Prointro: Birthday

This recording brings together music from some of Leonard Bernstein's best-loved scores with seldom heard occasional works and premiere recordings. From the iconic musical West Side Story, the hot-blooded dance number Mambo embodies the show's dramatic tensions. Slava! celebrates Bernstein's friend and colleague, the cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, in music reworked from the daring show 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, from which the Suite rescues further highlights. CBS Music has not been heard since the broadcasting giant's 50th birthday celebrations in 1978, while the Birthday Bouquet takes the for of affectionate musical tributes from eight composer colleagues to one of the 20th century's greatest musicians. Marin Alsop's long association with Bernstein gives her unique insights into his music.

Franz Schreker was a prominent figure in early 20th-century Austro-German music, his reputation as an opera composer rivaling that of Richard Strauss. The Prelude to a Drama is the concert overture of Schreker’s acclaimed opera Die Gezeichneten, a lurid drama involving murder and madness. Conceived as a theatrical pantomime, The Birthday of the Infanta adapts Oscar Wilde’s tragic tale of an ugly dwarf who dies of a broken heart, while the Romantic Suite fully explores the composer’s colorfully detailed and translucent orchestration and lyrical expressiveness. The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra dates back to the beginnings of music broadcasting in 1923. Since then it has developed its position to become one of Berlin’s top orchestras, and today is ranked in the highest echelon of German radio orchestras. JoAnn Falletta became the first female conductor to lead a major American ensemble upon her appointment as music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1999.

An zwei Abenden versammelten Milica und Hans Theessink eine illustre Schar an nationalen und internationalen Künstlern im Wiener Metropol, und zwar am 5. und 6. April 2008, um den 60. Geburtstag von Hans Theessink in gebührender Weise zu feiern. Fans hatten an diesen beiden Abenden die Gelegenheit, unvergessliche Konzerte zu erleben.All jene, die an diesen Abenden nicht selbst dabei sein konnten, aber natürlich auch die glücklichen, die diese Konzerte erleben durften, finden mit der CD „Birthday bash“ ein wahrlich einzigartiges Tondokument, das diese unvergesslichen Abende in perfekter Form festhält.Hans Theessinks Album „Birthday bash“ enthält zwei CDs….