Tilson Thomas: From the Diary of Anne Frank & Meditations on Rilke

Featuring

Isabel Leonard
Michael Tilson Thomas
Ryan McKinny
Sasha Cooke
San Francisco Symphony

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Recording & Production

This album juxtaposes Michael Tilson Thomas's earliest orchestral work, From the Diary of Anne Frank, with his most recent one, Meditations on Rilke.

Composer Biography

Michael Tilson Thomas, the composer and conductor, is recognized internationally as a conductor, pianist, and educator, and in recent decades, also as a composer.

Cultural Impact

The San Francisco Symphony's radio broadcasts, which began in 1926, were the first in the US to feature symphonic music.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Leonard Bernstein once advised Michael Tilson Thomas to develop the compulsion to share his music, which led Tilson Thomas to take his writing seriously.

Composition History

From the Diary of Anne Frank was commissioned by UNICEF and originally spotlighted Audrey Hepburn, who identified strongly with Anne Frank.

Performer Biography

Michael Tilson Thomas co-founded the New World Symphony, America's Orchestral Academy, in 1987, which has helped launch the careers of over 1,200 alumni.

Compositional Technique

Michael Tilson Thomas's brief orchestral movement Agnegram (1998) is a musical puzzle that plays with musical anagrams, a technique also used by J.S. Bach and Schumann.