Mennin tackles "Moby Dick"

Synopsis

Music Played in Today's Program

Peter Mennin (1923 – 1983) Concertato (Moby Dick) Albany Symphony; David Alan Miller, cond. Albany 260

On This Day

Births

• 1874 - American composer and insurance executive Charles Ives, in Danbury, Connecticut;

• 1890 - American composer and jazz pianist Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, in New Orleans (In older biographies, his birth date is incorrectly given as September 20, 1885);

• 1944 - American composer William Albright, in Gary, Indiana;

Premieres

• 1842 - Wagner: opera, "Rienzi," in Dresden at the Hoftheater;

• 1847 - Lortzing: opera "Undine" (2nd version), in Vienna at the Theater an der Wien;

• 1860 - Brahms: String Sextet No. 1 in Bb, Op. 18, in Hanover, by violinist Joseph Joachim and his ensemble;

• 1892 - Rimsky-Korsakov: opera " Mlada," at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Eduard Napravnik conducting (Gregorian date: Nov. 1);

• 1923 - Delius: "A Dance Rhapsody," in London, conducted by Sir Henry Wood;

• 1949 - Hartmann: opera "Simplicius Simplicissimus" (first staged performance) in Cologne at the Theater der Stadt (Kammerspiele); The premiere concert performance of this opera by the Bavarian Radio occurred in Munich on April 2, 1948;

• 1950 - Hanson: "Pastorale" for Solo Oboe, Strings and Harp, with oboist Marcel Tabuteau, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting;

• 1952 - Peter Mennin: "Concertanto (Moby Dick)" for orchestra, in Erie, Pa.;

• 1958 - Hovhaness: "Meditation on Orpheus," by the Houston Symphony, Leopold Stokowski conducting;

• 1960 - Lukas Foss: "Time Cycle for Soprano and Orchestra" at New York Philharmonic concert conducted by Bernstein, with soprano Adele Addison the vocal soloist;

• 1974 - Elliott Carter: Brass Quintet, on a BBC broadcast from London, with the American Brass Quintet; The American premiere occurred at the Library of Congress on November 15 that year with the same performers;

• 1974 - Henze: "Tristan" for piano, orchestra, and tape, by the London Symphony, Colin Davis conducting;

• 1977 - Michael Colgrass: "Déjà vu" at New York Philharmonic concert conducted by Leinsdorf;

• 1983 - Menotti: Double-bass Concerto, by the New York Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta conducting, with James VanDemark as soloist;

• 1985 - Lou Harrison: Piano Concerto, in New York, with Keith Jarrett the soloist.

• 2004 - Peter Maxwell Davies: "Naxos Quartet" No. 5 ("Lighthouses of Orkney and Shetland"), at Wigmore Hall, London, by the Maggini Quartet;

Others

• 1739 - Handel completes in London his Concerto Grosso in b, Op. 6, no. 12 (Gregorian date: Oct. 31);