AMERICAN HIGHWAYS PRESENTS MARC BLITZSTEIN, ACT 2: “Love and Betrayal”
Here’s the story of a great composer who has been all but forgotten: Marc Blitzstein. In this episode (Act 2 of 4), I’ll tell two stories: one about Airplanes, and one about a Southern Belle. But I’m also going to tell a third story, which is the most compelling of all. How a composer and a student became friends, lovers, rivals, and friends again.
More at GuyLivingston.com/blitzstein
The opera Regina is the story of a Southern Belle, who is unrepentant and evil. She will stop at nothing, even murder, to achieve her ends. About Regina, the critic Wilfred Mellers wrote: “Blitzstein’s great achievement is that he has imbued technique borrowed from he commercial world with the power to hit back– to stand for, rather than against, the human sprit. His embryonic awareness of emerging life, in his ‘low and steady’ mood, is the real America, beneath the push and go, the America that is still waiting to be born.”
CREDITS: “The Cradle That Rocked: Rediscovering Marc Blitzstein” was hosted and directed by pianist Guy Livingston. This four-part series was produced for Concertzender Radio, Utrecht, The Netherlands; and is distributed in the United States and internationally by the WFMT Radio Network, Chicago. Funding for this project provided by the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc. New York, New York. Administrative support provided by the Transatlantic Foundation for Music and Art. Sound design by Erik Hense.
Marc Blitzstein
1. Regina, The Best thing of All
Scottish Opera Orch & Chorus; John Mauceri, Director; Tommy Krasker, producer.
Decca 433 812-2
Marc Blitzstein
2. Regina, Prologue
Scottish Opera Orch & Chorus; John Mauceri, Director; Tommy Krasker, producer.
Decca 433 812-2
Marc Blitzstein, arr. Stephen Sondheim
3. Never Get Lost
Dawn Upshaw
Electra Nonesuch 79345-2
Marc Blitzstein, arr David Robbins
4. Croon Spoon
Eddie Vedder,Susan Sarandon,Steven Tyler
RCA Victor 09026-63577-2
Marc Blitzstein
5. Airborne Symphony – Threat and Approach
Bernstein: New York Symphony Orchestra And RCA Victor Chorale With Charles Holland (Tenor), Walter Schef (Baritone) And Robert Shaw (Narrator)
BMG 09026 61581 2
Marc Blitzstein
6. Emily (Ballad Of The Bombardier)
William Sharp, baritone; Steven Blier, piano
Koch CD 6644
Marc Blitzstein
7. Airborne Symphony – The Open Sky (Glory)
Bernstein: New York Symphony Orchestra And RCA Victor Chorale With Charles Holland (Tenor), Walter Schef (Baritone) And Robert Shaw (Narrator)
BMG 09026 61581 2
Marc Blitzstein
Regina
8. The Best thing of All (2:00)
9. Dixie Jazz scene (5:41)
10. Act 2, Scene 2, Nr. 7 – Intro and Gallop (3:17)
11. Act 3, Rain Quartet (6:11)
12. Act 3, Nr. 7 Greedy Girl (1:11)
13. Act 3, Scene 5 (2:59)
14. Act 3, – Nr. 9 – Finale (1:36)
15. Act 1, Nr. 1 – Intro (0:33)
Scottish Opera Orch & Chorus; John Mauceri, Director; Tommy Krasker, producer.
Decca 433 812-2
Leonard Bernstein
16. West Side Story – Maria
José Carreras & Leonard Bernstein
Deutsche Grammophon 415 253-2
Marc Blitzstein
17. Regina, ACT 1 No. 2 – Birdie
Scottish Opera Orch & Chorus; John Mauceri, Director; Tommy Krasker, producer.
Decca 433 812-2
Leonard Bernstein
18. Slava! – A Political Overture – Fast and Flamboyant
Leonard Bernstein & Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
Deutsche Grammophon 469 829-2 GB7
Marc Blitzstein
19. Regina, ACT 3 No 9 – Finale
Scottish Opera Orch & Chorus; John Mauceri, Director; Tommy Krasker, producer.
Decca 433 812-2
Marc Blitzstein, arr Kevin Amos
20. Regina, The Best thing of All
Kevin Amos, Lucy Schaufer & Lucy Schaufer Ensemble
ABC Classics 481 0331
Steve Reich. The Desert Music.
21. First Movement (Fast).
Chorus of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Members of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Michael Tilson Thomas & William Carlos Williams.
Nonesuch Records 79101
