Composers Datebook

SynopsisOkay, here’s a cocktail party question for music fans: “What do James Brown — the master of funk — and Soviet symphonic composer Dmitri Shostakovich have in common?”The answer is Stomp, a piece by Seattle-based composer David Schiff that premiered on today’s date in 1990 at Alice Tully Hall in New York City at a concert by Marin Alsop’s Concordia orchestra.For starters, on the score of Stomp, Schiff includes a reference to James Brown’s music, instructing the players, “Every instrument is treated like a drum.” Also, during its opening, there’s a staccato rhythm based on Brown’s iconic tune, “I Feel Good.”And the Shostakovich connection? Well, Schiff confesses to modeling Stomp on the opening movement of that composer’s Symphony No. 9, right down to a strict imitation of Shostakovich’s repeat of the exposition, in sonata-form style.On the origin and subsequent use of Stomp, Schiff said, “Marin Alsop conducted one of my pieces at Tanglewood in 1988 and later asked me for a new orchestral piece for her Concordia orchestra; since then, Stomp has since been played by many orchestras including the L.A. Philharmonic, who took it to high schools to demonstrate that classical music could be really loud.”Music Played in Today's ProgramDavid Schiff (b. 1945): Stomp; Baltimore Sym; David Zinman, conductor; Argo 444 454-2

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1940, the Chicago Symphony helped celebrate their 50th anniversary with the premiere performance of a specially commissioned symphony from famous Russian composer Igor Stravinsky.Stravinsky himself was on hand to conduct his Symphony in C — a work that attracted a great deal of attention at the time. For starters, writing a symphony in the key of C Major seemed a defiantly anti-modern gesture at a time when Arnold Schoenberg’s twelve tone method of composition was gaining ground with prominent American musicians and critics.Traditionally, C Major was deemed a “happy” or “bright” key, but Stravinsky composed his Symphony during one of the unhappiest periods of his life, when his wife, his mother and one of his daughters had all died in rapid succession. “It is no exaggeration to say that in the following weeks I was able to continue my own life only by my work on the Symphony in C,” Stravinsky wrote. “But I did not seek to overcome my grief by portraying or giving expression to it in music, and you will listen in vain, I think, for traces of this sort of personal emotion.”Music Played in Today's ProgramIgor Stravinsky (1882-1971): Symphony in C; Chicago Symphony; Georg Solti, conductor; London 458 898

SynopsisFor later Romantic composers like Richard Wagner, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 was “the apotheosis of the dance,” and certainly sitting still during the Symphony’s dizzying finale is not always easy. But for those in the audience at its premiere in 1813, as part of a benefit concert for wounded Bavarian and Austrian soldiers, it was the somber slow movement that proved most attractive. Perhaps audiences read more into it than Beethoven intended, given the occasion, but over time, the slow movements of many symphonies not only got longer, but by the time of Bruckner and Mahler also became the emotional “heart” of the composition, and are sometimes performed as stand-alone concert pieces.On today’s date in 1999, this Adagio by Italian composer Elisabetta Brusa received its premiere performance by the Virtuosi of Toronto. Brusa was born in 1954 in Milan and studied music at the Milan Conservatory. “My Adagio is a freely structured composition in a single movement inspired by well-known masterpieces, such as those by Albinoni, Mahler, and Barber. Independent of a pre-established form, sonata, or suite, it originated as an autonomous composition in the expressive style which have distinguished the numerous Adagios of the past,” she wrote. Music Played in Today's ProgramLudwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 7; Berlin Philharmonic; Claudio Abbado, conductor; DG 471 490Elisabetta Brusa (b. 1954): Adagio; Ukraine National Symphony; Fabio Mastrangelo, conductor; Naxos 8.555267

