Copland brings New York to London

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990) Music for a Great City Saint Louis Symphony; Leonard Slatkin, cond. RCA/BMG 60149

On This Day

Births

• 1893 - British composer and conductor Sir Eugene Goosens, in London;

• 1898 - American composer, pianist and conductor Ernst Bacon, in Chicago;

• 1938 - American composer and pianist William Bolcom, in Seattle;

Deaths

• 1924 - Irish-born American composer and cellist Victor Herbert, age 65, in New York;

Premieres

• 1914 - Stravinsky: opera, "Le Rossignol" (The Nightingale), at the Paris Opéra, with Pierre Monteux conducting;

• 1919 - Gershwin: musical "La, La, Lucille," at the Henry Miller Theater in New York City;

• 1923 - Edward Joseph Collins: "Tragic Overture (1914)" and "Mardi Gras" performed at Northwestern University by the Chicago Symphony under Frederick Stock as part of the finalists' concert of the North Shore Festival competition for new works for orchestra; Collins won the $1000 first prize for his "Tragic Overture (1914)";

• 1953 - Stockhausen: "Kontra-Punkte" for ten instruments, in Cologne;

• 1963 - Lou Harrison: "Pacifika Rondo" for an orchestra of Western and Oriental instruments, at the University of Hawaii;

• 1964 - Copland: "Music for a Great City" (from the filmscore to "Something Wild"), by the London Symphony conducted by the composer;

• 1967 - George Crumb: "Echoes of Time and the River (Four Processionals for Orchestra)", in Chicago; This work won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1967;

• 1990 - Philip Glass: chamber opera "Hydrogen Jukebox" (to poems by Allen Ginsberg), by the Philip Glass ensemble conducted by Martin Goldray, in a staged version presented at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C,; A concert version was premiered at the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia, on April 29, 1990;

• 2001 - Birtwistle: "Tango for Betty," dedicated to the 80-year old music patron, Betty Freeman, by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting; (see May 25 & 27 as well);

• 2002 - Henry Brant: "Ghosts and Gargoyles" for solo flute and flute ensemble, in Toronto, Canada, by soloist Robert Aitken and the New Music Concerts Ensemble, conducted by the composer;

Others

• 1731 - London's "Academy for Vocal Music" is renamed "The Academy of Ancient Music, with Johann Christoph Pepsuch its artistic director (Gregorian date: June 6).