Corigliano tunes up

Synopsis

If you’ve ever attended a live symphony orchestra concert, you’re probably familiar with the routine: before anyone starts playing, before the conductor even steps on stage, the principal oboist sounds an “A” – and the other musicians tune their instruments to that pitch.

On today’s date in 1975, a few people in the audience at Carnegie Hall might have been surprised to hear this familiar ritual segue directly into the opening of John Corigliano’s new Oboe Concerto, which was receiving its premiere performance by oboist Burt Lucarelli and the American Symphony orchestra.

The first movement of Corigliano’s Concerto is entitled “Tuning Game,” followed by a “Song-Scherzo,” “Aria” and a final “Dance.” This form, says Corigliano, arose “from the different aspects of the oboe, each movement based on a different quality of the instrument. The drama and coloratura qualities of the oboe are emphasized in the ‘Aria’ movement, for example, but the whole Concerto is highly theatrical, virtuoso music for both soloist and orchestra.”

Theatrical is right! The final dance movement was inspired by the sound of the “rheita” or Morrocan oboe. According to Corigliano: “I was fascinated by the rheita’s sound, heady and forceful, lacking both pitch and color controls of the Western oboe, but having an infectiously exciting quality. I first heard the instrument in Marrakech in 1966, serenading a cobra.”

Hmmm. Given the way some orchestral players feel about conductors, maybe that’s not such a stretch of the imagination for the featured oboist!

Music Played in Today's Program

John Corigliano (b. 1938) Oboe Concerto Humbert Lucarelli, oboe; American Symphony; Kazuyoshi Akiyama, cond. RCA/BMG 60395

On This Day

Births

• 1907 - American composer Burrill Phillips, in Omaha, Nebraska;

Deaths

• 1951 - Hungarian-born American operetta composer, Siegmund Romberg, age 64, in New York City;

Premieres

• 1879 - Dvorák: String Sextet No. 1, Op. 48, in Berlin;

• 1881 - Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2, in Budapest, by the National Theater Orchestra conducted by Alexander Erkel and the composer as the soloist;

• 1901 - Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18 (first complete performance), in Moscow, with Alexander Siloti conducting and the composer as soloist (see Julian date: Oct 27); The second and third movements had been premiered in Moscow on Dec. 2/15, 1900, by the same conductor and soloist (Rachmaninoff finished the first movement of this concerto on April 21/May 4, 1901);

• 1926 - Hindemith: opera, "Cardillac" (1st version) in Dresden at the Sächisches Staatstheater;

• 1940 - Rodrigo: "Concierto de Aranjuez" for guitar and orchestra, in Barcelona;

• 1945 - American premiere of Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5, by the Boston Symphony, Serge Koussevitzky conducting.

• 1967 - Takemitsu: "November Steps" for biwa (Japanese lute), shakuhachi (bamboo flute) and orchestra, by the New York Philharmonic, Seiji Ozawa conducting;Corigliano: Oboe Concerto, in New York City;

• 1975 - Corigliano: Oboe Concerto, at Carnegie Hall in New York City by the American Symphony, with Kazuyoshi Akiyama conducting Bert Lucarelli the soloist;

• 1994 - Michael Torke: “Nylon” for guitar and chamber orchestra, at the Assembly Rooms in Derby (U.K.), by the East of England Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Nabarro, with Nicola Hall the soloist;

• 2000 - Karen Tanaka: "Guardian Angel," at Carnegie Hall in New York, by the Brooklyn Philharmonic;

• 2002 - David Del Tredici: “Grand Trio” for piano, violin and cello, in College Park, Md., by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio;

Others

• 1760 - Joseph Haydn signs a marriage contract with Maria Anna Keller (after her younger sister, whom Haydn reportedly preferred, became a nun); See also Nov. 26 below for the actual ceremony;

• 1784 - Mozart finishes his String Quartet in Bb, K. 458 ("The Hunt");

• 1878 - Leopold Damrosch conducts first concert of the New York Symphony Society Orchestra in Steinway Hall; This orchestra merged with its older competitor, the New York Philharmonic, in 1928;

• 1921 - The American Academy in Rome awards American composer Howard Hanson its second two-year composition fellowship; The first fellowship was awarded to Leo Sowerby on October 4, 1921; The third fellowship was awarded to Randall Thompson on June 6, 1922; The Academy's fellowship awards for composers continue to this day.