Meredith Willson: Symphony No. 1 in F Minor ("A Symphony of San Francisco"); Symphony No. 2 in E Minor ("The Missions of California"). Moscow Symphony Orchestra, William T. Stromberg, conductor. (Naxos 8559006)

MEREDITH WILLSON was born in Iowa 101 years ago this month, on May 18, 1902. Composer of The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Willson also wrote the famous songs "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" and "May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You." Best known for The Music Man (which won the 1958 Tony Award for Musical of the Year, beating West Side Story), Willson had a solid background in classical music, as shown by this Naxos CD of his First and Second Symphonies.

Willson was an alumnus of Juilliard, where he began flute studies in 1920 with Georges Barrère. While still a student, he was engaged as lead piccolo with the John Philip Sousa Band (1921-24). At age 22, he became first flutist in the New York Philharmonic (1924-29), playing under Mengelberg and Toscanini. Willson relocated to the West Coast in 1932, remaining there until his death in 1984. In 1991, Juilliard named its new residence hall in honor of Willson, whose widow donated $5 million to the School.

Willson's First Symphony was premiered in 1936 by the San Francisco Symphony under the composer's baton; his Second followed in 1940, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic directed by Albert Coates. Willson's symphonies are agreeable and worth hearing. They are skillfully wrought, quasi-programmatic, and richly post-Romantic (the refulgent orchestration of the First Symphony includes a saxophone quartet), occasionally evoking Ives, Holst, and Ravel.

Exemplifying today's era of increasing globalization, this CD is stylishly performed by the Moscow Symphony, led by native Californian William T. Stromberg.

Bruce Brubaker: Glass Cage

Glass Cage: Music for Piano by Philip Glass and John Cage. Bruce Brubaker, piano. (Arabesque Z6744)

BRUCE BRUBAKER CD, Glass Cage, denotes not a transparent means of confinement but an absorbing recital containing piano works by Philip Glass, the master of minimalism, and John Cage, the icon of indeterminacy. Brubaker, who—like Meredith Willson—was born in Iowa, is also a Juilliard alumnus and has been a faculty member since 1995.

Glass received his master's degree in composition from Juilliard in 1962; his score for the recent film The Hours was nominated for a 2003 Academy Award. Brubaker plays the finale from Glass's opera Satyagraha, his Metamorphosis, and the deceptively titled Mad Rush—which is anything but.

Cage presented his "Juilliard Lecture" at the School in 1952. It was published in his 1967 book, A Year From Monday. Brubaker plays Cage's "A Room" from She Is Asleep, as well as the hypnotically hushed Dream.

Cage had a quirky, self-deprecatory sense of humor. In the early 1960s, this reviewer attended a performance of Cage's Theatre Piece. The composer prowled the stage, declaiming, turning on radios, or playing a piano. After about 20 minutes, he wrote something on a sheet of music manuscript, folded it into a paper airplane, and sent it flying into the audience. It spiraled down into my lap. I unfolded it to find an instruction from Cage. It read, "Wait 45 seconds; then stand up and say in a loud voice, 'What a terrible piece this is!' " (I didn't.)

Brubaker's playing of this repertoire is revelatory. He performs Glass and Cage with the same sensitivity, rubato, and nuance usually lavished on Schumann, Liszt, or Debussy. His approach transforms these works by avoiding mechanical regularity in repeated figurations, opening expressive possibilities that one had not anticipated in this music.

Brubaker's next CD, Inner Cities, containing works by John Adams and Alvin Curran (Arabesque Z6776), is scheduled for release this coming September.

Mention this column at the Juilliard Bookstore to receive a 5-percent discount on this month's featured recordings. (In-store purchases only.)