SynopsisAt the dawn of the 20th century, Teddy Roosevelt was president and America was in an upbeat, prosperous mood. Cultural affairs were not forgotten, either. To the already established American symphony orchestras in cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati and San Francisco, new ensembles would spring up in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Cleveland, and Seattle.In 1903, it was Minneapolis’ turn. On November 5 of that year, German-born musician Emil Oberhoffer led the first concert of the newly formed Minneapolis Symphony. In those days it was a 50-piece ensemble, but in the course of the next 100 years, would double in size and change its name to the Minnesota Orchestra.As this is the Composers Datebook, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that the Minnesota Orchestra has enjoyed a special relationship with a number of leading American composers.Aaron Copland conducted the orchestra on a memorable and televised Bicentennial Concert in 1976, and two young American composers, Stephen Paulus and Libby Larsen, served as composers-in-residence with the orchestra in the 1980s. The orchestra has also given the premiere performances of works by Charles Ives, John Adams, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Dominick Argento and Aaron Jay Kernis, among many others.Music Played in Today's ProgramDominick Argento (1927-2019): A Ring of Time; Minnesota Orchestra; Eiji Oue, conductor; Reference 91

SynopsisToday’s date marks the premiere of two works written by émigré composers: one Austrian, the other Chinese.On Nov. 4, 1948, the Albuquerque Civic Symphony gave the first performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, a powerful piece for narrator, chorus and orchestra. Schoenberg had met some survivors of the Nazi pogroms in the Warsaw ghetto. He was profoundly moved as they recounted their harrowing experiences, so he set their recollections to music, utilizing a twelve-tone theme which is revealed only at the end of the work, where it supplies the traditional melody of a Jewish prayer of comfort and hope.On today’s date in 1993, Boulder, Colorado, was the venue for the premiere of the String Quartet No. 3 by Chinese composer Bright Sheng. “It was inspired by the memory of a Tibetan folk dance which I came across about 25 years ago when I was living in a province on the border between China and Tibet,” he recalled. At that time, Madame Mao’s Cultural Revolution was in full force, and that explains why a teenage pianist from Shanghai ended up on a remote Chinese frontier. Eventually, Sheng was able to enroll in the Shanghai Conservatory, and in 1982 came to New York. Music Played in Today's ProgramArnold Schoenberg (1874-1951): A Survivor from Warsaw; Simon Callow, narrator; London Symphony; Robert Craft, conductor; Koch 7263Bright Sheng (b. 1955): String Quartet No. 3 (Shanghai Quartet) BIS 1138

SynopsisRussian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov might be described as an operatic dynamo: he composed fifteen and had a hand in editing, orchestrating and promoting important operas by his fellow countrymen: Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov and Khovantschina, Borodin’s Prince Igor and Dargomïzhsky’s The Stone Guest.Rimsky-Korsakov’s fifteen operas are rarely staged with any regularity outside Russia, although instrumental suites and excerpts from them have proven immensely popular as concert pieces.The familiar Flight of the Bumble Bee is from a Rimsky-Korsakov opera that premiered in Moscow on today’s date in 1900, and, like most of his operas, is based on Russian fairytales. The opera’s full title is: The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of his Son the Renowned and Mighty Bogatïr Prince Guidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Swan-Princess.If you think the title is a bit long, consider the required cast of performers, which in addition to thirteen main characters calls for Boyars and their wives, courtiers, nursemaids, sentries, troops, boatmen, astrologers, footmen, singers, scribes, servants and maids, dancers of both sexes, 33 knights of the sea with their leader Chernomor, a squirrel and — oh yes — a bumblebee.Music Played in Today's ProgramNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908): Flight of the Bumble Bee, from Tsar Saltan; Philharmonia Orchestra; Vladimir Ashkenazy, conductor; London 460 250Rimsky-Korsakov: Flight of the Bumble Bee; Budapest Clarinet Quintet; Naxos 8.553427Rimsky-Korsakov: Flight of the Bumble Bee Itzhak Perlman, violin; Samuel Sanders, piano; EMI 54882

