Mahler and Salonen on busman holidays

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) Symphony No. 3 Los Angeles Phil.; Esa Pekka Salonen, cond. Sony Classical 60250

Esa Pekka Salonen (b. 1958) Mimo II Bengt Rosengren, ob; Swedish Radio Symphony; Esa Pekka Salonen, cond. Daphne 1002

On This Day

Births

• 1810 - German composer and conductor Otto Nicolai, in Königsberg (Kaliningrad);

• 1865 - French composer Alberic Magnard, in Paris; He was killed by German soldiers while defending his home in Baron, Oise, on Sept. 3, 1914;

• 1865 - Danish composer Carl Nielsen, in Sortelung, near Norre Lyndelse, Funen;

• 1891 - American composer Cole Porter, in Peru, Ind.;

• 1912 - German-born American composer and pianist, Ingolf Dahl, in Hamburg;

• 1938 - American composer Charles Wuorinen, in New York;

Deaths

• 1656 - burial date of English composer Thomas Tomkins, age c. 84, in the village of Martin Hussingtree, near Worcester;

Premieres

• 1860 - R. Schumann: Cello Concerto, posthumously, by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, at a concert commemorating the late composer's 50th birthday anniversary (see June 8), with soloist Ludwig Ebert;

• 1902 - Mahler: Symphony No. 3 in Krefeld, Germany, at the Festival of the Allgemeiner Deutsche Musikverein, with the composer conducting;

• 1912 - At the home of L. Láloy in Bellevue, Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky perform a four-hand piano version of the latter’s new ballet score for “The Rite of Spring,” which the Ballet Russe would premiere the following year in Paris (May 29, 1913);

• 1939 - Bax: Symphony No. 7 (dedicated to the American people), at Carnegie Hall by the New York Philharmonic, with Sir Adrian Boult conducting; This work was commissioned by the British Council as part of the British Exhibition at 1939 World's Fair;

• 1940 - Copland: "Our Town" orchestral suite (from the film score), on a CBS radio broadcast; A revised version of the suite was given its first public performance by the Boston Pops conducted by Leonard Bernstein on May 7, 1944;

• 1951 - Haydn: opera "Orpheus and Eurydice," posthumously, in Florence at the Teatro della Pergola; Haydn composed this opera in 1791 for performance in London, but the work was never staged in his lifetime;

• 1966 - Britten: church opera "The Burning Fiery Furnace," in Orford Church, near Aldeburgh;

Others

• 1840 - Franz Liszt gives a solo performance at the Hanover Square Rooms in London billed as "Recitals"; This was the first time the term "recital" was used to describe a public musical performance, and it caused much discussion and debate at the time; Liszt is credited with both inventing and naming the now-common solo piano "recital";

• 1904 - The London Symphony gives its first concert, with Hans Richter conducting;

• 1912 - At the home of L. Láloy in Bellevue, Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky perform a four-hand piano version of the latter's new ballet score for "The Rite of Spring," which the Ballet Russe would premiere the following year in Paris (see May 29, 1913);

• 1968 - Leonard Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic in the "Adagietto" movement from Mahler's Symphony No. 5 at a memorial concert for Robert Kennedy at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.