Synopsis
On today’s date in 1903, violinist and conductor Harry West led the first performance by the Seattle Symphony. At that time, the orchestra was comprised of just 24 players. For their first program, the aptly named Maestro West conducted Schubert and Rossini, two long-dead classical masters, and also programmed works by three living composers: Max Bruch, Jules Massenet and Pablo Sarasate.
More recently, under music director Gerard Schwarz, the Seattle Symphony earned worldwide attention with its recordings of both classical and contemporary works, including critically acclaimed recordings of symphonic works by modern American masters like Howard Hanson, David Diamond and Alan Hovhaness, as well as newer pieces by a younger generation of American composers including Richard Danielpour and Stephen Albert.
That tradition continued under Gerard Schwarz’ successor Ludovic Morlot, who took particular interest in fostering music from Seattle composers, including composers within the orchestra. The Seattle Symphony commissioned and premiered Become Ocean, a work by American composer John Luther Adams, which went on to win the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Music and the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.
Music Played in Today's Program
Max Bruch (1838-1920): Violin Concerto No. 2; Nai-Yuan Hu, violin; Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, conductor; Delos 3156
John Luther Adams (b. 1953): ‘Become Ocean’; Seattle Symphony; Ludovic Morlot, conductor; Cantaloupe 21161
On This Day
Births
1850 - Spanish composer Tomás Bretón, in Salamanca
1876 - Spanish composer, cellist and conductor Pablo Casals, in Vendrell, Catalonia
1912 - Australian composer Peggy Glanville-Hicks, in Melbourne
Deaths
1785 - German composer Johann Heinrich Rolle, in Magdeburg, 69;
1900 - Russian composer Vassili Sergeievitch Kalinnikov (Gregorian date: Jan. 11, 1901)
Premieres
1733 - Porpora: opera Arianna in Nasso (Ariadne on Naxos) opens the first London season of The Opera of the Nobility, a company formed to rival Handel’s Royal Academy. This date is according to the Julian “Old Style” calendar still in use in England that year. Under the Gregorian “New Style” calendar in use today, this premiere actually occurred 11 days later, on Jan. 9, 1734.
1882 - Brahms: Piano Trio No. 2, and String Quintet No. 1, in Frankfurt, with a violinist named Heermann and a cellist name Müller, with Brahms at the pianist; Brahms had completed the work during his summer holiday in Bad Ischl (near Salzburg), and had participated in a reading of the new work at a private home in Bad Ischl. On that occasion, as a joke, Brahms introducing the trio as having been composed by his friend, the composer and pianist Ignaz Brull, who was also in Bad Ischl at the time.
1893 - Debussy: String Quartet, in Paris, by the Ysaye Quartet
1906 - Sibelius: tone poem, Pohjola’s Daughter, in St. Petersburg, Russia
1916 - Max Bruch: Concerto for two pianos and orchestra, by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting, with duo-pianists Rose and Ottilie Sultro
Others
1903 - First concert by the Seattle Symphony at Christensen’s Hall in Seattle under the baton of violinist Harry F. West. The program includes music of Massenet, Bruch, Schubert and Rossini.
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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.
