Composers Datebook podcast

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Synopsis On today’s date in 1868, Czech composer Bedrich Smetana helped lay the foundation stone for Prague’s future National Theatre. As the stone was driven into the soil with a ceremonial mallet, Smetana exclaimed, “In music is the life of the Czechs!” That same evening at Prague’s New Town Theatre, Smetana conducted the premiere performance of his new opera Dalibor . It’s worthy of note that one of the players in the orchestra was 26-year old violist and fellow composer Antonín Dvořák. The subject matter of Dalibor seemed theatrically apt for the occasion: a Czech legend about a rebellious 15th century knight imprisoned for supporting a peasant uprising. During his imprisonment, according to the legend, Dalibor learned to play the violin so beautifully that people came to listen to him outside the window of the Prague Castle tower in which he was held. Thirteen years after the premiere of Dalibor , the National Theatre opened on June 11, 1881. For that gala occasion, another Smetana opera, Libuse , received its premiere performance. Sadly, by that time Smetana was completely deaf, mentally ailing and desperately poor. To add insult to injury, the directors of the new theater had neglected to invite him to the gala premiere of his own opera! Despite the inexcusable snub, Smetana found his way into the theater, and, when called on the stage and recognized by the audience, was acknowledged with thunderous applause. Music Played in Today's Program Bedrich Smetana (1824-1884): Act I Prelude and opening chorus, from Dalibor ; Prague National Theatre Orchestra and Chorus; Zdenek Kosler, conductor; Supraphon ‎SU0077-2 632…

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Jerod Tate's 'Children's Songs' 2:00

4 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis American composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and its Composer-in-Residence. He was born in Norman, Oklahoma, and his chamber and orchestra works, all infused with themes and musical elements from his Native heritage, have been performed by major orchestras like the Detroit Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Colorado Ballet, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. But during the fall of 2011, Tate began working with a non-professional ensemble closer to home — at Dickson Middle School in Dickson, Oklahoma. Tate had been commissioned by the American Composers Forum to write a new work for their ChoralQuest series for middle-school choirs. The resulting work, Taloowa’ Chipota , which in the Chickasaw language means Children’s Songs , was premiered on May 15, 2012, by the children at the Dickson School. “The songs, are reminiscent of traditional stomp dancing and are based on old Chickasaw melodies,” explained Tate. “Stomp dances begin at dusk and end at dawn. The first movement depicts the beginning sunlight of the morning. The second is full of abstracted textures emulating the shell shaking in stomp dances.” For his part, Tate says he’s pleased how it all turned out: “I was able to introduce a Chickasaw experience to a diverse group of students … I strengthened my own relationship with my Chickasaw community and demonstrated to the Chickasaws in the chorus how our culture can positively impact classical music.” Music Played in Today's Program Jerod Tate (b. 1968): Taloowa Chipota ( Children’s Songs ); Minnesota Boy Choir; Hal Leonard 00119300 (sheet music)…

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Sousa's 'Stars and Stripes Forever!' march 2:00

5 days ago2:00

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Synopsis On today’s date in 1897, John Philip Sousa was in Philadelphia and leading his band in the premiere performance of The Stars and Stripes Forever! Sousa wrote his most famous march on Christmas Day, 1896, in a New York hotel room — completing the score, he said, in just a couple of hours. The work’s title was a tribute to one of Sousa’s mentors, legendary bandmaster Patrick S. Gilmore, whose favorite toast was, “Here’s to the Stars and Stripes forever!” The 1897 premiere of the march went over well, but at first sales didn’t surpass the other Sousa marches available at the time. It was the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the subsequent national eruption of patriotic fervor, and some cagey showmanship on Sousa’s part that catapulted The Stars and Stripes Forever! into its unique status. Sousa crafted a touring patriotic pageant involving hundreds of performers, which ended with The Stars and Stripes Forever! playing, as soldiers from all three branches of the military marched on stage with flags unfurled, culminating in the entrance of an attractive local beauty decked out in red, white and blue. Despite the thousands of times Sousa and his band were required to play The Stars and Stripes Forever! they claimed they never tired of it. And in its now 100+ year history, it’s become one of the most frequently performed pieces of American music worldwide. Music Played in Today's Program John Philip Sousa (1854-1932): The Stars and Stripes Forever ; Royal Artillery Band; Keith Brion, conductor; Naxos 8.559093…

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New York 'novelties' by Liszt et. al. 2:00

6 days ago2:00

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Synopsis On today’s date in 1862, the front page of The New York Times offered some encouraging news to the Northern side in the American Civil War: Union troops had captured Norfolk, Virginia, and there were other advances being made by General McClellan’s troops. Under “Amusements” on the inner pages of that same edition could be found an announcement of a Grand Vocal and Orchestral Concert at Irving Hall to be conducted by 27-year-old musician Theodore Thomas. Thomas had been a major figure on the New York music scene since 1855, performing as the principal violinist in that city’s first ensemble giving a regular series of chamber concerts. That chamber group presented hot-off-the-press works by Brahms and other ultra-modern composers of the day. This big orchestral concert, which marked Thomas’ debut as a conductor, was no different. The Times noted, “We have never before had so much musical novelty presented to us. Such plentiful instrumental music equally new to our musical world, under the capable conductorship of the young musician, must insure a crowded audience of the more critical as well as the more fashionable portion of our public.” Tickets were $1 each — quite a lot of money in 1862 — and the program offered the American premieres of orchestral pieces by Wagner, Meyerbeer and Liszt’s flashy orchestration of Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy . Music Played in Today's Program Franz Schubert (1797-1828) arr. Franz Liszt (1811-1896): Wanderer Fantasy ; Leslie Howard, piano; Budapest Symphony; Karl Anton Rickenbacher, conductor; Hyperion 67403…

