This is the second in my series on American composers who were refugees. Tonight, the lush Hollywood music of Korngold’s cello concerto, and the modernist left-hand piano concerto of Hindemith. Plus Milhaud’s Création du Monde, and Bukvich’s Interior Designs.

Tonight’s show opens with the short but topical song “I Speak in English Now” by Marc Blitzstein, from No for an Answer, a musical written for and sung by Greek immigrants.

AMERICAN HIGHWAYS #75: “I Speak in English Now”

Theme Music :

Steve Reich. The Desert Music (1984)

First Movement (Fast).

Chorus of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Members of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Michael Tilson Thomas & William Carlos Williams.

Nonesuch Records 79101

Marc Blitzstein

No For an Answer: Act 2, Scene 7: “I Speak in English Now”

Original Cast

Pavilion Records GEMS CD 0009

Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Cello Concerto, Op. 37

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Peter Dixon, Cello; Matthias Bamert, conducting.

Chandos 10433 (1996)

Paul Hindemith

Klaviermusik Mit Orchester, Op. 29

I. Einleitung: Massige Schnelle Halbe

II. Sehr Lebhafte Halbe

III. Trio: Basso Ostinato – Langsame Viertel, Nur Sehr Wenig Ausdruck

IV. Finale: Bewegte Halbe

Leon Fleisher, Christoph Eschenbach & Curtis Symphony Orchestra

Curtis-Ondine 1141-2

Darius Milhaud

Milhaud: La Création Du Monde, Op. 81A

Leonard Bernstein: Orchestre National De France

EMI CDC-7 47845 2

Svjetlana Bukvich

Interior Designs: Tattoo

Kamala Sankaram & Svjetlana Bukvich

Innova #253