Martinu and Hanson premieres

Synopsis

In the 1940s, the Boston Symphony gave the premiere of more than 60 new orchestral works—most conducted by the very charismatic and very wealthy Serge Koussevitzky, the music director of the Boston Symphony.

And why not? It was the Koussevitzky Foundation that commissioned most of those pieces in the first place, and certainly Maestro Koussevitzky had the knack for picking winners and advancing the careers of composers he admired. In the 1940s, for example, Koussevitzky premiered no less than four major works by the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu. On today’s date in 1943, one of these pieces, Martinu’s Second Violin Concerto, received its first performance under Koussevitzky with Mischa Elman as the soloist.

But not all the Boston premieres were conducted by Koussevitzky. Earlier that same December of 1943, the American composer and conductor Howard Hanson led the orchestra in the first performance of his Symphony No. 4, and on today’s date in 1948, the premiere of his own Piano Concerto, with the Boston Symphony and the Czech pianist Rudolf Firkusny as soloist. Like the Martinu Concerto, this, too, was a Koussevitzky Foundation commission.

And while we’re on the subject of music patrons, we should note that George Eastman, the great Kodak film magnate, was so impressed with Hanson back in the 1920s that he put him in charge of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. This recording of the jazzy finale from Hanson’s concerto is from a 1965 recording, featuring the Eastman-Rochester orchestra conducted by Hanson.

Music Played in Today's Program

Bohuslav Martinu (1890–1959) Violin Concerto No. 2 Josef Suk, violin; Czech Philharmonic; Vaclav Neumann, cond. Supraphon 11 0702

Howard Hanson (1896–1981) Piano Concerto, Op. 36 Alfred Mouledous, piano; Eastman-Rochester Orchestra; Howard Hanson, cond. Mercury 434 370

On This Day

Births

• 1894 - Anglo-Irish composer Ernest John Moeran, in Heston, Middlesex;

• 1899 - Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas, in Santiago, Papasquiaro;

• 1962 - American composer Jennifer Higdon, in Brooklyn, New York;

Deaths

• 1950 - French composer Charles Koechlin, age 83, in Canadel, France;

• 1970 - British composer Cyril Scott, age 91, in Eastbourne, England;

Premieres

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 122 ("Das neugeborne Kindelein") performed on the Sunday after Christmas as part of Bach's second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25);

• 1842 - Lortzing: opera "Der Wildschütz" (The Poacher), in Leipzig at the Stadttheater;

• 1865 - Rimsky-Korsakov: Symphony No. 1, in St. Petersburg, with Balakirev conducting (Julian date: Dec. 19);

• 1879 - Gilbert & Sullivan: operetta "The Pirates of Penzance," at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York, with the composer conducting (see also Dec. 30 above);

• 1943 - Martinu: Violin Concerto (No. 2), by the Boston Symphony with Serge Koussevitzky conducting and Micsha Elman the soloist;

• 1948 - Antheil: Symphony No. 5, by Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

• 1948 - Howard Hanson: Piano Concerto, by the Boston Symphony with the composer conducting and Rudolf Firkusny the soloist.