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Gabriel Kahane 2:00

7 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis American composer and singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane claims someone once described one of his songs as having been from the wastepaper basket of Schubert — but, Kahane hastened to add, “I think he meant that as a compliment.” Certainly Kahane is a successful songwriter, and if not quite as prolific as the 19th century Viennese composer, is quite productive on a number of 21st-century platforms and takes his inspiration from quintessential 21st-century experiences. On today’s date in 2018, for example, the Oregon Symphony premiered his Emergency Shelter Intake Form , a song-cycle or oratorio inspired by the questionnaire homeless people have to take to secure a shelter bed. “I live in Brooklyn, and I had volunteered at a shelter in Manhattan,” Kahane said. “I started thinking about the banality of going through that crushing bureaucracy on top of experiencing extreme poverty. That led to the intake form as a jumping-off point for the libretto. It is somewhere between found text and my own extrapolations that began with this sterile administrative form.” The Oregon Symphony’s premiere performance of Gabriel Kahane’s Emergency Shelter Intake Form was recorded, and, in equally quintessential 21st-century fashion, is available as a download. Music Played in Today's Program Gabriel Kahane (b. 1981): ‘What brings you here?’ from Emergency Shelter Intake Form ; Alicia Hall Moran, mezzo-soprano; Oregon Symphony; Carlos Kalmar, conductor; Digital download…

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Maazel's 'Ring without Words' 2:00

8 days ago2:00

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Synopsis In 1987, Telarc Records asked conductor Lorin Maazel if he would make a purely orchestral distillation of the four operas that make up Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung . Telarc wanted it all to fit on just one CD. Now, with these four Wagner operas clocking in at about 15 hours, that’s a slimming-down assignment worthy of The Biggest Loser. Maazel crafted a 75-minute sequence, played without pause, beginning with the opening pages of the first opera and ending with the closing pages of the last, with all the music appearing in the same order as it does in Wagner’s four operas. For the Telarc CD release, Maazel recorded his Ring without Words with the Berlin Philharmonic. But what had started as a purely studio affair proved an attractive orchestral showcase for other ensembles, so on today’s date in 1990, Maazel led the Pittsburgh Symphony in the debut of his Ring without Words as a concert hall work. Since then, he has performed it with orchestras ranging from the New York to the Vienna Philharmonic. Maazel confessed he resisted the idea at first. “I said … it would be desecrating a unique masterpiece. But they kept after me.” In the end, Maazel capitulated, but insisted there couldn't be one note by Lorin Maazel. When one instrumentalist shuddered at a particularly abrupt transition, Maazel told him, “Sorry! That's the composer.” Music Played in Today's Program Richard Wagner (1813-1883) arr. Lorin Maazel (1930-2014): Ring without Words ; Berlin Philharmonic; Lorin Maazel, conductor; Telarc 80154…

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Maxwell Davies at a wedding (with sunrise) 2:00

9 days ago2:00

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Synopsis In 1970, British composer Peter Maxwell Davies moved to the remote and rugged Orkney Islands off the northern coast of Scotland. At first, he said, the natives thought he was just some weirdo from the south, and the more Puritanical islanders would pray the might find a more respectable means of earning a living than writing music. But over time, Davies and the islanders got used to each other. The composer found inspiration in the landscape and legends of the area, while the community warmed to the fact that the newcomer found them so fascinating. In 1978, he attended a neighbor’s wedding, which inspired a musical work he called An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise . “It is a picture postcard,” Davies said. “We hear the guests arriving, out of extremely bad weather. This is followed by a processional and first glass of whiskey. The band tunes up and we get on with the dancing, which becomes ever wilder, until the lead fiddle can hardly hold the band together. We leave the hall into the cold night. As we walk home across the island, the sun rises to a glorious dawn.” “The sun is represented by the highland bagpipes, in full traditional splendor,” he concluded. Despite its local color, An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise was actually an American commission from the Boston Pops, who gave its premiere on today’s date in 1985, with John Williams conducting. Music Played in Today's Program Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016): An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise ; George MacIlwham, bagpipes; Royal Philharmonic; Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, conductor; Collins 1444…

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Alexis Alrich's Marimba Concerto 2:00

