Composers Datebook®

Jennifer Higdon's Percussion Concerto

Composers Datebook - 20231125
DOWNLOAD

Synopsis

On today’s date in 2005, the Philadelphia Orchestra gave the premiere performance of a new Percussion Concerto by American composer Jenifer Higdon. The soloist was Colin Currie, a Scottish virtuoso for whom the work was tailor made.

In program notes for her work, Higdon wrote, “When writing a concerto, I think of two things: the particular soloist for whom I am writing and the nature of the solo instrument. In the case of percussion, this means a large battery of instruments, from vibraphone and marimba (the favorite instrument of soloist Colin Currie), to nonpitched smaller instruments like brake drums, wood blocks or Peking Opera gongs.

“Not only does a percussionist have to perfect playing all these instruments, he must make decisions regarding the use of sticks and mallets ... not to mention the choreography. ... Where most performers do not have to concern themselves with movement across the stage during a performance, a percussion soloist must have every move memorized.”

Higdon’s new concerto proved popular with both audiences and the critics, and in 2010 the work won that year’s Grammy for best classical contemporary composition.

Music Played in Today's Program

Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962) Percussion Concerto; Colin Currie, percussion; London Philharmonic; Marin Alsop, cond. LPO CD 0035

On This Day

Births

  • 1785 - Austrian composer Franz Gruber, in Unterwweizberg; In 1818 he wrote the famous Christmas carol "Silent Night";

  • 1856 - Russian composer Sergei Taneyev, in Dyud'kovo , near Moscow (see Julian date: Nov. 13);

  • 1896 - American composer and music critic Virgil Thomson, in Kansas City, Mo.;

  • 1924 - American jazz saxophonist Paul Desmond, in San Francisco; Desmond and composer Dave Brubeck co-wrote the popular piece entitled “Take Five” for Brubeck’s famous 1959 Columbia LP entitled “Time Out”;

Deaths

  • 1640 - Burial date of English Renaissance composer Giles Farnaby, age c. 77, in London;

  • 1755 - German violinist and composer Johann Georg Pisendel, age 67, in Dresden;

  • 1901 - German composer and organist Josef Rheinberger, age 62, in Munich;

Premieres

  • 1731 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 140 ("Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme") performed in Leipzig on the 27th Sunday after Trinity;

  • 1847 - Flowtow: opera "Martha," in Vienna;

  • 1865 - Brahms: "Variations on a Theme of Paganini," Op. 35, for piano, in Zürich, Switzerland;

  • 1882 - Gilbert and Sullivan: operetta "Iolanthe" at the Savoy Theater in London;

  • 1898 - Rimsky-Korsakov: opera “Mozart and Salieri,” in Moscow (Gregorian date: Dec. 7);

  • 1901 - Mahler: Symphony No. 4, by the Kaim Orchestra of Munich, with soprano soloist Margarete Michalek and the composer conducting;

  • 1951 - Lou Harrison: "Seven Pastorales, in New York City, by the Collegium Musicum, Fritz Rikko conducting;

  • 1954 - Prokofiev: opera "The Fiery Angel" (sung in French), in a concert performance in Paris;

  • 1955 - Piston: Symphony No. 6, by the Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting;

  • 1958 - John La Montaine: Piano Concerto No. 1, in Washington, D.C.; This work won the Pulizter Prize in 1959;

  • 1960 - Mussorgsky: opera "Khovanscchina" (in the arrangement by Shostakovich), in Leningrad at the Kirov Theater;

  • 1978 - H.K. Gruber: "Frankenstein!" a "pan-demonium" for baritone and orchestra, by the Liverpool Philharmonic, with Simon Rattle conducting and the composer as the vocal soloist; A revised chamber version of this work premiered on Sept. 30, 1979, in Berlin, with the composer conducting;

  • 1992 - Peter Maxwell Davies: "Strathclyde Concerto" No. 7 for double bass and orchestra, at Glasgow's City Hall, by the Scottish Chamber Orcherstra conducted by the composer, with soloist Duncan McTier;

Others

  • 1720 - Handel’s Keyboard Suites, First Collection), is published in London (see Julian date: Nov. 14);

  • 1835 - Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, is born in a small weaver’s cottage in Dumfemline, Fife (Scotland); He funded the creation of a concert hall in New York that opened on May 5, 1891, and now bears his name; The building was originally called the “Music Hall,” but the earlier title was deemed to have too many associations tied to the “lower class” vaudeville acts typical of the British “music hall,” and was eventually changed to “Carnegie Hall,” in honor of its funder;

  • 1934 - Conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler's article "The Hindemith Case" defending Hindemith's music appears in several German newspapers; A response attacking both Hindemith and Furtwängler appears in the Nazi newspaper "Der Angriff" on November 28; Furtwängler resigns all his official German posts on December 4 and leaves Berlin for several months; On December 6 Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels denounces Hindemith as an "atonal noisemaker" during a speech at the Berlin Sport Palace.

