Topic: CLASSICALmanac.com
1907 Birth of Hungarian composer Gyorgy RANKI in Budapest. d-Budapest, 1992. Popular works include Don Quixote y Dulcinea. 
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MUSIClassical ALLEGRO | MUSIClassical ADAGIO | ClassicalMusicNetwork.net
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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
In books like "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" and "An Anthropologist on Mars," the physician Oliver Sacks has given us some compelling and deeply moving portraits of patients in predicaments so odd, so vexing, so metaphysically curious that they read like something out of a tale by Borges or Calvino. In his latest book, "Musicophilia," Sacks focuses on people afflicted with strange musical disorders or powers — "musical misalignments" that affect their professional and daily lives. 
King's College Choir are one of today's most accomplished and renowned representatives of the great British choral tradition and this is reflected in their impressive discography with EMI Classics. This new recording, in which the choir are joined by viol ensemble Fretwork, widens that representation and is a beautiful addition to the choir's repertoire. Fretwork is a consort of viols based in the UK. Formed in 1986, the group consists of six players and is considered to be one of the finest groups performing music for viol consort. This disc features a stunning selection of anthems from the Tudor Times, featuring some of the period's most prestigious composers. The disc includes a "This is the Record of John" by Orlando Gibbons which must have been one of the most popular anthems of this era judging by the number of manuscripts that contain it. Orlando Gibbons himself had an association with Kings College, Cambridge as a chorister under the direction of his eldest brother from 1596 to 1598. 