10 days ago2:00

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Synopsis One today’s date in 2004, a new concerto for marimba and orchestra had its premiere in San Francisco, with soloist Matthew Cannon and the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra. The new concerto was written by Alexis Alrich, who studied composition out east at the New England Conservatory, and out west at Mills College, where one of her teachers was Lou Harrison, who introduced her to Asian music through Javanese gamelan. Her own music, she says, blends American minimalism, Asian music and Western classical and folk music, a mix some have described as “California impressionism.” “[My] Marimba Concerto is highly demanding for the soloist and fully exploits the technical possibilities and sound palette of the five-octave marimba,” Alrich said. “The opening movement with its string tremolos and whispering wind motifs provides an atmospheric entrance for the solo marimba … The middle movement starts with a gently pulsating theme that recurs between contrasting sections, including one in Mexican folk style. The final movement climaxes with a multi-layered, Asian-inspired chorale … with a toccata-style cadenza for the soloist.” In 2010 British percussion virtuoso Evelyn Glennie and City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong gave the Asian premiere of the concerto and made its first recording. Music Played in Today's Program Alexis Alrich (b. 1955): Marimba Concerto; Evelyn Glennie, marimba; City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong; Jean Thorel, conductor; Naxos 8.574218…

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Beethoven's Second on first? 2:00

11 days ago2:00

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Synopsis Hold on tight: we’re about to cover 150 years of musical — and presidential — history in just two minutes! On today’s date in 1821, when James Monroe was president, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 was performed in Philadelphia at a concert of the Musical Fund Society. That occasion marks the first documented performance of a complete Beethoven symphony in America and occurred when Beethoven was 50 years old and residing in Vienna. In 1853, when Franklin Pierce was in the White House, the Germania Musical Society took Beethoven’s Second Symphony No. 2 on its American tour, presenting it in St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Chicago. That 1853 tour marked the first time an entire Beethoven Symphony was performed in the Windy City. Additional 19th century “firsts” for the symphony occurred over the next two decades in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and San Francisco, during the administrations of James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson. Ulysses S. Grant was president in 1870, when Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 debuted in Washington, D.C., and Grant was still President in 1872, when it was the first symphony to be performed in Minneapolis. A hundred years later, in the 1970s, when Richard Nixon was in the White House, you could hear performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 from Maine to Hawaii, all while sitting comfortably in your own Executive Mansion, courtesy of your local government-assisted public radio station. If you wish, you may now stand and salute your radio! Music Played in Today's Program Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 2; New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor; Sony 61835…

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Thomson's 'Mother of Us All' 2:00

12 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 1947, a new opera, The Mother of Us All debuted at Columbia University in New York City. The libretto was by American poet Gertrude Stein, and dealt with the life and times of Susan B. Anthony, a 19th century champion of women’s rights. In Stein’s dream-like account, iconic figures from America’s past like President John Adams, orator Daniel Webster and entertainer Lillian Russell interact even though they lived at different times in history. Two of the opera’s 27 characters, playwright Constance Fletcher and Yale librarian Donald Gallup, in fact, were contemporary friends of Stein’s. The music was by American composer Virgil Thomson, whose score evoked seemingly familiar 19th century hymns, sentimental ballads, circus band music, drum rolls, and fanfares. The tunes were, in fact, all original creations. The mix of Thomson’s music and Stein’s text results in a rambunctious opera about American life and politics, at turns both amusing and strangely touching. It became an unlikely success. Thomson wrote two other operas: Four Saints in Three Acts , from 1933, was an earlier collaboration with Gertrude Stein, and Lord Byron , from 1972, sets a witty libretto by Jack Larson, an actor famous for his portrayal of Daily Planet cub reporter Jimmy Olson on the old Superman TV series. Lord Byron was intended for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, but never made it there, and performances these days are rare. Music Played in Today's Program Virgil Thomson (1896-1989): The Mother of Us ; All Santa Fe Opera; Raymond Leppard, conductor; New World 288…

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Larsen's 'Lyric' Third 2:00

13 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 1992, Joel Revzen conducted the Albany Symphony in the premiere of the Third Symphony of American composer Libby Larsen. Larsen subtitled her new work a Lyric Symphony . Now, the early 20th century Viennese composer Alexander Zemlinsky had written a Lyric Symphony , one that involved vocal soloists. As a composer, Larsen is noted for her songs and choral works, but for her own Lyric Symphony she opted for a purely instrumental work that would be somehow quintessentially American. In program notes for her new symphony, she wrote: “As I struggle with the definition of American music, it occurs to me that in all of our contemporary American genres, the dominating parameter of the music is rhythm. Rhythm is more important than pitch. This is a fundamental change in the composition of music in the 20th century. Here we speak American English, an inflected, complex, rhythmic language. “What is lyric in our times?” Larsen continued. “Where is the great American melody? Found, I would say, in the music of Chuck Berry, Robert Lockwood, Buddy Guy, George Gershwin, Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, James Brown, Aaron Copland, Walter Piston and those composers who create melodies that are defined more by the rhythm than their pitch. My Symphony No. 3 — the Lyric , is an exploration of American melody.” Music Played in Today's Program Libby Larsen (b. 1950): Symphony No. 3 ( Lyric ) London Symphony; Joel Revzen, conductor; Koch 7370…

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Debussy's Violin Sonata 2:00

