Composers Datebook podcast

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Composers Datebook

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Corigliano Dances 2:00

1 day ago2:00

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Synopsis Merriam-Webster’s defines a gazebo as “a freestanding roofed structure usually open on the sides.” To most Americans, however, “gazebo” conjures up warm, summer days spent out-of-doors: If you imagine yourself inside a gazebo, you’re probably enjoying a cool beverage while gazing out at the greenery — or, if you fancy yourself outside one, you’re probably seated in a lawn chair, gazing at a group of gazebo-sheltered band musicians playing a pops concert for your entertainment. In the early 1970s, American composer John Corigliano wrote a series of whimsical four-hand piano dances he dedicated to certain of his pianist friends, and then later arranged these pieces for concert band, titling the resulting suite Gazebo Dances . “The title was suggested by the pavilions often seen on village greens in towns throughout the countryside, where public band concerts are given in the summer,” Corigliano explained. “The delights of that sort of entertainment are portrayed in this set of dances, which begins with a Rossini-like overture, followed by a rather peg-legged waltz, a long-lined adagio, and a bouncy tarantella.” The concert band version of Corigliano’s Gazebo Dances was first performed in Indiana on today’s date in 1973, by the University of Evansville Wind Ensemble, with Robert Bailey conducting. Music Played in Today's Program John Corigliano (b. 1938): Gazebo Dances ; University of Texas Wind Ensemble; Jerry Junkin, conductor; Naxos 8.559601…

Composers Datebook

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Brahms rediscovered 2:00

2 days ago2:00

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Synopsis In the summer of 1853 Johannes Brahms had just turned twenty and was touring as the piano accompanist of the Hungarian violinist Ede Reményi. On today’s date, they arrived in Gottingen, where they were hosted by Arnold Wehner, the Music Director of that city’s University. Wehner kept a guest book for visitors, and over time accumulated signatures from the most famous composers of his day, including Mendelssohn, Rossini, and Liszt. Now, in 1853, Brahms was not yet as famous as he would later become, but as a thank-you to his host, he filled a page of Wehner’s album with a short, original composition for piano. Fast forward over 150 years to 2011, when Herr Wehner’s guest book fetched over $158,000 at an auction house in New York City, and this previously unknown piano score by Brahms attracted attention for many reasons. First, few early Brahms manuscripts have survived. Brahms was notorious for burning his drafts and sketches, and second, the melody Brahms jotted down in 1853 showed up again in the second movement of his Horn Trio, published 12 years later. Finally, there’s a still-unresolved controversy about who had rediscovered the long-lost score: the auction house had the manuscript authenticated in 2011, but in 2012 British conductor Christopher Hogwood claimed he had stumbled across it while doing other research. Music Played in Today's Program Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Albumblatt (1853); Sophie-Mayuko Vetter, piano; Hännsler 98048…

Composers Datebook

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Dvorak's 'The Water Goblin' 2:00

3 days ago2:00

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Synopsis In the late 19th Century, there were two rival musical camps: one favored “absolute music” like the symphonies, concertos, and chamber music of Brahms; the other the “music of the future,” namely the operas of Wagner and the tone poems of Liszt, works that told dramatic stories in music. Now, Dvořák’s mentor was Brahms, and Dvořák was famous for his symphonies, concertos and chamber music. But on today’s date in 1896, at a concert of the Prague Conservatory Orchestra, three tone poems by Dvořák premiered: The Water Goblin , The Noonday Witch , and The Golden Spinning Wheel , all three based on Czech folk legends — and rather lurid, even gruesome ones at that. Not surprisingly, the “absolute music” camp was shocked. Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick lamented: “It is strange that Dvořák now indulges in ugly, unnatural, and ghastly stories which correspond so little to his amiable character and to the true musician that he is. In The Water Goblin we are treated to a fiend who cuts off his own child’s head!” But another Czech composer, Leos Janacek, heard something quite different: “In all the orchestral tone poems that I have known, the ‘direct speech’ of the instruments, if I might describe it thus, has never sounded with such certainty, clarity and truthfulness within the wave of melodies, as it does in The Water Goblin .” Music Played in Today's Program Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904): The Water Goblin ; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor; Teldec 25254…

