Posts by beaverbase
Harold Shapero, Symphony for Classical Orchestra
Born April 29, 1920, in Lynn, Massachusetts Died May 17, 2013, in Cambridge, Massachusetts Composed in 1947 in Boston on commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation Premiered on January 30, 1948 in Boston by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein Performance Time: Approximately 45 minutes Harold Shapero was a precocious composer who enjoyed enormous…
Read MoreRichard Wernick, . . . and a time for peace
Born January 16, 1934, in Boston Composed in 1995 in Boston Premiered on June 18, 1995 by the Orchestra Filarmonica Della Scala conducted by Riccardo Muti with mezzo-soprano Freda Herseth Performance Time: Approximately 20 minutes The distinguished American composer Richard Wernick was born in Boston and began piano lessons at the age of eleven. He…
Read MoreIrving Fine, Symphony (1962)
Born December 3, 1914, in Boston Died August 23, 1962, in Boston Composed in 1962 in Boston on commission from the Boston Symphony Orchestra Premiered on March 23, 1962 in Boston by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Munch Performance Time: Approximately 22 minutes Irving Fine was born, educated, taught, and died in Boston.…
Read MoreOpera and Politics: Krenek and Strauss
by Leon Botstein We routinely invoke history as a means to understand the present. This is at one and the same time a noble and illusory enterprise. History is written with some notion of the present moment in mind, however submerged. Therefore, despite all of our disciplined efforts to render a construction of the past…
Read MoreErnst Krenek, Der Diktator and Richard Strauss, Friedenstag
by Bryan Gilliam Ernst Krenek Born August 23, 1900, in Vienna Died December 23, 1991, in Palm Springs, CA Der Diktator Composed in 1926, in Austria Premiered on May 6, 1928, at the Staatstheater in Wiesbaden, Germany by the State Opera conducted by Joseph Rosenstock Performance Time: Approximately 30 minutes Instruments for this performance: 2…
Read MoreA Mass of Life
by Leon Botstein The life and work of Frederick Delius defy both characterization and comparison. His music is distinctive in the sense that its individuality is unmistakable and its style reveals influences only obliquely. Delius was born a British subject, and we have become used to associating him with an “English” sensibility, but Delius suggests…
Read MoreFrederick Delius, A Mass of Life
by Byron Adams Born January 29, 1862, in Bradford, England Died June 10, 1934, in Grez-sur-Loing, France Composed in 1904–05 Part II premiered on June 4, 1908, in Munich by the Hofkapelle München and the Munich Choral Society conducted by Ludwig Hess Complete work premiered on June 7, 1909, in London at the Queen’s Hall…
Read MoreThe Apostles
England’s greatest composer since Purcell wrote a magnificent but rarely-heard setting of the New Testament. Elgar’s The Apostles follows the story of the Twelve through the Resurrection. On a par with his previous choral work, The Dream of Gerontius, this oratorio is at once sublime and heartbreakingly human. Leon Botstein shares the stories behind the…
Read MorePrague Central: Great 20th Century Czech Composers
Though right in the center of the group of countries that defined the western musical tradition, Czech composers often felt like outsiders looking in. Perhaps it was this strange perspective that led to these four composers producing what has been thought to be some of the most original and influential works of the early 20th…
Read MoreBernstein and the Bostonians
This concert pays tribute to a group of composers known as the “Boston School” who lived, studied, taught, and composed in and around that city. This group of friends, of whom Leonard Bernstein was the most prominent, were almost all associated with the early years of Brandeis University and had close ties to Aaron Copland.…
Read More