14 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis French composer Claude Debussy was too sick to be called up for service when World War I broke out in 1914. His private battle with cancer on top of his nation’s battle with Germany plunged him into depression. But by the spring of 1915, Debussy decided to keep on composing. “I want to work, not so much for myself, but to give proof, however small it may be, that not even 30 million Boches can destroy French thought,” he wrote. He knew his remaining time was precious, so decided to write small chamber works rather than big orchestral pieces. Debussy planned to write six chamber sonatas but completed only three. Working, as he put it, “like a madman,” he finished a Cello Sonata and a Trio Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp by the fall of 1915. In December of that year, the side-effects of radium treatments and morphine injections for his cancer brought Debussy’s Sonata project to a grinding halt. Rallying somewhat by the by the summer of 1916, Debussy vowed to keep on working. He wrote, “If I am doomed to vanish soon, I desire at least to have done my duty.” On May 5, 1917, Debussy made his last public appearance in Paris at the Salle Gaveay, accompanying violinist Gaston Poulet in the premiere of his final work — a Sonata for Violin and Piano. Debussy would die the following spring. Music Played in Today's Program Claude Debussy (1862-1918): Violin Sonata; Midori, violin; Robert McDonald, piano; Sony 89699…

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Dvorak salutes the flag 2:00

15 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 1895, the New York Choral Society gave the premiere of The American Flag , a choral work by Antonín Dvořák. Jeannette Thurber, who brought Dvořák to New York City to teach at her National Conservatory, had asked him to set a patriotic poem of that name. The idea was the new work would be performed to coincide with his arrival in the fall of 1892, and the big celebrations planned that year for the 400th anniversary of Columbus landing in the New World. Unfortunately, Dvořák didn’t get the text in time, and so another choral work, his recently completed Te Deum was performed during the big Columbus Quadricentennial. The American Flag was put on a back burner, as it were, and wasn’t performed until after he returned to Prague. He never heard the work performed at all, in fact. The blustery, outright chauvinistic tone of its pro-New World, anti-Old World text would hardly endear it to European audiences of his day. In fact, this work hasn’t proven to be a big hit with American audiences, either. The American Flag remains one of Dvořák’s least-performed pieces. Michael Tilson Thomas conducted a recording of it timed for release in 1976 during the American Bicentennial. Ironically for so American a work, that recording was made in Berlin with a German orchestra and chorus! Music Played in Today's Program Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904): The American Flag ; soloists; choirs; Berlin Radio Symphony; Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; CBS/Sony 60297…

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Moog moods by Carlos and Voegeli 2:00

16 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis A surprise best-selling entry on the Billboard charts in 1968 was an LP titled Switched-On Bach . Of course, the 1960s were a kind of turned-on time in general, but the LP’s title didn’t refer to the sexual revolution or anything that Timothy Leary was advocating — no, this was just Johann Sebastian Bach performed on an electronic synthesizer, a Moog synthesizer to be precise, a maze of electronic circuits, wires, knobs and keyboards invited by Robert Arthur Moog, who enlisted several composers for help in its development as a musical instrument. One of them was Wendy Carlos, whose Switched-On Bach album helped put the Moog on the map. On today’s date in 1971, it was a synthesized electronic theme that introduced a new program from NPR, All Things Considered . The original theme was created by Wisconsin composer Don Voegeli on a tiny Putney synthesizer, but in 1974, when Voegeli was asked to create a new, updated version of the ATC theme, he used the brand-new Moog synthesizer he had just purchased for his Madison studio, which was installed by Robert Moog — and took up an entire room. For almost 10 years, Voegeli’s Moog version of the ATC theme was heard week-in, week out on public radio, until in 1983 the very familiar electronic theme was arranged for live studio musicians. Music Played in Today's Program J.S. Bach (1685-1750) arr. Carlos: Fugue No. 7, from WTC Book 1 ; Wendy Carlos, Moog synthesizer; Sony 7194 Don Voegeli (1920-2009): All Things Considered theme (1974 version); Don Voegeli, Moog synthesizer NPR recording…

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George Walker's 'Wind Set' 2:00

17 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis The catalog of the Pulitzer Prize-winning African-American composer George Walker includes two major pieces for winds: Canvas , written in 2000, is a large-scale work for wind band, percussion, and double bass; and Wind Set , a smaller chamber piece, written the previous year and for just five instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon. In both works, Walker said he set out to do something had hadn’t done before, something new: “I am trying to think that I am beginning fresh — that it's not something that I have done before … I try to find the kind of beginning, for me the beginning is so crucial, that is unlike something that I have done before … or like something that I might have heard. So the search process is really trying to find those initial notes that will convey the sense of freshness … Beyond that I think that I was able, from my point of view, to maximize the coloristic possibilities of the winds.” Wind Set was commissioned by the New Jersey Chamber Music Society and received its premiere performance by them in Newark on today’s date in 1999. Music Played in Today's Program George Walker (1922-2018): Wind Set ; Peggy Schecter, flute; Richard Foley, oboe; William Shadel, clarinet; Leonard Hindell, bassoon; Jerome Ashby, french horn; Summit 274…

Composers Datebook

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Graupner (and Haydn) in Boston 2:00

