A program of first published compositions by Rachmaninov, Chopin, Grieg and others -- their Opus 1. Full script with playlist available here and at www.compactdiscoveries.com.

Fred Flaxman's sexiest program yet. It includes "The Birds" by Respighi; "The Wasps" and "The Lark Ascending" by Vaughan-Williams; "The Bees" by Barrios, two versions of "The Flight of the Bumblebee" by Rimsky-Korsakov; and "Chicken Reel" by Leroy Anderson. Full transcript with playlist available here and at www.compactdiscoveries.com.

Producer/host Fred Flaxman presents the biggest hits of four American composers who only had one big hit: Morton Gould's "American Salute," Edward MacDowell's "Piano Concerto No. 2 in D Minor," Walter Piston's "The Incredible Flutist," and an excerpt from Virgil Thomson's "The Plow that Broke the Plains."

"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" from Disney's "The Lion King" as though it were written by Tchaikovsky; "Under the Sea" from "The Little Mermaid" in the style of Scott Joplin; "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" as though written by Johann Strauss; "Feed the Birds" from "Mary Poppins" in the style of Brahms; "When You Wish Upon a Star" from "Pinocchio" as though created by Richard Strauss; "Heigh-Ho!" from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" in the style of Mozart; "With a Smile and a Song" from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" a la Chopin; "Beauty and the Beast" in the style of Rachmaninoff; "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" from "Cinderella" as though composed by Grieg; "Colors of the Wind" from "Pocahontas" in the style of Dvorak; "I Wanna Be Like You" from "Jungle Book" as though written by Villa-Lobos; "Winnie the Pooh" in the style of Prokofiev; "Little April Shower" from "Bambi" in the style of Handel; and "Prince Ali" from "Aladdin" as though written by Bartok. All music is from the Delos International compact disc (DE 3186) called "Heigh-Ho! Mozart: Favorite Disney Tunes in the Style of Great Classical Composers." Performances are by Carol Rosenberger, piano; Eugenia Zukerman, flute; The Shanghai Quartet; the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet; The Millar Brass Ensemble; harpsichordist Anthony Newman; violinist Paul Barritt; the Voices of Ascension; and the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Donald Fraser. Fraser did all the arrangements. Complete script available here and at www.compactdiscoveries.com.

The program takes us back in time to July 10, 1938, and we listen to a memorial broadcast honoring George Gershwin on the eve of the first anniversary of his death. It features Jane Froman, Felix Knight, Sonny Schuyler and the Victor Salon Group, conducted by Nathaniel Shilkret. The program begins with a musically-illustrated biography of Gershwin in which we hear Al Jolson singing Gershwin's first hit, "Swanee," and an excerpt from Gershwin himself playing his "Rhapsody in Blue" with Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. Complete script with playlist available here and at www.compactdiscoveries.com.

Most people think that classical music is serious stuff, and most of the time it is. In music as in life it seems easier to compose long-form melancholy than it is to create long-lasting happiness. It is a real challenge, for example, to find a symphony or a concerto which is light and upbeat from one end to the other. But it isn't very difficult to find a movement which is bright and cheerful. In fact, by tradition, it is usually the third movement and it is often called a minuet or scherzo. In addition, there are many short happy classical music pieces. These are often based on dances. Classical music's cheerful side is precisely what is explored during this hour of "Compact Discoveries." The music includes "Al Fresco, Intermezzo" by Victor Herbert; "For He's Going to Marry Yum-Yum" from "The Mikado" by Gilbert and Sullivan; a movement from Haydn's "Symphony No. 88 in G" and his "Gypsy Rondo;" "Smiles and Chuckles" and "The Laughing Vamp" by the Six Brown Brothers, and an excerpt from Schubert's "Octet in F for Strings and Winds, Op. 166, D. 803." Complete script, including playlist, available here and at www.compactdiscoveries.com.

The Tune That Drove Composers Wild, Part 2 So many variations by so many composers were written on Paganini's original theme, Fred Flaxman couldn't fit even the most famous such works in one hour. So the theme continues in this program with very interesting, unusual, tuneful variations by Boris Blacher, Witold Lutoslowski, and "Cats" composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Full script attached here and at www.compactdiscoveries.com.

Experience a Russian winter with Fred Flaxman the warm and cozy, easy way -- through music by Tchaikovsky, Glazunov and Prokofiev. No need for a down coat or gloves; just your ears and your imagination. For a complete script of the program, including detailed information on every CD used, go to www.compactdiscoveries.com, click on Compact Discoveries Programs, then scroll down to No. 70 and click on the title.

Fred Flaxman's latest compact discoveries are CDs of music by an extraordinarily talented French woman composer and pianist who lived from 1857 until 1944. The program starts with two very different versions of her most famous piano piece, the "Scarf Dance," and goes on to include her strikingly melodious "Trio No. 1 in G Minor" performed by the Tzigane Piano Trio, her "S?r?nade espagnole" as transcribed by Fritz Kreisler and played by Itzhak Perlman on one of his "Greatest Hits" CDs, and her "Concertst?ck for Piano and Orchestra" with Rosario Marciano and the Orchestra of Radio Luxembourg conducted by Louis de Froment. The hour concludes with a beautiful piano piece by this master of the keyboard.

Fred Flaxman attempts to turn dishwashing from a chore into, well, almost a pleasure, with his selection of appropriate music which can be enjoyed to the accompaniment of the rattle of pots and pans. The program includes Handel's Water Music, "Mack the Knife" from Kurt Weil's The Threepenny Opera, Victor Herbert's Pan Americana, and other tunes which relate by a very far stretch of the imagination to that necessary daily task. This is definitely a light approach to serious music!

Live long enough and the popular music of your youth becomes the classical music of today. Witness the clever orchestral miniatures of Leroy Anderson, the once-popular American composer who is now listed in the classical music catalogs. This program takes a new look at and listen to "The Syncopated Clock," "Sleigh Ride," "The Typewriter Song" and other Anderson favorites, as well as his rarely-performed "Concerto in C for Piano & Orchestra." The full script, including information on every CD used, 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.