Martinu and Hanson premieres

Synopsis

In the 1940s, the Boston Symphony gave the premiere of more than 60 new orchestral works — most of them conducted by the charismatic and 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 Violin Concerto No. 2, 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 Piano Concerto, with the Boston Symphony and Czech pianist Rudolf Firkusny as soloist. Like the Martinu concerto, this, too, was a Koussevitzky Foundation commission.

Music Played in Today's Program

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

Howard Hanson (1896-1981): Piano Concerto; Alfred Mouledous, piano; Eastman-Rochester Orchestra; Howard Hanson, conductor; 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, 83, in Canadel, France

• 1970 - British composer Cyril Scott, 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