18 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis Today in 1825, a benefit concert was arranged in Boston for one of that city’s favorite musicians: Johann Christian Graupner — not a household name for music lovers today, but in the early 19th century, Graupner was an important musical link between the Old World and the New. Graupner was born near Hanover in 1767. The son of an oboist, young master Graupner mastered that instrument, too — and many others. After service in a German military band, he made his way to London, where in 1791 he was picked as the principal oboist for the first of Haydn’s symphonic concerts there. In 1797, Graupner’s itchy feet took him to Charleston, South Carolina, where he met and married an English actress and opera singer. The couple moved to Boston and became active in the musical life there. Graupner opened a music store, importing from Europe both those newfangled fortepianos and the latest in sheet music. In 1810, he became the first president of Boston’s Philharmonic Society, and in 1815 helped organize that city’s Handel and Haydn Society — a performing organization that still exists today. For Graupner’s benefit concert on May 1, 1825, Haydn’s Symphony No. 100 was included on the program, marking that symphony’s first documented performance in America. It was presumably an authentic performance, too, since Graupner had most likely played it under the composer’s direction back in London some three decades earlier. Music Played in Today's Program Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1808): Symphony No. 100 ( Military ); London Classical Players; Roger Norrington, conductor; EMI 55192…

Composers Datebook

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Del Tredici's 'In Wartime' 2:00

19 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 2003, the Wind Ensemble of the University of Texas at Austin, led by Jerry Junkin, premiered a new work for wind band by American composer David Del Tredici. Its title was In Wartime , as its composition and premiere coincided with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, led by the United States alongside the United Kingdom and smaller contingents from Australia, Denmark and Poland. “ In Wartime , my first piece for wind symphony, was begun on November 16, 2002, and completed on March 16 (my birthday), in 2003 — as momentous a four-month period in U.S. history as I have experienced,” Del Tredici recalled. “With my TV blaring, I composed throughout this period, feeling both irresistibly drawn to the developing news and more than a little guilty to be unable to turn the tube off. Composing music at such a time may have seemed an irrelevant pursuit, but it nevertheless served to keep me sane, stable and sanguine, despite the world's spiraling maelstrom.” Del Tredici’s In Wartime has two sections: “Hymn” and “Battlemarch.” The first has the character of a choral prelude, with fragments of “Abide with Me” sounding through a welter of contrasting material. An ominous drum roll introduces the “Battlemarch” section, with the confrontation of East vs. West symbolized by musical quotes from “Salamti, Shah!” (the national song of Persia) and the opening of Wagner’s opera, Tristan und Isolde . Music Played in Today's Program David Del Tredici (1937-2023): In Wartime ; University of Texas Wind Ensemble; Jerry Junkin, conductor; Reference Recording 104…

Composers Datebook

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Herbert's earthquake benefit 2:00

20 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis April 29th fell on Sunday in 1906, and readers of The New York Times photogravure supplement were able to view scenes of the terrible destruction in San Francisco that followed the great earthquake that struck that city 11 days before. The paper was filled with accounts of the suffering caused by the quake, and undoubtedly, many New Yorkers asked themselves what they could do to help. The New York musical community provided one answer by quickly arranging a number of benefit concerts. The largest of these occurred on today’s date that year at New York’s Hippodrome, and was organized by popular composer Victor Herbert, who conducted his orchestra with Metropolitan Opera singer Ernestine Schumann-Heink as a featured soloist. The vast Hippodrome was completely sold out, with standing-room-only tickets filling the aisles. Seven thousand dollars were raised, which by today’s standards seems a rather modest sum, but by 1906 standards was impressive enough to make newspaper headlines. Perhaps New York musicians and their audiences felt a personal affinity with the quake victims, as their own Metropolitan Opera Company, including its star tenor Enrico Caruso, was on tour in San Francisco when the quake struck on April 18th, and, as the Times reported, the Met’s touring orchestral musicians, almost without exception, lost their instruments. That bit of news must have struck a special chord with Herbert. In 1886, both he and his wife had come to America from Europe to join the Metropolitan Opera — he as an orchestral cellist, and she as a soprano soloist. Music Played in Today's Program Victor Herbert (1859-1924): Cello Concerto No. 1; Lynn Harrell, cello; St. Martin’s Academy; Sir Neville Marriner, conductor; London 417 672…

Composers Datebook

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Diamond's Elegy 2:00

21 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis Despite its relation to both the physics of sound and pure mathematics, music, for most people — including composers — is essentially an emotional language. Despite its abstract sound, that’s the case of this orchestral piece, which premiered in Rochester, New York, on today’s date in 1938. The music, Elegy in Memory of Ravel , was by 22-year-old American composer David Diamond. Nine years earlier, as a precocious adolescent, he had met Ravel during the French composer’s American tour of 1928. Ravel was impressed with the lad’s talent, and encouraged him to pursue a career in music, as did George Gershwin, who served on a jury that awarded one of Diamond’s works first prize. He lost both these important mentors in 1937, with the sudden deaths of first Gershwin, then Ravel. The day after learning of Ravel’s death, he began work on his Elegy . “It is an expression of terrible loss,” Diamond recalled in an interview decades later. “As the piece began to take shape, almost unconsciously, I heard it as a ritual — an elegy, but a ritualistic one. I asked that there be no applause at the end.” The work’s 1938 premiere performance was conducted by Howard Hanson, then the head of the Eastman School of Music and the conductor of its famous orchestra. Diamond’s modern, frankly dissonant idiom didn’t sit well with Hanson’s more conservative tastes. He recalled Hanson asking “David, why do you have to write such modern music?” Even so, Hanson respected both Diamond and his music enough to conduct the new piece. Music Played in Today's Program David Diamond (1915-2005): Elegy in Memory of Maurice Ravel ; Orchestra of St. Luke’s; John Adams, conductor; Nonesuch 79249…

