#ClassicsaDay #NorthAmClassics Week 4

Both countries in North America celebrate their independence in July. For Canada, it's July 1, 1867. And for the United States, it's July 4, 1776. To mark this event, the Classics a Day team challenge is to post video performances of music by both Canadian and American composers.

Finding examples by American composers was easy. But finding performances by Canadian composers proved a little more difficult. And that's a shame. Because the music I found was terrific.

Here are my posts for the fourth and final week of #NorthAmClassics.

07/24/23 Edgar Stillman Kelley: Aladdin

Kelly was an important composer at the turn of the 20th Century. He headed the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and was interested in blending non-Western and American elements into classical forms.

 

07/25/23 Colin McPhee: Tabuh-Tauhan, Toccata for Orchestra and Two Pianos

Canadian composer McPhee was also an ethnomusicologist. He introduced Balanese music to Benjamin Britten. This 1936 work was based on his studies of Balinese music.

 

07/26/23 George Elbridge Whiting: Prelude in A minor

Whiting was an important composer and organist in 19th Century America. He eventually became head of the organ department at the New England Conservatory of Music.

 

07/27/23 Linda Bouchard: Second Survival

Canadian composer and conductor Bouchard studied at the Manhattan School of Music. Bouchard is interested in the spatial relationships between sound sources and how they interact.

 

07/28/23 Arthur Batelle Whiting: Bagatelles for the Piano II: Humoreske

American composer Whiting studied with Rheinberger in Munich. He returned to America in 1885 and lectured at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Columbia. He was also one of the first advocates for early music and authentic performance practices.