Posts by beaverbase
Grażyna Bacewicz, Violin Concerto No. 7
Born February 5, 1909 in Łódź, Poland Died January 17, 1969 in Warsaw, Poland Composed in 1965 Premiered on January 13, 1966 at the Grande Salle de Palais de Beaux-Arts, Brussels, with Augustín León Ara and the Belgian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Sternfeld Performance Time: Approximately 20 minutes Bacewicz was trained…
Read MoreAlfred Schnittke, Symphony No. 5
Born November 24, 1934 in Engels, Russia (Soviet Union) Died August 3, 1998, in Hamburg, Germany Composed in 1988 Premiered on November 10, 1988 with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Chailly Performance Time: Approximately 37 minutes Almost twenty years after his death, it is becoming increasingly clear that Alfred Schnittke was one of…
Read MoreMusic and Democracy
During the past century—the hundred years since America entered World War I—what has been (and still might be) the connection between the essentially European traditions of orchestral and symphonic music and the ideals, demands, and predicaments of American democracy? The historical precedents of form and expression that preoccupied the American composers on today’s program emerged…
Read MoreAaron Copland, Canticle of Freedom
Born November 14, 1900 in Brooklyn, New York Died December 2, 1990 in North Tarrytown, New York Composed in 1955 Premiered in 1955 at Kresge Auditorium, Cambridge, Massachusetts Performance Time: Approximately 13 minutes On May 26, 1953, Aaron Copland appeared before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) chaired the committee; the…
Read MoreRoger Sessions, Symphony No. 2
Born December 28, 1896 in Brooklyn, New York Died March 16, 1985 in Princeton, New Jersey Composed in 1944–46 Premiered on January 9, 1947 by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pierre Monteaux Performance Time: Approximately 26 minutes Roger Huntington Sessions was born in Brooklyn and raised in Hadley, Massachusetts. His ancestors included Samuel…
Read MoreLeonard Bernstein, Symphony No. 3, Kaddish
Born August 25, 1918, in Lawrence, Massachusetts Died October 14, 1990, in New York City Composed in 1961–63; Revised in 1977 Premiered on December 10, 1963 in Tel Aviv by the Israel Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein with mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel Performance Time: Approximately 41 minutes As Leonard Bernstein’s biographer Humphrey Burton notes, “Between 1957 and…
Read MoreIntolerance
In post-Fascist Italy, Luigi Nono attempted to reverse the darkness of Mussolini and rescue art from being the handmaiden of the state. His one-act opera Intolleranza 1960 speaks out against dictatorship. It follows a migrant worker travelling home as he gets caught up in a political protest, is tortured in prison, and escapes to fight…
Read MoreHollow Victory: Jews in Soviet Russia after the World War
Despite the brutal suppression of Jewish culture in the late 1940s under Stalin, Jewish composers sustained a vibrant and active musical culture, as these grippingly beautiful works reveal. Explore the tenacity of Jewish culture through one of its most embattled phases. Expression cannot be silenced, especially when friends like Shostakovich have the courage to help.…
Read MoreTriumph of Art
Each of these composers was influenced by confrontation with authoritarian regimes, both fascist and communist. This concert reveals the compositional response to resistance, inner emigration, and exile by three leading twentieth-century composers from Russia, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Leon Botstein shares the stories behind the music in a lively 30-minute Conductor’s Notes Q&A at 7 PM…
Read MoreThe Sounds of Democracy
American democracy was shaped by the ideals, vision, and principles of its leaders, particularly Roosevelt and Kennedy. These presidents protected our liberties, including freedom of expression, and stood by the common people against the interests of the rich and powerful. Their legacy inspired the music of Sessions, Bernstein, and Copland, who wrote Canticle of Freedom…
Read More