Composers Datebook

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Nicholas Slonimsky, Date-Meister 2:00

22 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis We have a special Datebook birthday to note today, for on this date in 1894, one of music’s great “date-meisters,” Nicholas Slonimsky, was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. A self-described “failed wunderkind,” Slonimsky became an accomplished conductor and relentless new music promoter, giving the first performances of avant-garde works by Charles Ives, Henry Cowell and Edgard Varese, to name just a few. A composer himself, Slonimsky’s own works include settings of actual advertisements he found in the Saturday Evening Post circa 1925, and a symphonic work that culminates in the triple-forte explosion of 100 colored balloons. Slonimsky was an obsessive collector of the dates, venues, and premiere performers of concert music in the 20th century. Slonimsky’s chronicle, Music Since 1900 , runs over 1000 pages and went through several editions during his long lifetime. Slonimsky also served as the editor for several editions of Baker’s Biographical Dictionary, writing many of the wittiest contributions himself. Slonimsky’s scholarly writings include a 1947 Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns, an inventory of all conceivable and inconceivable tonal combinations, a work that became a cult classic among BeBop jazz musicians, including legendary saxophonist John Coltrane. In 1952, Slonimsky published his Lexicon of Musical Invective , a collection of some of the juiciest bits from the devastatingly bad reviews many musical masterpieces received at the hands of contemporary critics, and in 1968, for the Music Library Association of America, a painstakingly researched report, Sex and the Music Librarian . Slonimsky died in Los Angeles in 1995, just four months shy of his 102nd birthday. Music Played in Today's Program Charles Ives (1874-1954): Three Places in New England ; San Francisco Symphony; Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; BMG 63703…

Composers Datebook

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Tchaikovsky in New York 2:00

23 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 1891, a small group of music patrons gathered at one of New York’s docks to greet Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who had been invited to America to take part in the grand opening of a new music hall. Back then, it was just called “The Music Hall,” but over time it took on the name of wealthy steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, who funded its construction. “Carnegie is an amazing eccentric,” Tchaikovsky wrote to his friends back in Russia. “He rose from being a telegraph boy, transformed with the passing of years into one of America’s richest men, but one who has remained a simple, modest man who does not at all turn up his nose at anyone.” And, despite his legendary melancholic funks and chronic bouts of homesickness, the composer admitted he found the rest of New York rather impressive. “American customs, American hospitality, the very appearance of the town, the remarkable comfort of my accommodations — this is all very much to my taste and if I were younger I would probably be greatly enjoying my stay in an interesting new country,” he noted. On the down side, Tchaikovsky reported you couldn’t buy cigarettes on a Sunday, and it was sometimes hard to find a public bathroom when you needed one — a common complaint of New York tourists even today! “All told, I am a much bigger fish here than in Europe. Incidentally, Central Park is magnificent,” Tchaikovsky concluded. Music Played in Today's Program Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): Orchestral Suite No. 3; Detroit Symphony; Neeme Järvi, conductor; Chandos 9419…

Composers Datebook

1
Prokofiev and Rochberg chamber premieres 2:00

24 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis Today’s date marks the anniversary of the first performance of two 20th century chamber works. On April 25, 1931, Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev’s String Quartet No. 1 received its premiere performance by the Brosa Quartet at the Library of Congress. Accepting the commission from the Library’s Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation, Prokofiev set about studying pocket scores of the string quartets of Beethoven, which he perused on trains while shuttling between concert engagements. Prokofiev himself described the work’s opening as “rather classical,” but when the new quartet was premiered in Moscow, the verdict of the all-powerful Association of Proletarian Musicians was that it was too “cosmopolitan,” a pejorative adjective in Soviet arts criticism in the Stalinist Era that meant something like “unacceptably modern.” Our second chamber music premiere occurred on April 25th in 1980, when the Octet for Winds and Strings by American composer George Rochberg was performed for the first time at Alice Tully Hall in New York City. The occasion was a concert by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, who had commissioned the new piece. At the time, Rochberg was a rather controversial figure for shifting from his earlier, strictly atonal style into a more emotionally charged neo-Romantic approach to music making, often referencing earlier composers and musical styles of the past. The music critic of The New York Times thought he heard a touch of Rachmaninoff in Rochberg’s new piece — an observation that some at the time would translate as really meaning the work was “unacceptably old-fashioned.” Music Played in Today's Program Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): String Quartet No. 1; St. Petersburg String Quartet; Delos 3247 George Rochberg (1918-2005): Octet ( A Grand Fantasia ); New York Chamber Ensemble; Stephen Rogers Radcliffe, conductor; New World 80462…