SynopsisToday we dip into the “Composers Mailbag” for two letters, neither of them dealing with significant musical matters, but both (coincidentally) with wine.In a note dated Nov. 2, 1894, Giuseppe Verdi wrote (in his typically blunt style): “Dear Sig. Melani, I received yesterday the cases of wine. Now what is left is to pay for them. Please send me the bill for what I owe you minus the empty cases and returned bottles. Do it as soon as possible as I am going to the country and want to send you a check before I leave. As always, G. Verdi."The second letter is dated Nov. 2, 1748, and was penned by Johann Sebastian Bach to his cousin, and reads: “That you and your dear wife are well I am assured by the note I received from you yesterday accompanying the little cask of wine you sent, for which much thanks. Regrettably the cask was damaged by being shaken in the wagon or some other way, for when opened for the usual customs inspection, it was 2/3 empty. It is a pity that even the least drop of this noble gift of God should have been spilled. (Signed) Your devoted cousin, J.S. Bach.”Music Played in Today's ProgramGiuseppe Verdi (1813-1901): Libiamo (Brindisi), from La Traviata; Frank Chacksfield Orchestra; London 436 849

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1738, George Frederick Handel completed one of his first great Biblical oratorios: Israel in Egypt, based on the book of Exodus.At this point in time, British taste for Handel’s Italian-style operas had waned, and, like the filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille some 200 years later, Handel set out to entice his jaded audience back into the theaters with Biblical epics like Saul and Israel in Egypt, featuring big casts and lots of special effects.“I hear that Mr. Handel has borrowed a pair of the largest kettle-drums from the Tower of London, so to be sure it will be most excessively noisy!” Gossiped one young British Lord to his father. Even so, many in the audience at premiere of Israel in Egypt didn’t know quite what make of it. Some thought religious subjects unsuitable outside of a church setting; others found the music, in the words of one contemporary, “too solemn for common ears.” A few, however, were quite enthusiastic. One gentleman wrote a long letter to the London Daily Post, informing readers that the Prince of Wales and his consort attended, and appeared enchanted by the new work.Music Played in Today's ProgramGeorge Frederic Handel (1685-1759): Israel in Egypt; King’s College Choir; Brandenburg Consort; Stephen Cleobury, conductor; London 452 295

SynopsisSince today is Halloween, how about a supernatural legend in music?The second of three Fábulas — fables or fantastic stories — for violin and piano by Puerto Rican composer Dan Román is titled La Garita del Diablo or The Devil’s Sentry Box.The old port city of San Juan is surrounded by a fortified stone wall built by the Spaniards to protect it from their enemies, dotted with stone sentry boxes at strategic locations where soldiers could gain an advantageous view of any attack arriving by sea. Mystery and myth surrounding one of these lonely sentry boxes built high above the sea began after several soldiers disappeared during their watch, leaving no trace behind. Despite a number of rational explanations, popular imagination blamed the disappearances on evil and supernatural forces.In his chamber work, Román said, “The piano and the violin form aural impressions of the echoes and distant reverberations that take shape in the old passages leading to the sentry box and of the darkness and impersonality of the ocean during the night, until the observer gets to the sentry box and hears the breaking of the sea waves against the rocks and city wall.”Music Played in Today's ProgramDan Román (b. 1974): La Garita del Diabolo from Fabulas; Katalin Viszmeg, violin; Pi-Hsun Shih, piano; Innova 904

Synopsis“From whence cometh song?” asks the opening lines of a poem by American writer Theodore Roethke.That’s a question American composer Ned Rorem must have asked himself hundreds of times, while providing just as many answers in the form of hundreds of his original song settings.About his own music, Rorem tends to be a little reluctant to speak. “Nothing a composer can say about his music is more pointed than the music itself,” he wrote.On today’s date in 1979, Rorem was at the piano, accompanying soprano Phyllis Bryn-Julson in the premiere performance of a song cycle he called Nantucket Songs, a cycle that began with his setting of Roethke’s poem.“These songs, merry or complex or strange though their texts may seem, aim away from the head and toward the diaphragm. They are emotional rather than intellectual, and need not be understood to be enjoyed,” he wrote. Speaking of personal enjoyment, Rorem said at the premiere performance of his Nantucket Songs, which was recorded live at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. that “Phyllis Bryn-Julson and I, unbeknownst to each other, both had fevers of 102 degrees.”Music Played in Today's ProgramNed Rorem (1923-2022): Nantucket Songs; Phyllis Bryn-Julson, soprano; Ned Rorem, piano; CRI 670