Composers Datebook

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Walton and the Royals 2:00

4 days ago2:00

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Composers Datebook

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Handel's Testament 2:00

5 days ago2:00

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Composers Datebook

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Peter Sellars and John Adams 2:00

6 days ago2:00

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Synopsis For fans of British comedy, the name Peter Sellars conjures up an actor famous for his iconic role as the bumbling Chief Inspector Clouseau in Pink Panther movies. But for opera fans, the name refers to a completely different fellow: an American theater director born in 1957. The American Peter Sellars is notorious for staging classic operas as if they were set in present-day America. For example: Mozart’s Don Giovanni in a dangerous, drug-dealing neighborhood in New York City’s Spanish Harlem, or The Marriage of Figaro in a luxury penthouse in Trump Tower. Sellars is also the frequent partner of American composer John Adams in brand-new operas and concert projects. On today’s date 2012, a new oratorio by Adams and Sellars, The Gospel According to the Other Mary received its world premiere at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles with Gustavo Dudamel conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. The new work’s libretto, crafted by Sellars, tells the Biblical story of the passion and death of Jesus from the point of view of “the other Mary,” Mary Magdalene, alongside texts and scenes from contemporary American life, including a women’s shelter, labor and social justice protests, and the opioid crisis. If Jesus were alive today, Sellars and Adams seem to be saying, He would be ministering to the suffering margins of American society, not to the rich and powerful. Music Played in Today's Program John Adams (b. 1949): Chorus , from The Gospel According to the Other Mary ; Los Angeles Master Chorale & Los Angeles Philharmonic; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor; DG 0289 479 2243 8…

Composers Datebook

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Britten's 'War Requiem' 2:00

7 days ago2:00

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Synopsis On today’s date in 1962, Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem for soprano, tenor, baritone, chorus, and orchestra, had its premiere performance at Coventry Cathedral in England. The Cathedral had been virtually destroyed in World War II bombing, and Britten’s big choral work was commissioned to celebrate its restoration and reconsecration. Britten was a committed pacifist, and his War Requiem text combines poems by Wilfred Owen, who had been killed in World War I, with the traditional Latin text of the Mass for the Dead. For the premiere, Britten requested soloists representing nations who had fought during World War II. With Britten’s life-time partner, tenor Peter Pears, representing England, the plan was to have a German baritone, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and a Russian soprano, Galina Vishnevskaya, for the 1962 premiere. As a young man, Fischer-Dieskau had been drafted into the German army, and had been a prisoner of war, but was eager to participate. Unfortunately, the Soviet authorities wouldn’t issue a visa for soprano Vishnevskaya to sing in the new Britten piece. “How can you, a Soviet woman, stand next to a German and an Englishman and perform such a political work,” they told her. British soprano Heather Harper substituted for her. For many, Britten’s War Requiem is his masterpiece, and shortly after its premiere, Britten wrote to his sister, “The idea did come off, I think … I hope it will make people think a bit.” Music Played in Today's Program Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): War Requiem ; soloists; choirs; BBC Scottish Symphony; Martyn Brabbins, conductor; Naxos 8.553558…

Composers Datebook

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Stravinsky's 'Rite' at 100+ 2:00

8 days ago2:00

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Composers Datebook

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John Williams and Alfred Hitchcock 2:00

9 days ago2:00

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Composers Datebook

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Higdon's 'Rhythm Stand' 2:00

10 days ago2:00

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Composers Datebook

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Edward Collins premieres 2:00

