Synopsis
On today’s date in 2002, Mariss Jansons led the Pittsburg Symphony in the premiere performance of the Symphony No. 2 written by 32-year-old American composer Michael Hersch.
Hardly a child prodigy, he was introduced to classical music at 18 by his brother Jamie, who showed him a videotape of Georg Solti conducting Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. That experience shook him. “It scrambled everything. That’s when I knew that I was to be a composer... My whole life started over at that moment,” Hersch recalled.
He certainly made up for lost time, exhibiting an uncanny ability to master both the piano and the intricacies of contemporary compositional techniques in less than a decade.
His first success as a composer came when his Elegy for Strings won a major prize and was conducted by Marin Alsop at Lincoln Center in New York in 1997. Since then, his works have been commissioned and performed by many other leading orchestras and performers.
Hersch’s Symphony No. 2 has no stated program, but it was composed shortly after the events of September 11, 2001, and knowing that, it’s hard to disassociate the score’s violent opening and subsequent elegiac mood from that tragic moment in American history.
Music Played in Today's Program
Michael Hersch (b. 1971): Symphony No. 2; Bournemouth Symphony; Marin Alsop, conductor; Naxos 8.559281
On This Day
Deaths
1951 - American composer John Alden Carpenter, 75, in Chicago
1991 - French-born American composer and arranger Leo (Noël) Arnaud, 86, in Los Angeles. His tune Bugler’s Dream (written for a Felix Slatkin LP) became used as a familiar theme for the Olympic Games.
Premieres
1738 - Handel: opera Serse, (Julian date: April 15)
1899 - first version of Sibelius: Symphony No. 1, by the Helsinki Philharmonic, with the composer conducting. A revised, final version of this symphony was performed by the same orchestra on tour in Stockholm on July 4, 1900, conducted by Robert Kajanus.
1915 - Hindemith: String Quartet No. 1, at Dr. Hoch’s Conservatory in Frankfurt
1959 - John Cage: Fontana Mix, in New York City
1965 - Ives: Symphony No. 4, at Carnegie Hall by the American Symphony Orchestra, with Leopold Stokowski (assisted by David Katz and José Serebrier)
1970 - Broadway premiere of Sondheim: musical Company. A trial-run in Boston preceded the Broadway premiere.
1990 - John Harbison: Concerto for Double Brass Choir and Orchestra, in Los Angeles, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, André Previn conducting
2002 - Michael Hersch: Symphony No. 2, by the Pittsburgh Symphony, Mariss Jansons conducting
Others
1891 - Tchaikovsky arrives in New York to take part in the May 5, 1891, opening concert at New York’s newly-constructed Music Hall (later known as Carnegie Hall).
1926 - American premiere of Monteverdi’s 1642 opera L’Incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea), at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts
Love the music?
Show your support by making a gift to YourClassical.
Each day, we’re here for you with thoughtful streams that set the tone for your day – not to mention the stories and programs that inspire you to new discovery and help you explore the music you love.
YourClassical is available for free, because we are listener-supported public media. Take a moment to make your gift today.
Your Donation
About Composers Datebook®
Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.
He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.