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1923, the comedy team of Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles were the star attraction in a new musical called Runnin’ Wild, which opened at the Colonial Theater at Broadway and 62nd Street.In their day, Miller and Lyles were the African-American equivalent of Abbot and Costello or Laurel and Hardy. The plot they crafted for Runnin’ Wild, like many musical plots back then, was flimsy: two Southern con-men on the run head north to St. Paul, Minnesota, but find the natives too strange and the climate too cold. This plot provided an excuse for comic sketches to be sandwiched in between snappy song and dance numbers, the latter invariably involving leggy showgirls.One dance number in the show struck gold for its composer, James P. Johnson.Johnson called this tune Charleston, after the dockside home of many recent African-American immigrants to New York City’s west side. Scholars have traced this dance step back to the west side of Africa, however — an Ashanti Ancestor dance, to be exact. But whatever its source, this catchy rhythm made Johnson famous, and rapidly became the signature tune for the Roaring Twenties, a decade of flappers, bathtub gin, and all that jazz!Music Played in Today's ProgramJames P. Johnson (1894-1955): Charleston; Leslie Stifelman, piano; Concordia Orchestra; Marin Alsop, conductor; MusicMasters 67140

SynopsisOn today’s date in 2001, the Present Music ensemble premiered a new piece of music, Flight Box, at the grand opening celebrations for a new art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The building was designed by Santiago Calatrava, and its roof looks a little like the wings of a large, graceful bird in flight — at least that’s the impression that composer Kamran Ince got viewing the new structure on several visits to Milwaukee.Ince was born in Montana in 1960 to American and Turkish parents and lived in Turkey between 1966 and 1980. Not surprisingly, elements of traditional Turkish music crop up in his original works, including Flight Box, which was composed while he flew between America and Europe seven times. Ince says he completed Flight Box early in 2001, many months before the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C. Its October premiere, coming just one month after those traumatic events, added some sinister overtones to the work’s title, but Ince insists it was based on his own, far happier memories of flying, or, as he put it, “it’s the diary of a flight that safely reaches its destination.”Music Played in Today's ProgramKamran Ince (b. 1960): Flight Box; Present Music Ensemble; Kevin Stalheim, conductor; Present Music 6509

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1993, American composer Daniel Asia conducted the Phoenix Symphony in the premiere performance of his Symphony No. 4. The work included a slow movement, written as an orchestral elegy for his friend and composer colleague, Stephen Albert, who had died in a car crash the previous year.But Asia cast his symphony in the traditional four-movements familiar from the symphonies of Haydn and Beethoven. And, as in the symphonies of Haydn and Beethoven, he left room for a wide range of emotions — including humor. So, in addition to a slow, elegiac movement, the symphony has a second movement Scherzo, with a traditional, but jaunty and very American-sounding trio section.“In this piece, I was rediscovering old formal ideas ... the second movement is a true scherzo. There are refractions of Beethoven scherzos, but sometimes a beat is chopped off, creating a skipping effect. Everything is in threes in the trio-section; the harmony is three-voiced, and the instrumentation is also in threesomes,” Asia wrote. As both composer and conductor, Daniel Asia has worked with American orchestras for coast-to-coast performances of his orchestral works, ranging from his hometown Seattle Symphony to the American Composers Orchestra in New York.Music Played in Today's ProgramDaniel Asia (b. 1953): Symphony No. 4; New Zealand Symphony; James Sedares, conductor; Summit 256

