Compact Discoveries

Series produced by Fred Flaxman

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One-hour unusual, audience-appealing, theme-driven classical music programs.

Compact Discoveries (R) is a series of one-hour, classical music radio programs, which, true to its title, introduces listeners to some of the most exciting and unusual compositions to be found on compact discs.

The approach is relaxed, informal and light. The presenter -- award-winning writer/producer Fred Flaxman -- shares his love of music and sense of discovery like one friend talking to another.

Fred sometimes uses humor, sound effects, personal essays, clips from old-time radio programs, and non-classical music to make his theme-based hours interesting and fun. The music is always carefully selected to appeal to the widest possible audience for classical music and to attract new listeners to the genre.

Fred's amusing themes range from "Brazilian Beats" and "Discs for Dishwashing" to "Musical Gardens" and "Best Music for Back Rubs." The programs often feature little-known composers who have written pieces that people will like on first hearing, such as Ernesto Nazareth, Kurt Atterberg, Rene Touzet, Clara Schumann, Cecile Chaminade, Tyzen Hsiao and Joaquin Nin.

Maximum scheduling flexibility is achieved by considering these programs as one-hour building blocks. They can be scheduled one or more times a week; they can be scheduled back to back to create two or three-hour blocks. Fred doesn't say "this program" when he's talking; he says "this hour," making stacking easy. Also, the program/hours are evergreens, except for those created for specific holidays and seasons of the year.

The series began as a local program on WXEL-FM, West Palm Beach, Florida. It was quickly picked up for national distribution via satellite by one of the nation's most prestigious radio syndicators. The series switched to less expensive, more convenient PRX distribution via the internet on Jan. 1, 2006.

Broadcast by stations from Manila in the Philippines to Eugene, Oregon, to West Palm Beach, Florida, the response of listeners has been 100 percent positive. For more information, including short descriptions and complete scripts for each program, go to www.compactdiscoveries.com.

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Compact Discoveries (R) is a series of one-hour, classical music radio programs, which, true to its title, introduces listeners to some of the most exciting and unusual compositions to be found on compact discs.The approach is relaxed, informal and light. The presenter -- award-winning writer/producer Fred Flaxman -- shares his love of music and sense of discovery like one friend talking to another.Fred sometimes uses humor, sound effects, personal essays, clips from old-time radio programs, and non-classical music to make his theme-based hours interesting and fun. The music is always carefully selected to appeal to the widest possible audience for classical music and to attract new listeners to the genre.Fred's amusing themes range from "Brazilian Beats" and "Discs for Dishwashing"... Show full description


253 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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Fred Flaxman introduces 14 Academy-Award-winning popular classics sung by Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Lionel Richie, and ot...

  • Added: Jun 12, 2013
  • Length: 58:00
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Fred Flaxman presents some of the greatest theme music from Hollywood movies, starting in 1939 with "Gone with the Wind," and finishing in 1993 wit...

  • Added: May 28, 2013
  • Length: 59:00
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An hour of the greatest hits from Hollywood musicals.

  • Added: Apr 29, 2013
  • Length: 58:00
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The incredible young French pianist plays Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1.

Bought by KPVL


  • Added: Mar 25, 2013
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
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Chopin wrote so little chamber music that most of it can fit in this one-hour program: his cello sonata and piano trio.

Bought by WMNR and KPVL


  • Added: Mar 06, 2013
  • Length: 58:00
  • Purchases: 2
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The piano music of this impressionistic French composer has been unjustly neglected since his death at 38 in 1921, but several recordings have rece...

Bought by KPVL


  • Added: Feb 12, 2013
  • Length: 58:00
  • Purchases: 1
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Producer/host Fred Flaxman presents several different versions of the beautiful music from George Gershwin's opera.

Bought by KPVL


  • Added: Jan 21, 2013
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 1
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Another hour devoted to proving that all the great melodies were not written by composers of the past. There are living American composers who know...

Bought by KPVL


  • Added: Dec 30, 2012
  • Length: 58:00
  • Purchases: 1
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Melodious, immediately enjoyable music by serious, living American composers who know how to write a good tune and to please listeners.

Bought by WMNR and KPVL


  • Added: Dec 22, 2012
  • Length: 58:00
  • Purchases: 2
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Tuneful contemporary American pieces, including "Miniatures for Orchestra," "A Grecian Festival," the "Carnival" movement from "Evocations: Concert...

  • Added: Dec 06, 2012
  • Length: 58:00
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Classical, popular, folk, and Broadway music inspired by mountains.

Bought by KPVL


  • Added: Sep 12, 2012
  • Length: 58:01
  • Purchases: 1
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"The Blue Danube Waltz" serves to open this hour of music inspired by rivers, including the Mississippi, Hudson, Shenandoah, Swanee, and Moldau. Pa...

Bought by KPVL


  • Added: Aug 20, 2012
  • Length: 58:01
  • Purchases: 1
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Fred Flaxman tells the story of Jacques Brel while playing eight of his most famous songs twice -- the first time in English as sung by the origina...

Bought by KPVL


  • Added: Aug 08, 2012
  • Length: 58:01
  • Purchases: 1
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Using classical, international popular, folk music, and jazz, producer/presenter Fred Flaxman celebrates this 200th "Compact Discoveries" program b...

Bought by KPVL


  • Added: Jul 18, 2012
  • Length: 58:00
  • Purchases: 1
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Beautiful movements from classical pieces that most people -- even classical music lovers -- don't know, but would probably like if they heard them.

Bought by WMNR and KPVL


  • Added: Jun 22, 2012
  • Length: 58:01
  • Purchases: 2
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Fred Flaxman presents a second hour of serenades by the Romantic period Austrian composer and teacher. Included are Serenades 3 and 4 and the first...

Bought by KPVL


  • Added: Jun 05, 2012
  • Length: 58:01
  • Purchases: 1
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The Austrian composer Robert Fuchs taught composition to Mahler, Wolf, Enescu, Sibelius and many others. He also composed beautiful, if neglected, ...

Bought by KPVL and KENW


  • Added: Jun 01, 2012
  • Length: 59:01
  • Purchases: 2
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A dramatic musical based on "The Diary of Anne Frank," with music by Michael Cohen and libretto by Enid Futterman. Perfect for scheduling in April ...

Bought by KPVL and KENW


  • Added: Apr 22, 2012
  • Length: 58:01
  • Purchases: 2
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"Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant" features such strange musical animals as the Pop-up toadsters, the Circular Sawtoise, the Clocktopus, and the Ballp...

Bought by KENW and KPVL


  • Added: Mar 24, 2012
  • Length: 58:01
  • Purchases: 2
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Dance music for piano by Shostakovich, Ginastera, Bartok, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Piazzolla, Villa-Lobos, Brahms, Satie, Chopin, and Albeniz, perfo...

Bought by KPVL and KENW


  • Added: Feb 25, 2012
  • Length: 58:00
  • Purchases: 2