George Walker's Trombone Concerto

Synopsis

In Rochester, New York, on today’s date in 1957, there was a concert at the Eastman School of Music, conducted by the school’s famous director Howard Hanson, showcasing new works composed by Eastman graduate students. Included on the program was a brand-new Trombone Concerto by George Walker.

Back then, Walker was better known as a remarkable pianist. He was a graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, after all, a student of Rudolf Serkin, and an impressive recording exists from his Eastman days of Walker as soloist in the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2. But for Walker, as an African-American, a successful career as a concert pianist in a still-segregated America was not possible — it would be 10 years before Andre Watts broke that taboo, remember, so he opted for a musical career as a composer and educator, and proved remarkably accomplished at both. 

Walker’s early Trombone Concerto was a hit from the start. “The composer evidently had a soloist of superior ability in mind in writing this difficult and complex work,” wrote a reviewer at the premiere. “It is music of sound and fury, with lots of dissonance and imaginative drive. Soloist and composer shared in prolonged applause.”

Music Played in Today's Program

George Walker (1922-2018): Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra; Denis Wick, trombone; London Symphony; Paul Freeman, conductor; in Sony Black Composers Series CD set 19075862152

On This Day

Births

• 1706 - American statesman, composer of string quartets, publisher and inventor of the glass harmonica Benjamin Franklin, in Boston (Gregorian date: Jan. 28)

• 1712 - English composer John Stanley (Gregorian date: Jan. 28)

• 1734 - Belgian composer François-Joseph Gossec, in Vergnies

• 1907 - Dutch composer Henk Badings, in Bandung, Java

• 1927 - American composer Donald Erb, in Youngstown, Ohio

• 1934 - Canadian-born American composer, conductor and clarinetist Sydney Hodkinson, in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Deaths

• 1738 - French composer and organist Jean François Dandrieu, 56, in Paris

• 1750 - Italian composer Tomaso Albinoni, 78, in Venice

• 1826 - Spanish composer Juan Crisostomo Arriaga, 19, in Paris

• 1869 - Russian composer Alexander Dargomizhsky, 55, in St. Peterburg (Julian date: Jan. 5)

• 1969 - Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz, 55, in Warsaw

Premieres

• 1880 - Franck: Piano Quintet, in Paris, by the Marsick Quartet, with Camille Saints-Saëns at the piano

• 1901 - Mascagni: opera Le Maschere (The Masks), simultaneously in six cities

• 1944 - Copland: Violin Sonata, at Times Hall in New York, by violinist Ruth Posselt with the composer at the piano

• 1991 - Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Oboe Concerto, by soloist John Mack, with the Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnanyi conducting

Others

• 1745 - Handel publishes a letter in the London Daily Advertiser offering to return three-fourths money to the subscribers to his current series of concerts, then in progress, suggesting that his attempts to please the public have proved ineffectual. The letter prompts a flurry of support, and Handel resumes the concerts a week later. In all, 16 out of the promised 24 concerts would take place. The series closed on April 23, 1745, with a revival performance of Messiah (Gregorian dates: Jan. 28 and May 4, respectively).

• 1919 - Polish composer and pianist Ignaz Jan Paderewski becomes premiere of Poland