ASO's Sweet Release!

You'd think that at age 104, all the "firsts" in your life would have happened long ago. But here's the Austin Symphony Orchestra, which just passed the century mark a few years back, happily celebrating the release of its first commercial recording. And you can help mark the occasion this afternoon at a 5pm party at Waterloo Records.

Of course, the entire orchestra won't be on hand to play excerpts from the recording – there wouldn't be room in the store for anyone to listen – but ASO Music Director Peter Bay, who conducted all of the music on the recording, will be swapping his baton for a Sharpie to autograph CD copies for those in attendance.

The disc, which features the sublime Anton Nel on piano, is devoted to music by Edward Burlingame Hill, a noted teacher of composers at Harvard in the first half of the 20th century. But though his pupils achieved some lasting fame with their music – I take it you've heard of a guy named Leonard Bernstein – Hill did not, and his own music has fallen into obscurity. The story of how ASO came to Hill's rescue, so to speak, and crowdsourced a good bit of the funding for the CD was reported earlier this year, and we offered an assessment of the finished product just before Christmas. If you like the sound of it from what's written there or just want to show some love for your hometown symphony orchestra, skip happy hour and head on over to Sixth and Lamar.

For more information, visit www.austinsymphony.org.