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1930, The Age of Gold, a new ballet by Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich opened in Leningrad. At that time, it was trendy for Soviet art to extol sporting events, and contrast the wholesome values of the new Soviet society with those of the decadent, bourgeois West.And so, the plot of this new Soviet ballet ran as follows: a Russian soccer team arrives in a Western city to play a match during an industrial exposition, only to find their heroic endeavors thwarted by a hostile hotel staff, a seductive Western opera diva, and, of course, corrupt police and city officials.Dutifully following the party line, Shostakovich wrote, “Throwing into contrast the two cultures was my main aim. The dances for the Europeans breathe the decadent spirit of … contemporary bourgeois culture, but I tried to imbue the Soviet dances with the wholesome elements of sport and physical culture.”One of the lasting hits of his ballet score was a sardonic little polka.Despite all this political subtext, Shostakovich seemed to be having a whale of a time, as if he rather enjoyed spending a little time — if only musically — in the decadent West.Music Played in Today's ProgramDmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): Polka, from The Age of Gold; Moscow Chamber Orchestra; Constantine Orbelian, conductor; Delos 3257

SynopsisThe real story behind Richard Strauss’ decision to use a chamber orchestra for his opera Ariadne on Naxos — which premiered in Stuttgart on today’s date in 1912 — is complicated and a little mundane. We prefer a more “colorful” version that some in Stuttgart have proffered.When a new opera house was being planned for that city, Strauss was asked how large the orchestral pit should be. “Oh, it should hold about 100 players,” he suggested. So, to determine the size required, the architects rather naively asked the local military band to assemble 100 players, have them stand at attention, and measured the amount of space they occupied.Now, soldiers standing at attention take up a lot less space than an equal number of seated symphonic musicians. And so, the resulting space in the new theater could only accommodate a chamber orchestra.The Stuttgart Opera also wanted to launch their new theater with a brand-new opera commissioned from Strauss. When he learned what had happened, being the eminently practical sort he was, simply wrote his new opera for chamber ensemble of about 40 players.Fact or fantasy, that’s how some like to tell it in Stuttgart.Music Played in Today's ProgramRichard Strauss (1861-1949): Ariadne auf Naxos; Vienna Philharmonic; James Levine, conductor; DG 419 225

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1930,  Howard Hanson led the premiere performance of the full orchestral version of William Grant Still’s symphonic poem, Africa at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.Still had originally conceived Africa as a chamber work, dedicated to and premiered by great French flutist Georges Barrère earlier that same year.In a letter to Barrère, he said his new work depicted “the Africa of my imagination,” explaining: “An American Negro has formed a concept of the land of his ancestors based largely on its folklore, and influenced by his contact with American civilization. He beholds in his mind’s eye not the Africa of reality, but an Africa mirrored in fancy, and radiantly ideal.”That said, the Africa of Still’s imagination included not only serene, pastorale moments, but also — according to his wife — the surfacing of “unspoken fears and lurking terrors.”In its revised full symphonic version, Africa proved successful recalls the colors of Rimksy-Korsakov’s reimagined pagan Russia, and as an orchestral showpiece proved successful in subsequent performances in Europe, but, for some reason known only to Still, Africa remained unpublished during his lifetime.Music Played in Today's ProgramWilliam Grant Still (1895-1978): Land of Romance and Land of Superstition, from Africa; Fort Smith ASym; John Jeter, conductor; Naxos 8.559174

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1959, the Detroit Symphony, led by eminent French conductor Paul Paray, gave the first performance of new music by American composer Walter Piston. He had studied in Paris with famous French composition teacher Nadia Boulanger and great French composer Paul Dukas, so perhaps this was an astute paring of composer and conductor.In any case, to help celebrate the 100th Worcester Festival, Paray and the Detroit orchestra were on hand in Massachusetts for the premiere of Piston’s Three New England Sketches, an orchestral suite with three movements: Seaside, Summer Evening, and Mountains.Piston didn’t intend these titles to be taken literally. “[They] serve in a broad sense to tell the source of the inspirations, reminiscences, even dreams that pervaded the otherwise musical thoughts of one New England composer,” he noted.Piston certainly qualified as a bonafide New England composer. He was born in Rockland, Maine, in 1894, taught at Harvard, had a vacation home in Vermont, and died in Belmont, Massachusetts in 1976.Even so, the most striking hallmark of his music remains its quite cosmopolitan style and neo-classical form — the lasting influence, perhaps, of his two famous French teachers.Music Played in Today's ProgramWalter Piston (1894-1976): Three New England Sketches; Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, conductor; Delos 3106

