Composers Datebook

• Villa-Lobos meets the harmonica

  SynopsisTraditionally, the harmonica is the instrument of the loner: the cowboy by the campfire, the hobo riding the rails, the bluesman pouring out his soul at midnight.The harmonica seems a little out of place in a concert hall — especially when played by someone wearing a tuxedo. But every so often a virtuoso player comes along who commissions a new concert work for the instrument. In the mid-1950s American harmonica virtuoso John Sebastian asked Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos for just such a work.On today’s date in 1959, Sebastian premiered Villa-Lobos’ Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra in Jerusalem. This work is now regarded as one of the finest concertos ever written for the instrument, but when British harmonica virtuoso Tommy Reilly wanted to record it 20 years after its 1959 premiere, he said had a very hard time tracking down the score. Even Villa-Lobos’ own publisher didn’t seem aware of its existence!Truth be told, Villa-Lobos was both a prolific and not-always-very-organized composer, so his poor publisher may be forgiven for his ignorance of the work. Even he couldn’t remember all the pieces he had written, and once said, “I am like a father of a family too numerous who doesn’t always recognize his own infants.”Music Played in Today's ProgramHeitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): Harmonica Concerto; Robert Bonfiglio, harmonica; New York Chamber Orchestra; Gerard Schwarz, conductor; RCA/BMG 7986

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• Elgar gets short-changed

  SynopsisOn this day in 1919, Edward Elgar conducted the London Symphony in the premiere performance of his new Cello Concerto, with Felix Salmond as soloist.What should have been a joyous occasion turned out to be a frustrating one — there simply wasn’t enough time to rehearse properly, and the premiere was a near-fiasco. Puzzled, the less-than-full house in Queen’s Hall gave Elgar a polite ovation but left shaking their heads.Mrs. Elgar blamed the conductor, Albert Coates, who hogged all the orchestra’s rehearsal time working over the two pieces he was to conduct on the same program as Elgar’s new concerto, for which Coates would hand off the baton to Elgar. In her diary for October 26, she wrote, “Poor Felix Salmond in a state of suspense and nerves — wretched hurried rehearsal — an insult to Elgar from that brutal, selfish, ill-mannered bounder, Coates.”After the botched premiere of the new concerto, critic Ernest Newman reported, “Never, in all probability, has so great an orchestra made so lamentable a public exhibition of itself.”Despite this rough beginning, Elgar’s Cello Concerto has gone on to become one of the composer’s best-loved works worldwide, and has proven to be a favorite with the great cellists of our time, including British cellist Jacqueline du Pré.Music Played in Today's ProgramEdward Elgar (1857-1934): Cello Concerto; Jacqueline du Pré, cello; Philadephia Orchestra; Daniel Barenboim, conductor; Sony 60789

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• Tchaikovsky on a quiz show?

  SynopsisImagine that you are playing for high stakes on a TV quiz show and here’s your question:Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 had its world premiere performance in what city?a) Moscowb) St. Petersburgc) Budapestd) BostonIs that your final answer? If you chose d) Boston, you would have been a winner!Tchaikovsky finished his Piano Concerto No. 1 in the early months of 1875, and the work received its very first performance on October 25 that year at the Music Hall in Boston. The orchestra was a freelance group, mostly members of the Harvard Musical Association — the Boston Symphony wouldn’t be founded until six years later. The conductor of the Tchaikovsky premiere was one B.J. Lang — hardly a name most classical music lovers would recognize today — but the soloist was world-class: the famous German pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow.In his day, Bülow was one of the great champions of new music, and Tchaikovsky dedicated his new Piano Concerto to Bulow after his one-time teacher, Nicolai Rubinstein, a famous Russian concert pianist and conductor in his own right, had said the piece was unplayable. Von Bülow proved him wrong, and was able to telegraph Tchaikovsky from Boston that his new concerto had been a big success.Music Played in Today's ProgramPeter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): Piano Concerto No. 1; Van Cliburn, piano; RCA Symphony; Kirill Kondrashin, conductor; Philips 456 748

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• Of Crumb and the Crash

  SynopsisIn the year 1929, October 24 fell on a Thursday, and that particular day has the dubious honor of being dubbed “Black Thursday” — for it was on that fateful day that the New York Stock Exchange crashed. A full-blown financial panic ensued, leading to the Great Depression of the 1930s. For many who saw their fortunes wiped out overnight, it must have seemed like the end of the world.Meanwhile, in Charleston, West Virginia, a baby boy was born on Black Thursday who would grow up to become one of America’s most original composers. By the 1970s, George Crumb was acknowledged as a masterful creator of impressionistic and mysterious soundscapes, with evocative titles like Dream Sequence, Night of the Four Moons, and Eleven Echoes of Autumn.Most of Crumbs’ pieces are for small ensemble, but in 1977 he composed a large-scale work, Star-Child, scored for antiphonal choirs, bell ringers, and a large symphony orchestra positioned for surround-sound effect in the concert hall. Crumb said it traces a “progression from darkness and despair to light or joy and spiritual realization.”A recording of Star-Child was issued to celebrate Crumb’s 70th birthday in 1999 — a year, curiously enough, in which the stock market enjoyed an all-time high, just before taking yet another downward plunge!Music Played in Today's ProgramGeorge Crumb (1929-2022): Musica Apocalyptica, from Star-Child; Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra; Thomas Conlin, conductor; Bridge 9095

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• Night music by Delius and Danielpour

  SynopsisOn today’s date in 1913, composer Frederick Delius was in Leipzig for the first performances of two orchestral pieces destined to become among his most popular works. These were On hearing the first Cuckoo in Spring and Summer Night on the River, premiered by the world-famous Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, led by one of the most charismatic conductors of that time, the legendary Artur Nikisch.In a letter to his wife, Delius reported that the orchestra was “splendid” — as for Nikisch, Delius had this to say: “He played the first piece much too slow, but very expressively. The second piece he played most beautifully — perfect!”Eighty-four years later, on October 23, 1997, another atmospheric orchestra work received its first performance when conductor Zdenek Macal led the New Jersey Symphony in Celestial Night, a work by the American composer Richard Danielpour, who wrote:“Part of the inspiration for Celestial Night came to me while star-gazing in New Hampshire and reflecting on the contrast inherent in my life: between summers in rural places where all the driven, frenetic life that I lead in New York City is temporarily suspended and I have a period of peace… [and] the possibility of personal transformation … of discovering something beyond one’s own immediate environment or experience in order to grow.”Music Played in Today's ProgramFrederick Delius (1862-1934) Summer Night on the River BBC Symphony; Andrew Davis, cond. Teldec 90845Richard Danielpour (b. 1956) Celestial Night Philharmonia Orchestra; Zdenek Macal, cond. Sony 60779

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