MUSIClassical ALLEGRO
Topic: NEWS composers
One of just two surviving pages from a Mozart manuscript has been sold at an auction in London for £110,900. The folio, from the composer's draft for the Sinfonia Concertante, has set a new record for a single page of his work, which has stood since 1998. The item was purchased from Sotheby's by dealers based in London who were bidding on behalf of a private client. The violin, viola and orchestral work was composed in 1779, securing Mozart's standing as a great composer aged 23.
Veronica Borisovna Dudarova was born on December 5, 1916, in Baku (the capital of Azerbaijan)...Dudarova is an outstanding symphony conductor of our time. She is registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the only woman in the world to have headed large philharmonic orchestras for over half a century. 
1907 Birth of Hungarian composer Gyorgy RANKI in Budapest. d-Budapest, 1992. Popular works include Don Quixote y Dulcinea. 
Frank Guarrera [photo c 1953], a lyric baritone who sang at the Metropolitan Opera for nearly 30 years, died on Friday 23 NOV 2007, at his home in Bellmawr, N.J. He was 83. With his slender but firm voice and winning stage presence, Mr. Guarrera was a fixture at the Met in a number of roles: Escamillo in “Carmen” (his debut role in 1948), Marcello in “La Bohème,” Valentin in “Faust.” His final role at the Met was Gianni Schicchi, which he last sang in 1976. After his retirement from the stage, he taught at the University of Washington in Seattle for 10 years, a stint that ended when his wife, Adelina, suffered a stroke and he brought her back to the East to care for her; she died in 2000. 
VIVALDI's The Four Seasons present a formidable challenge to the soloist's technical command, tonal variety and imagination; they have been recorded so many times that any violinist who wants to add to the discography must have something distinctive and personal to offer. Sarah Chang has both the brilliant technique and the extroverted personality needed to put her own stamp on the music. Her approach is essentially programmatic. She follows Vivaldi's instructions with obvious relish, using her dazzling virtuosity and all her instrumental resources to create mood and atmosphere and to conjure up vivid pictures of "seasonal" events. Tempi range from beautifully calm slow movements to fast passages at headlong speeds. Contrasting dynamics and articulation, ponticello, trills that give off sparks; colorful nuances, from unvibrated and glassy, to throbbing and passionate, serve to underline Vivaldi's imagery. The result is a dramatic, technically fearless, emotionally uninhibited performance, which, though far from baroque, is honestly felt and convincing in its own way. As an encore, Sarah Chang plays the familiar "G-minor Concerto" with charm and vivacity, and an almost romantically luxurious tone. Totally incongruous with the natural spontaneity of her playing, the booklet shows her in nine terribly affected poses, glamorously attired, amid autumn leaves and snowflakes. --Edith Eisler [amazon.com] 
The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra has made a deal to sell 30 stringed instruments, including Stradivarius and Guarneri violins. The collection has been something of an embarrassment for the orchestra since it acquired the instruments in 2003. Officials say that the sale will allow the orchestra continue to use the instruments for at least five years while paying off its debt, The New York Times reported. 
Paul Potts, tenor