Berio, Brahms and Boccherini

Synopsis

The “Three B’s” are traditionally Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, of course — but today we’re offering Boccherini, Brahms and Berio.

20th-century Italian composer Luciano Berio, noted for his avant-garde scores, was asked to orchestrate the F minor Clarinet Sonata by Johannes Brahms — in 1986, for a Los Angeles Philharmonic concert featuring clarinetist Michele Zukofsky. Berio admired Brahms, and created a very respectful arrangement, but Berio couldn’t resist adding something of his own: a totally original 13-bar orchestral introduction that segues into the Brahms score.

Eleven years earlier, on today’s date in 1975, Berio’s orchestration of one of the greatest hits of the 18th century Italian composer Luigi Boccherini received its premiere performance in Milan. Originally a quintet for strings, Boccherini’s Night Music in the Streets of Madrid was written around 1780 when he was living in Spain. This chamber work became very popular — even though Boccherini feared no one outside Madrid would understand it. 200 years after it was written, when asked to supply a short piece for the La Scala Orchestra in Milan, Berio arranged the final movement of Boccherini’s quintet, music evoking the procession of Madrid’s night watchmen signaling the midnight curfew.

Music Played in Today's Program

Johannes Brahms (arr. Luciano Berio) (1833-1897): Clarinet Sonata No. 1

Luigi Boccherini (arr. Luciano Berio): Ritirata Notturna di Madrid; Daniel Ottensamer, clarinet; Basel Symphony; Ivor Bolton, conductor; Sony 19075982072

On This Day

Births

• 1818 - French opera composer Charles Gounod, in Paris

• 1882 - Russian-born American composer Igor Stravinsky, in Oranienbaum (now Lomonosov), near St. Petersburg (Julian date: June 5). In the 19th century, the Julian calendar lagged behind the Gregorian by 12 days, and in the 20th by 13 days. For most of his life in Europe and America, Stravinsky chose to observe his birthday on June 18, but officially it was celebrated on June 17.

• 1916 - Finnish composer Einar (Sven) Englund, in Ljugard, Gotland (Sweden)

Deaths

• 1983 - American composer Peter Mennin, 60, in New York

Premieres

• 1903 - Victor Herbert: operetta, Babes In Toyland, in Chicago

• 1908 - Stravinsky: Fireworks, for the marriage of Rimsky-Korsakov's daughter to Maxmillian Steinberg (Julian date: June 4)

• 1944 - Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 94a (transcription of the Flute Sonata, Op. 94), in Moscow, by violinist David Oistrakh and pianist Lev Oborin

• 1957 - Stravinsky: ballet score Agon, at a 75th birthday concert for Stravinsky in Los Angeles conducted by Robert Craft. The first ballet performance of Agon occurred at the New York City Ballet on December 1, 1957, choreographed by Georges Balanchine

• 1959 - Barber: A Hand of Bridge, at Festival of Two Worlds in Spoletto, Italy

• 1983 - Bernstein: opera A Quiet Place (first version), by Houston Grand Opera, John DeMain conducting. A revised version of this opera premiered at La Scala in Milan, Italy, on June 19, 1984, conducted by John Mauceri.

• 1988 - Elliott Carter: Oboe Concerto, in Zurich, by the Zurich Collegium Musicum conducted by John Carewe, with Heinz Holliger as soloist

Others

• 1733 - Performances by J.S. Bach’s Collegium Musicum in Leipzig resume after a period of mourning for Elector Friedrich August I

• 1914 - Finnish composer Jean Sibelius awarded honorary degree by Yale University