Compact Discoveries^®
a series of one-hour radio programs produced, written, hosted, and edited by Fred Flaxman
©2007 by Fred Flaxman

Program 123
"Spring"

MUSIC: Vivaldi: clip from the opening of the first movement of The Four Seasons: La Primavera (Spring), Op. 8, No. 1, RV 269, Concerto No. 1 in E Major, Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Siji Ozawa [Telarc CD-80070, track 1] [under the following]

Hello, happy springtime to you, and welcome to Compact Discoveries. I’m your guide, Fred Flaxman. Stay with me for the next hour and we’ll experience together almost 60 minutes worth of interrupted music inspired by this season. Some of it will be classical, some jazz, some popular classics.

We’ll start off with a humorous piece by Tom Lehrer. Then we’ll hear It Might as Well Be Spring by Rodgers and Hammerstein; With a Song in My Heart by Rodgers and Hart from the 1929 Broadway show Spring is Here; April in Paris as performed by jazz violinist Stéphan Grappelli along with classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin; a concert rag by contemporary composer Brian Dykstra called Spring Beauties as performed by pianist Noel Lester; a beautiful but rarely heard serious piece by Leroy Anderson called The First Day of Spring, conducted by the composer; Mendelssohn’s Spring Song; another Spring Song by Frank Bridge; April, May and June from The Seasons by Tchaikovsky as transcribed for violin and orchestra by Peter Breiner; The Last Spring by Grieg; excerpts from Beethoven’s Spring Sonata as performed by Yehudi and Jeremy Menuhin; and our opening and closing music: Spring from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi.

MUSIC: Tom Lehrer: Poisoning Pigeons in the Park from An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer [Reprise 6199-2, track 1] [2:38]

MUSIC: Rodgers and Hammerstein: It Might as Well Be Spring performed by The New York Pops conducted by Skitch Henderson [Centaur CRC 2501, track 6] [4:55]

MUSIC: Rodgers and Hart With a Song in My Heart sung by Maureen McGovern with The New York Pops conducted by Skitch Henderson [Centaur CRC 2501, track 2] [2:33]

MUSIC: Harburg and Duke: April in Paris as performed by violinists Stéphan Grappelli and Yehudi Menuhin [Angel CDM 7243 5 66830 2 0, track 6] [3:37]

MUSIC: Brian Dykstra: Spring Beauties, performed by pianist Noel Lester [Centaur CRC 2662, track 1] [3:51]

MUSIC: Leroy Anderson: The First Day of Spring, conducted by the composer [MCA Classics MCAD2-9815-A, track 3] [3:09]

MUSIC: Mendelssohn: Spring Song, performed by Robert Silverman, piano [Marquis 77471 82501 2 4, CD2, track 2] [2:46]

MUSIC: Frank Bridge: Spring Song, performed by Penelope Lynex, cello and Alexander Wells, piano [Somm Recordings SOMMCD 229, track 14] [2:02]


MUSIC: Tchaikovsky: April, May and June from The Seasons, as transcribed for violin and orchestra by Peter Breiner, and performed by the Queensland SYmphony Orchestra conducted by Breiner with violinist Takako Nishizaki [Naxos 8.553510, tracks 4, 5, 6] {3:36, 3:52, 5:13]

MUSIC: Grieg: The Last Spring, performed by the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra of Cracow, conducted by Tadeusz Wojciechowski [Conifer Classics 75605 51750 2, CD 1, track 9] [4:46]

MUSIC: Beethoven: Spring Sonata in F, Op. 24, as performed by Yehudi and Jeremy Menuhin [EMI CDC 7 47353 2, tracks 3 and 4] [1:18 and 6:49]

You’ve been listening to an hour of music inspired by Spring on Compact Discoveries. We started off with Poisoning Pigeons in the Park by Tom Lehrer. Then we heard It Might as Well Be Spring by Rodgers and Hammerstein; With a Song in My Heart by Rodgers and Hart from the 1929 Broadway show Spring is Here; April in Paris as performed by violinists Stéphan Grappelli and Yehudi Menuhin; a concert rag by contemporary composer Brian Dykstra called Spring Beauties as performed by pianist Noel Lester; a beautiful but rarely heard serious piece by Leroy Anderson called The First Day of Spring, conducted by the composer; Mendelssohn’s Spring Song; another Spring Song by Frank Bridge; April, May and June from The Seasons by Tchaikovsky as transcribed for violin and orchestra and conducted by Peter Breiner; The Last Spring by Grieg; excerpts from Beethoven’s Spring Sonata as performed by Yehudi and Jeremy Menuhin; and our opening and closing music: Spring from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi.


This is your Compact Discoveries guide Fred Flaxman hoping that you’ve enjoyed these selections and that you’re having a happy, healthy and successful springtime!

For a complete playlist with details on the recordings played during this hour, go to www.compactdiscoveries.com. There you will find information on every Compact Discoveries program, this being program number 123. Listener comments are always welcome there, or you can write to me at Compact Discoveries, 36 Pickens Lane, Weaverville, North Carolina 28787.

Thanks for listening and for supporting your local public radio station -- especially the stations that carry Compact Discoveries!

MUSIC: Vivaldi: excerpt from the first movement of The Four Seasons: La Primavera (Spring), Op. 8, No. 1, RV 269, Concerto No. 1 in E Major, Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Siji Ozawa [Telarc CD-80070, track 1] [music ends at 57:30]

ANNOUNCER: Compact Discoveries is made possible in part by Story Books, publishers of The Timeless Tales of Reginald Bretnor, selected and edited by Fred Flaxman. Samples and ordering available at bretnor dot com, b-r-e-t-n-o-r dot com; and by Educate Yourself for Tomorrow, an on-line guide to 37 different Liberal Arts courses for personal development, including “Mozart and the Evolution of Western Music.” On the web at onlinehumanities.com.

PROGRAM ENDS AT 58:00