Love the music?

Donate by phone
1-800-562-8440

Show your support by making a gift to YourClassical.

Each day, we’re here for you with thoughtful streams that set the tone for your day – not to mention the stories and programs that inspire you to new discovery and help you explore the music you love.

YourClassical is available for free, because we are listener-supported public media. Take a moment to make your gift today.

More Ways to Give

Your Donation

$5/month
$10/month
$15/month
$20/month
$

Latest Composers Datebook® Episodes

VIEW ALL EPISODES

Latest Composers Datebook® Episodes

YourClassical

Sallinen and Kronos

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): String Quartet No. 17 (‘Quartetto Italiano’); Philips 422 512 Aulis Sallinen (b. 1935): String Quartet No. 5 (‘Pieces of Mosaic’); Sibelius Quartet; Ondine 831

2:00
Get Composers Datebook in your inbox
YourClassical

Water music by Handel and Larsen

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759): ‘Water Music’; Royal Philharmonic; Yehudi Menuhin, conductor; MCA 6186 Libby Larsen (b. 1950): Symphony (‘Water Music’); Minnesota Orchestra; Sir Neville Marriner, conductor; Nonesuch 79147

2:00
YourClassical
2:00
YourClassical

Bernstein's sabbatical psalms

Giuseppe Verdi (1913-1901): ‘Act III excerpt,’ from ‘Falstaff’; soloists; Vienna Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor; CBS/Sony 42535 Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990): ‘Chichester Psalms’; Camerata Singers; New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor; CBS/Sony 47162

2:00
YourClassical

'La Marseillaise' by Lambert

Roger de Lisle (1760-1836): ‘La Marseillaise’ Detroit Symphony; Paul Paray, conductor; Mercury 434 332 Lucien Lambert, Jr. (1858-1945): ‘Brocéliande Overture’; Hot Springs Music Festival; Richard Rosenberg, conductor; Naxos 8.559 037

2:00
YourClassical

Strauss, Shostakovich, Hitler and Stalin

Richard Strauss (1864-1949): ‘Ein Heldenleben’; Daniel Majeske, violin; Cleveland Orchestra; Daniel Barenboim, conductor; London 414 292 Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-1975): ‘Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk’ excerpts; Scottish National Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor; Chandos 8587

2:00
YourClassical

Requiems and Elegies by Faure and Rouse

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924): ‘Requiem’; The Cambridge Singers; John Rutter, conductor; Collegium 101 Christopher Rouse (1949-2019): Symphony No. 2 and Flute Concerto; Carol Wincenc, flute; Houston Symphony; Christoph Eschenbach, conductor; Telarc 80452

2:00
YourClassical

Hollywood anniversaries

George Gershwin (1898-1937): ‘An American in Paris’; Hollywood Bowl Orchestra; John Mauceri, conductor; Philips 438 663 Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): ‘1812 Overture’; Berlin Philharmonic; Herbert von Karajan, conductor; EMI Classics 65690

2:00
YourClassical

Handel declines, Schuman accepts

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759): ‘Sinfonia’ from ‘Athalia Academy of Ancient Music’; Christopher Hogwood, conductor; L’Oiseau-Lyre 417 126 William Schuman (1910-1992): ‘Chester (Variations for Piano)’; Alexei Sultanov, piano; Teldec 46103

2:00
VIEW ALL EPISODES

About Composers Datebook®

Host John Birge presents a daily snapshot of composers past and present, with timely information, intriguing musical events and appropriate, accessible music related to each.

He has been hosting, producing and performing classical music for more than 25 years. Since 1997, he has been hosting on Minnesota Public Radio's Classical Music Service. He played French horn for the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra and performed with them on their centennial tour of Europe in 1995. He was trained at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Eastman School of Music and Interlochen Arts Academy.

About Composers Datebook®
YourClassical Radio
0:00
0:00