Composers Datebook

1
Tower's Violin Concerto 2:00

25 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis “In an ideal musical world, a composer should have a friendly, creative, and ongoing working relationship with performers for whom she writes,” composer Joan Tower said. For Tower, who has emerged as one of the most successful American composers of her generation, a friendly, creative and ongoing relationship with chamber ensembles, symphony orchestras, and soloists has resulted in a number of musical works. Her Violin Concerto, for example, was written for American violin virtuoso Elmar Oliveira, who gave its premiere performance on today’s date in 1992, at a Utah Symphony concert. Tower wrote the piece with Oliveria in mind. “A lot of violinists are speed freaks, but Elmar can play both virtuosically and with an innate singing ability,” she wrote. The more lyrical and emotional heart of the work was written as memorial to Olivera’s older brother, also a violinist, who died of cancer during work on the new concerto. That’s not to say she didn’t supply some flashy, pyrotechnical passages for her star soloist, however. As Oliviera put it, “It’s the kind of flashiness an audience can relate to. Joan doesn’t need avant-garde gimmicks, because now she’s completely comfortable speaking her own language, one that is expressive and natural to her.” Or, as Tower put it, “Sometimes it’s a struggle to find out what you’re good at. It took me a number of years to decide how I wanted to write with my own voice.” Music Played in Today's Program Joan Tower (b. 1938): Violin Concerto; Elmar Oliveira, violin; Louisville Orchestra; Joseph Silverstein, conductor; D’Note 1016…

Composers Datebook

1
Gabriela Lena Frank's 'Three Latin American Dances' 2:00

26 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 2004, the Utah Symphony and conductor Keith Lockhart premiered Three Latin-American Dances by American composer Gabriela Lena Frank. Just a few days later, the same forces recorded Frank’s music for a release, to be sandwiched between Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story and Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances . Frank’s first dance, Jungle Jaunt opens with what she calls “an unabashed tribute” to the urban jungle evoked in Bernstein’s West Side Story . Her second dance, Highland Harawi , is more melancholy, perhaps a nod to that strain in Rachmaninoff’s music, and evokes the sounds of the bamboo quena flute of the Andes. Her third dance, The Mestizo Waltz , is a pun on the famous Mephisto Waltz by Franz Liszt. As Frank explained: “This final [dance] is a lighthearted tribute to the mestizo or mixed-race music of the South American Pacific coast. It evokes the romancero tradition of popular songs and dances that mix influences from indigenous Indian cultures, African slave cultures, and western brass bands.” Frank is of mixed Peruvian and Jewish background. When asked about how her heritage affects her music, she replied, “Sometimes the Latin influences are quite evident, and sometimes they are quite subtle. And of course, ‘Latin’ can mean so many different things. There is no one single Latin identity, as any Latino/Latinoamericano would tell you.” Music Played in Today's Program Gabriela Lena Frank (b. 1972): Three Latin American Dances ; Utah Symphony; Keith Lockhart, conductor; Reference Recording 105…

Composers Datebook

1
Husa's 'Apotheosis of this Earth' 2:00

27 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis Today is Earth Day — an annual event started in 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin as an environmental teach-in. Senator Nelson wasn’t the only one concerned back then, either: Czech-born composer Karel Husa had noticed dead fish floating on a lake located near a power plant. “The plant was producing hot thermal pollution which in turn killed all those fish,” he recalled. “In addition, I noticed more beer cans in the water and algae in greater quantities.” A wind band commission provided Husa with an opportunity to create Apotheosis of this Earth . In explaining its title, he wrote: “Man’s brutal possession and misuse of nature’s beauty — if continued at today’s reckless speed — can only lead to catastrophe. The composer hopes that the destruction of this beautiful earth can be stopped, so that the tragedy of destruction — musically projected here in the second movement — and the desolation of its aftermath – the ‘postscript’ of this work — can exist only as fantasy, never to become reality.” Apotheosis of this Earth was commissioned by the Michigan School Band and Orchestral Association, and its premiere performance took place on April 1, 1970, with Husa conducting the University of Michigan Symphony Band at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor. It proved a powerful piece of music. “As the postscript finished, I saw that the students in the band were somehow moved — there were even some tears,” the composer recalled. Music Played in Today's Program Karel Husa (1921-2016): Apotheosis of this Earth ; Ithaca College Wind Ensemble; Rodney Winther, conductor; Mark 3170…

Composers Datebook

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Copland's 'Hurricane' for kids 2:00

28 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis On today’s date in 1937, one of Aaron Copland’s least known work had its premiere performance. The Second Hurricane was an opera written for high school students, New York’s Henry Street Settlement Music School, to be exact. In his memoirs, Copland recalled that at the time he wrote it, he was living at the Empire Hotel in Midtown Manhattan for $8.50 a week, and that he wrote the score in a studio he rented, located at what is now the site of Lincoln Center. To direct the premiere of his school opera, Copland hired young actor-director Orson Welles. Copland’s score also called for some adult performers, including one professional actor, Joseph Cotton, who was paid $10 for his performance. “The newspapers seem to enjoy the idea that a dyed-in-the wool modernist was writing an opera for schoolchildren, so they gave a great deal of attention to every step along the way, particularly the casting,” Copland recalled. “Those kids must have gotten a kick out of seeing their names in the Times and Tribune! The idea of an opera for high school performers appealed to the press, I suppose, for the same reason it appealed to me. My motives were not all unselfish, either: the usual run of symphony audiences submitted to new music when it was played at them, but never showed signs of really wanting it. The atmosphere had become deadening. Yet the composer must compose. A school opera seemed a good momentary solution for one composer, at any rate.” Music Played in Today's Program Aaron Copland (1900-1990): The Second Hurricane ; High School of Music and Art; New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor; Sony 60560…

