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Tag: Hamish MacCunn

Happy Music from the Highlands for the Birthday of Hamish MacCunn

It’s not a round birthday or anything, but since it’s a Sunday and it will make for a concise post, here’s a link to some music that just makes me happy every time I hear it – especially in this recording, made for EMI in 1968, by Alexander Gibson and the Scottish National Orchestra. The team later remade it in digital sound for Chandos Records in 1981 (reissued on CD in 1985), but the second recording cannot recapture the organic flow of felicitous sunshine and galloping thunder conjured in the original. (But do get the Chandos disc also for the best recording of Malcolm Arnold’s “Tam O’Shanter Overture.”) I hope you enjoy “The Land of the Mountain and the Flood,” first performed at London’s Crystal Palace in 1887. A tip of the tam to Scottish composer Hamish MacCunn (1868-1916) on his birthday!

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PHOTO: Hamish MacCunn, before Michael Nesmith stole his look

March 22, 2026
Classical Music Thanks & Hamish MacCunn Birthday

Thanks to all of you who helped us along this month on the “Bach 500” (and I did see some of your names on the computer screen yesterday). We’re still a little shy of the desired 500 contributions, so if you haven’t given yet, it’s not too late. Remember, you set the amount. It doesn’t matter how much you pledge, just that we receive 500 donations, from listeners just like you. Call during regular business hours, at 1-888-232-1212, or support us any time at wwfm.org. Again, thank you for all that you do for The Classical Network!

For today, we move beyond Bach, with musical stops in Scotland, as we celebrate the birthday of Hamish MacCunn, and Finland, as we observe the anniversary of the birth of Tauno Pylkkänen. We’ll also have music by Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph Schwantner, a selection from the Requiem of musical theatre superstar Andrew Lloyd Webber, and some musical jokes courtesy of Gerard Hoffnung.

Join me today, from 4 to 7 EDT, to hear what your support hath wrought, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

Gerard Hoffnung and two of his creations

March 22, 2017

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