On June 29, 1908, America's greatest composer of orchestral miniatures was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Leroy Anderson, who died in 1975, wrote symphonic music that made the hit parade and won him a gold record, which was unprecedented for an instrumental symphonic recording. In honor of the 100th anniversary of Anderson's birth, Naxos compact discs, in cooperation with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin and Leroy Anderson's family, has released a series of CDs containing the composer's complete orchestral output. Producer/presenter Fred Flaxman features 15 of these compositions: Bugler's Holiday, A Trumpeter's Lullaby, Saraband, The Phantom Regiment, Serenata, Forgotten Dreams, Song of the Bells, The Sandpaper Ballet, The Penny Whistle Song, Mother's Whistler, Promenade, Horse and Buggy, Home Stretch, Anderson's hilarious rendition of Old MacDonald Had a Farm and his Sousa-esque treatment of Meredith Wilson's Seventy-Six Trombones from the Broadway musical The Music Man. This program mentions the 100th anniversary of Anderson's birth several times, but in a way that permits a shelf-life all through 2008 and beyond. Also, the program does not repeat any of the musical selections from Compact Discoveries Program 13, which is also devoted completely to the music of Leroy Anderson. That way either program can be used on its own or combined with the other as an anniversary special. If both programs are combined, either as a two-hour block or two weeks or days in a row, it is recommended to broadcast program 13 first, since it contains biographical information about the composer not included in program 142. Complete scripts with playlists for both programs may be found at www.compactdiscoveries.com.

On June 29, 1908, America's greatest composer of orchestral miniatures was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Leroy Anderson, who died in 1975, wrote symphonic music that made the hit parade and won him a gold record, which was unprecedented for an instrumental symphonic recording. In honor of the 100th anniversary of Anderson's birth, Naxos compact discs, in cooperation with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin and Leroy Anderson's family, has released a series of CDs containing the composer's complete orchestral output. Producer/presenter Fred Flaxman features 15 of these compositions: Bugler's Holiday, A Trumpeter's Lullaby, Saraband, The Phantom Regiment, Serenata, Forgotten Dreams, Song of the Bells, The Sandpaper Ballet, The Penny Whistle Song, Mother's Whistler, Promenade, Horse and Buggy, Home Stretch, Anderson's hilarious rendition of Old MacDonald Had a Farm and his Sousa-esque treatment of Meredith Wilson's Seventy-Six Trombones from the Broadway musical The Music Man. This program mentions the 100th anniversary of Anderson's birth several times, but in a way that permits a shelf-life all through 2008 and beyond. Also, the program does not repeat any of the musical selections from Compact Discoveries Program 13, which is also devoted completely to the music of Leroy Anderson. That way either program can be used on its own or combined with the other as an anniversary special. If both programs are combined, either as a two-hour block or two weeks or days in a row, it is recommended to broadcast program 13 first, since it contains biographical information about the composer not included in program 142. Complete scripts with playlists for both programs may be found at www.compactdiscoveries.com.