11 days ago2:00

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Synopsis In 1923, the Chicago North Shore Festival sponsored a competition for new orchestral works. Of the 47 scores submitted, five finalists were selected by a distinguished panel of judges that included two leading American composers of that day: George W. Chadwick and Henry Hadley. Two of the five works that made the final cut were by the same composer, 33-year-old Illinois native Edward Collins. On today’s date in 1923, conductor Frederick Stock and his Chicago Symphony played through the five finalists’ scores at a public event at Northwestern University, with Collins in attendance to hear his two contrasting pieces. The first was Mardi Gras , and, as you might expect, it was an upbeat work in a party mood. The second Collins piece was 1914 — a grim orchestral evocation of World War I that Collins later retitled Tragic Overture . It was that work that won the competition’s $1000 first prize, and so impressed conductor Stock that he performed the piece in New York and Chicago. Although Collins was famous in his day, after his death in 1951, his music was largely forgotten. Perhaps his unabashedly Romantic style seemed dated in the avant-garde 50s and 60s. After more than half a century after his death, a series of new recordings of Collins’ orchestral works made by the Concordia Orchestra under Marin Alsop have helped to reintroduce his music to a new generation. Music Played in Today's Program Edward Collins (1889-1951): Mardi Gras and Tragic Overture ; Concordia Orchestra; Marin Alsop, conductor; Albany 267…

Composers Datebook

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Verdi, Wagner and Sousa for the Red Cross 2:00

12 days ago2:00

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Synopsis When the United States entered World War I, American animosity against all things German resulted in a ban on German symphonic music and operas. During World War II however, musically speaking, things were different. With America at war with Germany and Italy, music by Wagner and Verdi, for example, continued to be performed in our concert halls and opera houses. In fact, just as the Nazis tried to appropriate German classical music for their propaganda purposes, the Allies adopted the opening notes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 as a Morse Code “V” for Victory motive, and in our wartime propaganda, Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries , accompanied images of Allied bombers racing through the clouds to strike German cities. On May 25, 1944, the combined orchestras of the New York Philharmonic and the NBC Symphony presented a Red Cross Benefit concert at Madison Square Garden, with Arturo Toscanini conducting. The first half of the program was all-Wagner, the second half, all-Verdi. During the intermission, New York mayor Fiorello La Guardia auctioned off maestro Toscanini’s baton. As a grand finale, after the German and Italian music, Toscanini closed with a rousing all-American encore — his own arrangement of John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever . So, as Walter Cronkite would put it: “That’s the way it was, May 25, 1944.” Music Played in Today's Program Richard Wagner (1813-1883): Ride of the Valkyries , from Die Walküre ; New York Philharmonic and NBC Orchestra; Arturo Toscanini, conductor; Radio Years 71/72 John Philip Sousa (arr. Toscanini): Stars and Stripes Forever ; New York Philharmonic and NBC Orchestra; Arturo Toscanini, conductor; Radio Years 71/72…

Composers Datebook

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Carter and Copland in dancing shoes 2:00

13 days ago2:00

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Synopsis In 1935, 26-year-old American composer Elliott Carter returned to the States after composition studies in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Carter found work as the music director of Ballet Caravan, an ambitious and enterprising touring ensemble whose mission was to present specially-commissioned new dance works on quintessentially American themes. Virgil Thomson, for example, wrote the ballet Filling Station , and Carter, decades before the animated Disney movie, wrote a ballet version of the story of Pocahontas and John Smith. While on tour, these new scores were presented in two-piano versions, but on today‘s date in 1939, the orchestral version of Carter’s Pocahontas Ballet was presented by the Ballet Caravan at its home base at the Martin Beck Theater in New York. The New York Times reviewer didn't much care for the staging or Carter’s music: “The costumes are in the manner of the old-fashioned cigar box Indian,” he wrote, “and after the first amusing glimpse their psuedo-naiveté begins to grow irksome. Mr. Carter’s music is so thick it is hard to see the stage through it.” The Times reviewer did like another new ballet also receiving its orchestral debut that same night. This was Aaron Copland’s Billy the Kid . “A perfectly delightful piece of work," enthused the same critic, concluding, “Aaron Copland has furnished an admirable score, warm and human, and with not a wasted note about it anywhere.” Music Played in Today's Program Elliott Carter (1908-2012): Pocahontas Ballet ; American Composers Orchestra; Paul Dunkel, conductor; CRI 610 Aaron Copland (1900-1990): Billy the Kid Ballet ; St. Louis Symphony; Leonard Slatkin, conductor; EMI 73653…

Composers Datebook

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Daniel Pinkham's 'Nocturnes' 2:00

