We are pleased to offer an in depth survey and exposition of the music and life of Darius Milhaud. The first installation in our three part series focuses on the current availability of Milhaud’s music on compact disc.
The availability of the music of Darius Milhaud on phonograph records remained fairly constant during the analog era preceding the invention of the digital compact disc. A random sampling of music guides from 1952 to 1981 revealed the following:
Nine years later the “One-Spot Classic Guide” of February 1961 listed a total of 36 works, and again 26 of those works were available only on a single recording.
The situation had not improved much 20 years later in the December 1981 edition of the “Schwann-1 Record and Tape Guide” that revealed 35 entries, 29 of which listed a single recording of the work cited.
It was thus timely when Schwann/Opus published a survey of the music of Darius Milhaud in the Spring and Summer 1993 editions written by Elizabeth and Elliott Hurwitt. The first segment presents the Hurwitt’s superlative survey, Orpheus in Aix.
Additional posts will discuss the availability of Milhaud’s music today.
| Elizabeth Ellis began her career as poet and essayist in her native California. On settling in Manhattan, she pursued private instruction in classical vocal technique and art song repertoire, studied French language and literature at the Alliance Française, and conducted researches in the history of early French cabaret. She returned to writing in collaboration with her husband, Elliott Hurwitt, on the Schwann survey of Milhaud recordings, re-released above on the World Wide Web. Her most recent essay, on the song diary of Francis Poulenc, illuminated the recital program of Eunice Poulos and Dalton Baldwin at Florence Gould Hall. Elizabeth Ellis and Elliott Hurwitt are currently conducting interviews with Madeleine Milhaud in preparation for a book on the Milhauds and their creative partnership. |  |
| Elliott S. Hurwitt was a performer and music instructor before turning to the study of musicology. His publications cover a wide range of topics, including studies of music iconography from the Middle Ages to the Romantic era and blues and jazz studies. Hurwitt is currently a doctoral candidate at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, writing a dissertation on the music publishing career of W.C. Handy. He is also writing dictionary articles on Handy and on Lennie Tristano. Elliott Hurwitt’s CD reviews have appeared regularly in Fanfare magazine since 1993. He is author of numerous pieces on European and American “classical” music. |