Composers Datebook

1
Biblical Torke 2:00

29 days ago2:00

2:00

Synopsis Religious music, like the religious experience itself, comes in all shapes, forms, moods, and colors. On today’s date in 2002, for example, this setting of the Song of Isaiah had its premiere performance at the Milwaukee Art Museum during a concert by the Present Music ensemble. The composer of the new setting was Milwaukee native Michael Torke, who wrote: “I have always considered that a central religious experience is one of uplifting joy, as opposed to other spiritual expressions of pleading, suffering, atonement or wrath. It is that state of joy and thanksgiving I am trying to express.” Song of Isaiah was commissioned for Present Music’s 20th anniversary, and to honor the Archbishop Rembert Weakland. The piece is scored for a singer, clarinet, bass clarinet, string quintet, piano, vibraphone and a percussionist who plays the rhythmic underpinning with a tambourine, claves and in the center of the piece, a triangle. “This spirited rhythm embodies slower embedded forms that are etched out melodically by the clarinets in octaves, and also by the strings and piano in octaves,” Torke wrote. “In essence, there are no climaxes, as I wish the music to be a meditation, though the feeling is quite lively. Nine sections of the piece serve as episodic variations, and explore different small chunks of text from the Book of Isaiah. The form is a mirror: the first and ninth sections relate, as do the second and eighth, and so on; the fifth section (using the triangle) is in the exact center.” Music Played in Today's Program Michael Torke (b. 1961): Song of Isaiah ; Present Music; innova 590…

Composers Datebook

1
Anthony Braxton's operas 1:59

30 days ago1:59

1:59

Synopsis In the 19th century, Richard Wagner composed The Ring of the Nibelungen , a cycle of four operas lasting 16 hours in performance. In the 20th century, another German composer, Karlheinz Stockhausen, wrote a cycle of seven, collectively titled Light , which runs about 29 hours. Not to be outdone, for several decades a 21st-century American composer has been working on Trillium , a cycle of twelve operas, which, if completed, will probably last much longer. This composer’s name might not be familiar to opera fans, since MacArthur “genius grant” recipient Anthony Braxton is better known in jazz circles. As a saxophonist, he has made over a hundred recordings, sometimes with jazz greats like Dave Brubeck or Chick Corea. Braxton resists being labeled, however, stating, “Even though I have been saying I'm not a jazz musician for the last 25 years, in the final analysis, an African-American with a saxophone? Ahh, he’s jazz!” The sixth opera in the cycle, Trillium J, or The Non-Unconfessionable , had its first complete performance at Roulette in Brooklyn on today’s date in 2014. To the question “Why write operas?” Braxton said, “I believe the medium of opera is directly relevant to cultural alignment and evolution.” Time will tell if Trillium unfolds a culturally relevant message to rival Wagner and Stockhausen’s, or simply acts as a framework for the wide-ranging moods and colors of Braxon’s music. Music Played in Today's Program Anthony Braxton (b. 1945): excerpt from Act 2 of Trillium J ; soloists and ensemble; Anthony Braxton, conductor; New Braxton House 906…

Composers Datebook

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'King's Row,' Korngold and 'Star Wars' 1:58

4 weeks ago1:58

1:58

Synopsis On today’s date in 1942, Warner Brothers released the film King’s Row , which included in its cast a 31-year-old actor named Ronald Reagan, who claimed the film “made me a star.” The film’s musical score was by someone already a star — Austrian-born composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold, famous for his earlier work for Hollywood swashbucklers like Captain Blood and Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn. Korngold’s music for King’s Row proved unusually popular, and Warner Brothers prepared a form letter politely declining inquiries for sheet music or recordings. Back then, film score recordings were not common, and the big studios were jealously protective of anything — including music — that they owned. It wasn’t until 1979 — 37 years after the release of the movie — that a full soundtrack recording of King’s Row was released, produced by the composer’s son, George, who was responsible for a major revival of interest in his father’s work. In fact, Korngold’s main title music from King’s Row may have provided the model for American composer John Williams when he wrote his main title music for the 1977 sci-fi swashbuckler Star Wars . It’s also curious to note that the main title music for King’s Row was requested by the White House in 1981 for use at the inauguration of President Reagan, who, you may recall, later promoted a ballistic missile defense shield nicknamed by its critics — wait for it — Star Wars . Music Played in Today's Program Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957): Main Title , from King’s Row ; National Philharmonic; Charles Gerhardt, conductor; RCA LSC-3330 (LP) & 7890-2-RG (CD)…

Composers Datebook

1
Holst and Hammersmith 2:00

5 weeks ago2:00