14 days ago2:00

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Synopsis An old music dictionary’s definition of “nocturne” reads as follows: “A night piece, a musical composition that suggests a nocturnal atmosphere, for example Haydn’s Notturno or Mozart’s Serenata Notturna , but more specifically a short piece of romantic character. First to use this title for this genre was John Field, followed by Chopin.” Hundreds of composers since Field and Chopin have tried their hand at writing nocturnes. This particular one was written for flute and guitar by Boston-based composer Daniel Pinkham, as part of a five-movement suite of nocturnes, all premiered on today’s date in 1993, at the First and Second Church in Boston. Now, as any insomniac will tell you, there are all sorts of night moods, and the descriptive titles of Pinkham’s set of five Nocturnes ranges from the sprightly to the serene, with others titled “brooding,” “sultry” and “restless” tossed in for good measure. Pinkham was particularly fortunate in his teachers. Imagine studying composition with Aaron Copland, Walter Piston and Samuel Barber, or harpsichord with Wanda Landowska and organ with E. Power Biggs. Pinkham did — and in turn became a successful teacher himself, with a long tenure at the New England Conservatory of Music. He served as music director of Boston’s historic King’s Chapel, and as a composer was particularly honored by his church musician colleagues for his many works for chorus and organ. Music Played in Today's Program Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006): Nocturnes ; Fenwick Smith, flute; David Leisner, guitar; Koch 7423…

Composers Datebook

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Richard Wagner at 200+ 2:00

15 days ago2:00

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Synopsis Today’s date marks the anniversary Richard Wagner’s birth. During Wagner’s lifetime, his most famous — and perhaps most perceptive — critic was Prague-born Viennese writer on music Eduard Hanslick. Hanslick knew Wagner personally, and described him as follows: “A stranger would have seen in his face not so much an artistic genius as a dry Leipzig professor or lawyer. He spoke incredibly much — and fast — in a monotonous sing-song Saxon dialect and always of himself, his works, his reforms, his plans. If he mentioned the name of another composer it was always in a tone of disparagement.” For Wagnerians, Hanslick was a crusty old conservative who preferred Brahms and was too thick-headed to appreciate the Music of the Future epitomized by Wagner’s operas. But if one actually reads Hanslick’s writings on Wagner, a more nuanced and balanced picture emerges. “I know very well that Wagner is the greatest living opera composer and the only one in Germany worth talking about in a historical sense,” Hanslick wrote. “But between this admission and the repulsive idolatry which has grown up in connection with Wagner and which he has encouraged, there is an infinite chasm.” Upon learning of Wagner’s death in 1883, Hanslick wrote: “Wagner stands at the head of the moving forces of modern art. He shook opera and all its associated theoretical and practical issues from a comfortable state of repose bordering on stagnation.” Music Played in Today's Program Richard Wagner (1813-1883): Transformation Music from Parsifal…

Composers Datebook

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Brubeck's 'Pange Lingua Variations' 2:00

16 days ago2:00

2:00

Composers Datebook

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Alfons Diepenbrock 2:00

17 days ago2:00

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Composers Datebook

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Jodie Blackshaw's 'Letter from Sado' 2:00

18 days ago2:00

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Synopsis Australian composer Jodie Blackshaw is passionate about music for wind band and is fond of quoting her famous compatriot composer Percy Grainger on the subject: “Why this cold-shouldering of the wind band?” Grainger asked. “Is the wind band — with its varied assortments of reeds (so much richer that the reeds of the symphony orchestra), its complete saxophone family that is found nowhere else ... its army of brass — not the equal of any medium ever conceived? As a vehicle of deeply emotional expression it seems to me unrivalled.” For her part, Blackshaw has chosen to compose primarily for wind band. She also appears as a guest clinician and adjudicator for band festivals throughout Australia. “The Wind Band offers a varied and colorful contribution to instrumental music, and with literally millions of children worldwide entering musical performance through this medium, it is worthy of our serious attention,” she said. On today’s date in 2014, a new work by Blackshaw intended for middle-school band students was premiered by the Rosemount Middle School Band of Rosemont, Minnesota, under the direction of John Zschunke. The new piece, Letter from Sado , was inspired by a Japanese haiku and traditional Japanese taiko drumming. This work is part of the BandQuest series commissioned by the American Composers Forum, intended to offer young musicians a diverse variety of fresh new wind band works by leading composers of our day. Music Played in Today's Program Jodie Blackshaw: Letter from Sado ; University of Minnesota Wind Ensemble; Hal Leonard HL04004132 (sheet music)…

