Daniel Asia's Fourth

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1993, American composer Daniel Asia conducted the Phoenix Symphony in the premiere performance of his Symphony No. 4. The work included a slow movement, written as an orchestral elegy for his friend and composer colleague, Stephen Albert, who had died in a car crash the previous year.

But Asia cast his symphony in the traditional four-movements familiar from the symphonies of Haydn and Beethoven. And, as in the symphonies of Haydn and Beethoven, he left room for a wide range of emotions — including humor. So, in addition to a slow, elegiac movement, the symphony has a second movement Scherzo, with a traditional, but jaunty and very American-sounding trio section.

“In this piece, I was rediscovering old formal ideas ... the second movement is a true scherzo. There are refractions of Beethoven scherzos, but sometimes a beat is chopped off, creating a skipping effect. Everything is in threes in the trio-section; the harmony is three-voiced, and the instrumentation is also in threesomes,” Asia wrote.

As both composer and conductor, Daniel Asia has worked with American orchestras for coast-to-coast performances of his orchestral works, ranging from his hometown Seattle Symphony to the American Composers Orchestra in New York.

Music Played in Today's Program

Daniel Asia (b. 1953): Symphony No. 4; New Zealand Symphony; James Sedares, conductor; Summit 256

On This Day

Births

• 1782 - Italian composer and violinist Niccolò Paganini, in Genoa

• 1912 - American-born Mexican composer Conlon Nancarrow, in Texarkana, Arkansas (He became naturalized Mexican citizen in 1956)

• 1927 - American composer and teacher Dominick Argento, in York, Pennsylvania

Deaths

• 1678 - English composer John Jenkins, 86, in Kimberley, Norfolk

• 1975 - American jazz composer and arranger Oliver Nelson, 43, in Los Angeles

• 1991 - Polish-born British composer Sir Andrzej Panufnik, 77, in London

Premieres

• 1827 - Bellini: opera Il Pirata, at La Scala in Milan

• 1886 - Mussorgsky: A Night on Bald Mountain, posthumously, in a re-orchestration by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, in St. Petersburg, by the Russian Symphony conducted by Rimsky-Korsakov (see Julian date: Oct. 15)

• 1901 - Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2, in Moscow, composer as soloist (Gregorian date: Nov. 9)

• 1916 - Stenhammar: incidental music for Strindberg’s A Dream Play, at the opening of the Lorensberg Theater in Gothenburg, Sweden

• 1948 - Stravinsky: Mass, in Milan at La Scala, with Ernest Ansermet conducting

• 1950 - Creston: Symphony No. 3, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting

• 1957 - Villa-Lobos: Harmonica Concerto in Jerusalem

• 1958 - Henze: ballet Undine, in London

• 1975 - Druckman's Lamia at New York Philharmonic concert

• 1988 - Steven Stucky: Concerto for Orchestra, in Philadelphia

• 1989 - Christopher Rouse: Iscariot for chamber orchestra, in St. Paul, Minnesota, by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, John Adams conducting

• 1993 - Daniel Asia: Symphony No. 4, by the Phoenix Symphony, the composer conducting

• 1994 - Steven Mackey: Eating Greens for orchestra, by the Chicago Symphony, Dennis Russell Davies conducting

• 1994 - Christopher Rouse: Flute Concerto, by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hans Vonk, with soloist Carol Wincenc

• 1995 - Michael Torke: Flint for chamber ensemble, in Palermo, Italy, by The Brass Group