Tchaikovsky plays "Who Wants to Premiere a Concerto?"

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Piano Concerto No. 1 Van Cliburn, piano; RCA Symphony; Kirill Kondrashin, cond. Philips 456 748

On This Day

Births

• 1825 - Austrian composer and conductor Johann Strauss, Jr. (aka "The Younger," or II), in Vienna;

• 1838 - French composer Georges Bizet, in Paris;

• 1864 - Russian composer Alexander Grechaninov, in Moscow (see Julian date: Oct. 13);

• 1923 - Australian composer Don Banks, in South Melbourne;

Premieres

• 1823 - Weber: opera "Euryanthe," in Vienna at the Kärtnertor Theater;

• 1848 - Verdi: opera "Il Corsaro" (The Corsair), in Trieste at the Teatro Grande;

• 1875 - Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 23, at the Music Hall in Boston, by the orchestra of the Harvard Musical Association conducted by B.J. Lang, with Hans von Bülow as soloist;

• 1885 - Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in Meiningen, Germany, with the composer conducting;

• 1912 - R. Strauss: opera, "Ariadne auf Naxos," and incidental music to "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme," in Stuttgart at the Hoftheater (Kleines Haus), with the composer conducting, and vocal soloists Maria Jeritza (Ariadne), Margarethe Siems (Zerbinetta), and Hermann Jadlowker (Bacchus); A revised version of this work (with a newly composed prologue) premiered at the Vienna Court Opera on Oct. 4, 1916;

• 1923 - Milhaud: ballet, "La Création du Monde," in Paris, by the Ballets Suédois at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées;

• 1949 - Frank Martin: Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments, Timpani, Percussion, and Strings, by the orchestra of the Bern Musickgesellschaft, Luc Balmer conducting;

• 1958 - Janácek: opera "Fate" (1st staged performance) in Brno at the National Theater; This opera was written in 1904 and was premiered in a concert performance by the Brno Radio on September 18, 1934;

• 1973 - Martinu: Violin Concerto (composed in 1932), by the Chicago Symphony, Sir Georg Solti conducting, with Josef Suk as soloist;

• 1979 - Earl Kim: Violin Concerto, by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Zubin Mehta, with Itzhak Perlman as soloist;

• 1986 - Christopher Rouse: "Phantasmata" (first complete performance of three orchestral pieces composed 1981-85: "The Evestrum of Juan de la Cruz in the Sagrada Familia, 3 A.M."; "The Infernal Machine"; and "Bump"), by the St. Louis Symphony, Leonard Slatkin conducting;