Composers Datebook

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Milhaud's 'Sacred Service' 2:00

19 days ago2:00

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Synopsis Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco is one of America’s foremost reform congregations. For some 50 years its cantor was Reuben Rinder, who, in addition to his liturgical duties, was a composer, impresario, and musical mentor. Cantor Rinder influenced the careers of two of the 20th century’s greatest violinists, Yehudi Menuhin and Isaac Stern, and also commissioned two of the 20th century’s most famous concert versions of the Jewish liturgy, the Evening and Morning Sabbath Service settings of Ernst Bloch and Darius Milhaud. Milhaud’s Sabbath Morning Service was first heard at Temple Emanu-El on today’s date in 1949, with its composer conducting. Milhaud was born in Provence and wrote that the Provencal Jewish tradition evoked in his score differs somewhat from the more standard Ashkenazi liturgy prevalent in most American synagogues then and now. The composer’s intention was to create a personal musical statement that could serve as both an actual liturgy for the faithful and as an ecumenical musical experience for any and all who hear the work, whether in temple or concert hall. In that respect, Milhaud’s Sacred Service was a great success. Alongside Bloch’s setting, written in the early 1930s, shortly before the onset of the Holocaust, Milhaud’s setting, written in the years following the conclusion of World War II, remains a powerful and moving affirmation of religious faith. Music Played in Today's Program Darius Milhaud (1892-1974): Sabbath Morning Service ; Prague Philharmonic Choir; Czech Philharmonic; Gerard Schwarz, conductor; Naxos 8.559409…

Composers Datebook

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Ned Rorem for eleven 2:00

20 days ago2:00

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Synopsis While many great composers have also been great conductors, this can be the exception rather than the rule. On today’s date in 1959, American composer Ned Rorem tried his hand at conducting the premiere of one of his own compositions, the chamber suite Eleven Studies for Eleven Players . Rorem recalled, “I learned that the first requisite to becoming a conductor is an inborn lust for absolute monarchy, and that I, alone among musicians, never got the bug. I was terrified. The first rehearsal was a model of how not to inspire confidence. I stood before the eleven players in all my virginal glory, and announced: ‘I’ve never conducted before, so if I give a wrong cue, do try to come in right anyway.’” Fortunately for Rorem, his eleven musicians were accomplished faculty at Buffalo University, and, despite his inexperience, he certainly knew how his new piece should sound. His suite incorporated a few bits recycled from music he had written for a successful Broadway hit — Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer — plus a bit from the unsuccessful play Motel that never made it past a Boston tryout. Rorem’s own tryout as a conductor convinced him to stick to composing, although he proved to be a fine piano accompanist for singers performing his own songs. As for Eleven Studies for Eleven Players , it’s gone on to become one of his most-often performed chamber works. Music Played in Today's Program Ned Rorem (1923-2022): Eleven Studies for Eleven Players ; New York Chamber Ensemble; Stephen Rogers Radcliffe, conductor; Albany 175…

Composers Datebook

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Smetana and the National Theatre in Prague 2:00

21 days ago2:00

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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…

Composers Datebook

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

22 days ago2:00

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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)…

Composers Datebook

1
Sousa's 'Stars and Stripes Forever!' march 2:00

23 days ago2:00

2:00

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…

Composers Datebook

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

24 days ago2:00

2:00

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…

Composers Datebook

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Gabriel Kahane 2:00

25 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…

Composers Datebook

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Maazel's 'Ring without Words' 2:00

26 days ago2:00

2:00

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…

Composers Datebook

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

27 days ago2:00

2:00

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…

Composers Datebook

1
Alexis Alrich's Marimba Concerto 2:00

28 days ago2:00

2:00

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…

Composers Datebook

1
Beethoven's Second on first? 2:00

29 days ago2:00