SynopsisHandel is the composer credited with “inventing” the organ concerto in the 18th century. Handel was a virtuoso performer on the organ, and, as a special added attraction during the London performances of some of his oratorios, one of his concertos would be featured as a kind of intermission feature. This served to showcase his skill as an organist — and perhaps to give his singers a chance to catch their breath between sections of the full-length oratorio.Since then, a number of composers have added to the organ concerto repertory started by Handel.On today’s date in 1990, on a CBC radio broadcast from the Calgary Organ Festival Competition, Snow Walker, a new organ concerto by the American composer Michael Colgrass had its premiere performance. Colgrass’ concerto is cast as an impressionistic musical picture of the Far North and the fortitude, humor and spirituality of Canada’s native Inuit peoples. The work is dedicated to Farley Mowat, the author of a true-life story of life in the Far North, Never Cry Wolf, familiar from a popular Disney movie. The Colgrass concerto provides musical evocations of a polar landscape, Inuit throat singing and a rambunctious dance finale.Music Played in Today's ProgramGeorge Frederic Handel (1685-1757): Organ Concerto, No. 4; Simon Preston, organ; Festival Orchestra; Yehudi Menuhin, conductor; EMI 72626Michael Colgrass (1932-2019): Snow Walker; David Schrader, organ; Grant Park Orchestra; Carlos Kalmar, conductor; Cedille 90000 063

SynopsisLet’s face it. Brevity and wit are not always qualities one associates with new music.But today we offer a sample: this comic overture is less than five minutes long, and opens, as you just heard, with a Fellini-esque duet for piccolo and contrabassoon.Quantum Quirks of a Quick Quaint Quark is a rather burlesque celebration of modern theoretical physics. Its alliterative title evokes those subatomic particles known as “quarks” that, we’re told, make up our universe. And, since this music changes time signature so often, perhaps Heisenberg’s “uncertainty principle” is thrown in for good measure.The music is by Marga Richter, who was born on this date in 1926 in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. Richter received her early music training in Minneapolis, and then moved to New York’s Juilliard School. By the time of her death in 2020, she had composed over 75 works including an opera and two ballets, as well as two piano concertos and a variety of solo, chamber and symphonic works.“Composing is my response to a constant desire to transform my perceptions and emotions into music … music is the way I speak to the silence of the universe,” Richter said. Music Played in Today's ProgramMarga Richter (1926-2020): Quantum Quirks of a Quick Quaint Quark; Czech Radio Orchestra; Gerard Schwarz; MMC 2006

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1950, famous oboist Marcel Tabuteau gave the premiere performance of this Pastorale for solo oboe, harp, and strings, with his colleagues from the Philadelphia Orchestra.The music was by Howard Hanson, who dedicated the piece to his wife Peggy.Hanson was born in Wahoo, Nebraska in 1896. As a talented teenager, he recalls a German-born musician in New York asking him, “Well, now, Hanson, why do you waste your time at futile efforts in composition when you could became a great concert pianist?” This, he said, from someone who had never heard one note he had written. “In the true German tradition, he figured that nobody from Nebraska could possibly write good music. It took 40 years to get rid of that kind of thinking in the U.S. — and we’re not over it yet,” Hanson recalled. Hanson was a successful composer, conductor and educator in his early 80s when he made those comments, but he retained his sense of humor, as evidence by this comment from the octogenarian: “Peggy will say to me, ‘What are you going to do now?’ and I’ll say, ‘I’m going upstairs to waste my time in futile efforts at composition.’”Music Played in Today's ProgramHoward Hanson (1896-1981): Pastorale; Randall Ellis, oboe; Susan Jolles, harp; Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, conductor; Delos 3105