the performances not the repertoire itself. I dare say we own virtually all of the music on his list.

I also had to hand a list of the Top 100 Jazz CDs; The Best Ever Released on CD, although I don’t remember off-hand where I found it. Of these, we own 38. Check out the list.

I mentioned above what my 100 best picks of classical recordings might be like. I won’t bore you with that many but I’ll give you, off the top of my head, what are my top 10 favorites at the moment. Of course, by tomorrow I would probably come up with a totally different list. Just for fun, I invite you to do the same; post your current 10 favorite recordings (and add a call number if the library owns it so that others can check it out).

Rod’s 10 favorite recordings:

1. Puccini. Madama Butterfly. Victoria de los Angeles: Cio-Cio-San; John Lanigan: B.F. Pinkerton; Geraint Evans: Sharpless; Chorus & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, conducted by Rudolf Kempe (live, 2 May 1957) ROSH006 [MCD1500 .P83 M32 K45 2007]
2. Schubert. String Quartet No. 15 in G, D887. Vegh Quartet (live, 10/8/1968)
3. Strauss, Johann II. Die Fledermaus. Julius Patzak (Tenor), Hilde Gueden (Soprano), Wilma Lipp (Soprano), Anton Dermota (Tenor), Kurt Preger (Baritone), Alfred Poell (Baritone), Sieglinde Wagner (Mezzo Soprano), August Jaresch (Tenor);
   Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic Chorus conducted by Clemens Krauss

4. Britten. Missa Brevis. Boys of Westminster Cathedral Choir directed by George Malcolm (live, 1959)
5. Mozart. Piano Concerto No. 25, K.503. Alfred Brendel (piano), Vienna Pro Musica Orchestra conducted by Paul Angerer. [MD1610 .M693 K.503 T8]
6. Elgar. Sea Pictures, Op. 37. Janet Baker (mezzo-soprano), London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli.
7. Stravinsky. Octet for Wind Instruments. Prague Chamber Harmony
8. Dvorak. Slavonic Dances, Op. 46 & Op. 72. Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vaclav Talich
9. Purcell, Dido & Aeneas. Tatiana Troyanos, Felicity Palmer, Richard Stilwell, etc., English Chamber Choir & Orchestra conducted by Raymond Leppard.
10. Werner. Hirtenkantate zur Christnach. Lisa Otto, Sieglinde Wagner, Theo Altmeyer, Theo Adam, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Karl Forster

Looking over this list, I’m shocked, of course that there’s no Beethoven , Haydn, Ravel, or Janacek there, just for a start. And of all the Elgar that I love, why pick a lesser work like Sea Pictures? And why include a piece by the relatively obscure Austrian composer Gregor Joseph Werner? Well, as I said above, it’s all about the performances. These are all recordings that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up! If I had compiled my 10 favorite pieces rather than recordings it would have been a different list (most of them by Schubert!).

COMPETITION

A number of operatic characters die by drowning. Submit a list with the name of the character and the name of the opera. There is a prize of a $10 gift certificate from the Union Bookstore for the person who can come up with the longest list!

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