#ClassicsaDay #NAFTAclassics Week 4

The Classics a Day team once again made NAFTA Classics the theme for July. Two of the three countries in North America have significant holidays in the month -- Canada Day (July 1), and Independence Day (July 4).

As always with this theme, I simply alternated between Canadian, American, and Mexican composers. And the process discovered a lot of great classical music north and south of the border.

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

07/26/21 Edward Burlingame Hill (US 1872-1960) Concertino No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra

Hill is best remembered for his pupils -- Leonard Bernstein, Elliot Carter, Walter Piston, Roger Sessions, and Virgil Thompson. But he was also a composer who brought American influences into his music.

07/27/21 Clarence Lucas (Canada 1866–1947) - Holiday Sketches

Lucas had a rich and varied career; composer, teacher, music proofreader, music magazine editor, transcriber, conductor, music director, and lyricist.

07/28/21 Macedonio Alcalá (Mexico 1831–1869) Dio nunca muere

Alcalá was asked by residents of Tlacolula to write a waltz in honor of the Virgin Mary, their town's patron. It was an instant hit and is now the unofficial anthem of Oaxaca.

07/29/21 Florence Price (US 1887-1953) Violin Concerto No. 2

Price completed her second violin concerto in 1952, a year before her death. It was discovered in 2009 when renovations were done to her former home.

07/29/21 Healey Willan  (Canada 1880-1958) Symphony No. 1 in D minor

Willan is best known for his choral compositions. Of his over 800 works, only two were symphonies. This is his first written in 1936.