Zwilich's "Gardens" Symphony

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

W.A. Mozart (1756 - 1791) Symphony No. 35 (Haffner) Prague Chamber Orchestra; Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. Telarc 80203

Ellen Taaffe Zwillich (b. 1939) Symphony No. 4 (The Gardens) MSU Symphony and Choirs; Leon Gregorian, cond. Koch International 7487

On This Day

Births

• 1810 - Norwegian composer and violinist Ole Bull, in Bergen;

• 1909 - Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz, in Lódz;

• 1943 - French-American composer Ivan Tcherepnin, in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris;

Deaths

• 1907 - German composer Ludwig Thuille, age 45, in Munich;

• 1962 - French composer Jacques Ibert, age 71, in Paris;

Premieres

• 1887 - Verdi: opera "Otello," in Milan at the Teatro all Scala, with composer conducting (and cellist Arturo Toscanini in the orchestra);

• 1895 - Ippolitov-Ivanov: “Caucasian Sketches,” in Moscow, with the composer conducting (Julian date: Jan. 24;

• 1907 - Schoenberg: String Quartet No. 1 in d, Op. 7, in Vienna, by the Rosé Quartet;

• 1939 - Carl Orff: opera "Der Mond" (The Moon), in Munich at the Nationaltheater;

• 1958 - Tippett: Symphony No. 2, in London, by the BBC Symphony, with Sir Adrian Boult conducting;

• 1969 - Thea Musgrave: Clarinet Concerto, in London;

• 1970 - Elliott Carter: "Concerto for Orchestra" by the New York Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez conducting;

• 1995 - Olly Wilson: "Shango Memory" for orchestra, by the New York Philharmonic, Neeme Järvi conducting;

• 2000 - Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Symphony No. 4 ("The Gardens"), for chorus, children's chorus and orchestra, by Michigan State University ensembles conducted by Leon Gregorian.

Others

• 1875 - American premiere of J.S. Bach's Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, with the Theodore Thomas Orchestra and soloists S.E. Jacobsohn and Richard Arnold; The same performers also gave the New York City premiere at Steinway Hall the following day; Following a Dec. 10, 1881, New York Philharmonic performance under Thomas with the same soloists, the New York Times reviewer wrote: "The concert possesses no interest to anyone but a violinist and even for a musically disposed audience is not a felicitous selection."