Danielpour's hometown tribute

Synopsis

It may be a hotly contested statement that New York is the cultural capital of the United States, but few would deny that city’s important role in so much of our musical history.

In 1992, to celebrate its 150th anniversary, the New York Philharmonic commissioned many new works by leading composers and spread out their celebratory premieres over several years. On today’s date in 1996, Leonard Slatkin conducted one of these: an orchestral tribute to New York written by a native son — Toward the Splendid City, a work by Richard Danielpour.

While intended as sonic portrait of his hometown, it was written entirely outside of the city. As he himself explained:

“[It’s] is one of the very few works I’ve written completely away from New York — work on the piece began in Seattle and was completed in Taos, New Mexico — and, to an extent, it expresses the nostalgia I felt for the city. It became my sonic postcard of the town. One passage, a sound-painting with string harmonics, celesta, harp, vibes, and bells, was inspired by my memory of floating above New York at night on a plane and seeing the lights of the city in the mist...”

Music Played in Today's Program

Richard Danielpour (b. 1956): Toward the Splendid City; Philharmonia Orchestra; Zdenek Macal, conductor; Sony 60779

On This Day

Births

• 1710 - Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, in Jesi, Marche

• 1720 - German composer, organist, singing teacher and writer on music Johann Friedrich Agricola, in Dobitschen, Saxe-Altenburg

• 1874 - Czech composer and violinist Josef Suk, in Krecovice. The famous Czech violinist and Supraphon recording artist Josef Suk (1929-2011) was this composer’s grandson.

Premieres

• 1869 - Alexander Borodin’s Symphony No. 1, premiered at a Russian Musical Society Concert in St. Petersburg conducted by Mily Balakirev (Gregorian date: Jan. 16)

• 1880 - Brahms: Piano Pieces, in Leipzig

• 1881 - Brahms: Academic Festival Overture, in Breslau, with the composer conducting

• 1961 - Gunther Schuller: jazz ballet Variants, in New York City

• 1996 - Richard Danielpour: Toward the Splendid City for orchestra, by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Slatkin and commissioned by the Philharmonic for its 150th Anniversary

Others

• 1840 - The climax of Franz Liszt’s triumphal return to his native land occured at the old Hungarian National Theatre, where the composer was presented with a bejeweled Sword of Honor. Liszt delivered an impassioned speech that calls for Hungarian cultural and political independence.

• 1950 - RCA announces it will produce long play records as Columbia did two years earlier (RCA had unsuccessfully attempted to compete with Columbia’s new 33.3-rpm LPs by issuing some of their classical catalog as multiple disc 45-rpm sets).