Torke abroad

Synopsis

On today’s date in 2002, a new work by the American composer Michael Torke had its premiere performance at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall, at a concert by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop.

Torke was the orchestra’s composer-in-residence at the time, and wrote a 20-minute tone poem entitled “An American Abroad” to fulfill his second commission for the Scots.

Here’s how Torke himself describes the piece: “Unfolding melodies and themes express the natural naïveté an American might feel traveling abroad. Wonderment and curiosity kindles the traveler’s energy, yet there remains an unintended lack of sophistication. Being an outsider, how can a traveler truly understand the depths and subtleties of a new culture?”

Or, as a Scottish newspaper critic put it, “the gee-whiz factor Scots know only too well when we spot a guddle of Americans gawping at Edinburgh Castle.”

Actually, the piece could just as well be titled “A European in America,” as Torke explained: “I currently live in New York City, and when visitors from the ‘outside’ are in town, I am inspired by their simple energy and appreciation of what my hometown has to offer, which often opens my eyes to new ways of seeing New York.”

But, to let the Scottish critic we quoted earlier have the last word: “The music is immediately appealing; Copland, Bernstein and Gershwin are apparent influences in a piece of music that is almost dangerously attractive. Contemporary music is not supposed to be so easy.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Michael Torke (b. 1961) An American Abroad Royal Scottish National Orchestra; Marin Alsop, cond. Naxos 8.559167

On This Day

Births

• 1690 - Italian composer Francesco Maria Veracini, in Florence;

• 1701 - Swedish composer Johan Joachim Agrell, in Löth;

• 1859 - Irish-born American composer and cellist Victor Herbert, in Dublin;

• 1869 - Russian composer and violinist Julius Conus (Yuly Konyus), in Moscow (Julian date: Jan. 20);

• 1907 - Hungarian-born Swiss composer Sándor Veress, in Kolozsvár;

• 1928 - German-born American composer Ursula Mamlok, in Berlin;

Deaths

• 1824 - Austrian composer and pianist Maria Theresia von Paradis, age 64, in Vienna;

• 1875 - British composer Sir William Sterndale Bennett, age 58, in London;

• 1981 - German composer Ernst Pepping, age 79, in Berlin;

• 1981 - Norwegian composer Nils Geirr Tveitt, age 72, in Oslo;

Premieres

• 1893 - Puccini: opera, "Manon Lescaut," in Turin at the Teatro Regio;

• 1896 - Puccini: opera "La Bohème," in Turin at the Teatro Regio, with Arturo Toscanini conducting;

• 1916 - Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 ("The Inextinguishable") with the orchestra of the Copenhagen Music Society, the composer conducting;

• 1918 - Lehar: operetta "Wo die Lerche singt" (Where the Lark Sings) in Budapest;

• 1930 - Schoenberg: opera "Von Heute af Morgen" (From One Day to the Next), at the Frankfurt Opera;

• 1947 - Hindemith: "Sinfonia Serena" by the Dallas Symphony, Antal Dorati conducting;

• 1982 - Tobias Picker: Violin Concerto, by the American Composers Orchestra, Paul Dunkel conducting, with Rolf Schulte the soloist;

• 1984 - John Harbison: chamber orchestra version of “Mirabai Songs” (to poems of Mirabai, translated by Robert Bly), at Sanders Theater in Cambridge, Mass., with mezzo-soprano Hance Felty and the ensemble Collage, Gunther Schuller conducting; The original voice and piano version of this work premiered in Boston on Nov. 15, 1983;

• 1996 - George Walker: "Lilacs" for voice and orchestra, by soprano Faye Robinson and the Boston Symphony, Seiji Ozawa conducting; This work was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music;

• 2002 - Michael Torke: "An American Abroad" for orchestra, in Edinburgh, Scotland, by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Marin Alsop conducting;

Others

• 1881 - After a private performance of the late Jacques Offenbach's final work, "The Tales of Hoffmann," at the Opéra Comique in Paris, runs longer than anticipated, extensive cuts and alterations are made to the score before its first public staging.

• 1862 - American premiere of Brahms's Serenade No. 2 in A, at Irving Hall in New York, by the New York Philharmonic, Carl Bergmann conducting; The world premiere performance of this work had occurred in Hamburg, Germany, on Feb. 10, 1860, with the composer conducting;

• 1864 - First documented American performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto, at Milwaukee's Music Hall, by the Musical Society under Frederick Abel, with three unnamed soloists;