Composers Datebook

SynopsisFrench composer Olivier Messiaen played the piano part in one of the strangest premiere performances of the 20th century on today’s date in 1941. As the composer put it, “My Quartet for the End of Time was conceived and written during my captivity as a prisoner of war and received its premiere at Stalag 8a in Görlitz, Silesia.”One of the four performers was cellist Etienne Pasquier, who offered this recollection: “We were captured at Verdun. Our entire company was initially held in a large field near Nancy. Among our comrades was a clarinetist who had been allowed to keep his clarinet. Messiaen started to write a piece for him … as he was the only person there with an instrument. [That] solo was later to become the third movement of the quartet. The clarinetist practiced in the open field and I acted as his music stand. The piece seemed too difficult … and he complained about it to Messiaen. ’You’ll manage,’ was Messiaen’s only reply.”Pasquier said the quartet’s premiere was a great success and led to the release of Messiaen and his three colleagues, because the Germans assumed — wrongly, it turns out — that the four musicians must have all been non-combatants.Music Played in Today's ProgramOlivier Messiaen (1908-1992): Quartet for the End of Time; Tashi; RCA/BMG 7835

SynopsisSome instruments seem to have all the luck — or at least all the concertos!If you play piano or violin, you have hundreds of concertos to choose from. But if your instrument is the harp — and you will forgive the pun — the pluckings are slim.This hardly seems fair to one of mankind’s oldest instruments, depicted on murals from ancient Egypt and traditionally associated with King David in the Bible. In the 18th and early 19th century, there are a handful of great classical harp concertos by Handel, Mozart, and others. In the 20th century, things start to improve a little, with modern concertos by Gliere, Pierne, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Rodrigo.On today’s date in 1955, we’re happy to report, one of the finest modern works for harp and orchestra had its premiere performance when harpist Nicanor Zabeleta premiered a new harp concerto by prolific Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos — with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by the composer.One more recent addition came in 2000 from the pen of Finnish composer Einojuhanni Rautavaara. His harp concerto was commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra, who premiered the new work with Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä and Kathy Kienzle as soloist.Music Played in Today's ProgramHeitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959): Harp Concerto; Catherine Michel, harp; Monte Carlo Opera Orchestra; Antonio de Almeida, conductor; Philips 462 179Einojuhani Rautavaraa (1928-2016): Harp Concerto; Marielle Nordmann, harp; Helsinki Philharmonic; Leif Segerstam, conductor; Ondine 978

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1945, Sergei Prokofiev conducted the Moscow Philharmonic in the premiere performance of his Symphony No. 5. Written when the tide of World War II was turning in the favor of the Allies, the premiere came one day after news reached Moscow that Soviet troops had begun a successful counteroffensive against the Germans.The symphony proved to be one of Prokofiev’s strongest works, and in the context of 1945 must have had an incredible emotional impact. It was a tremendous success in Moscow, and also in Boston, where Serge Koussevitzky conducted the American premiere later that same year. Prokofiev even made the cover of Time magazine. As musicologist Michael Steinberg put it, “No question, the Fifth was a repertory piece from day one.”How sad, then, to realize how soon things would change for the man who wrote it. In three years Prokofiev — along with Shostakovich and others — would be denounced by Soviet authorities for supposedly straying from the party line. In five years, when the Red Scare in America turned our one-time Ally into public enemy No. 1, conductor Maurice Abravenel received a death threat when the Utah Symphony announced the Salt Lake City premiere of Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5.Music Played in Today's ProgramSergei Prokofiev (1891-1953): Symphony No. 5; St. Petersburg Philharmonic; Yuri Temirkanov, conductor; RCA/BMG 60984

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1961, a new work by German-born American composer Ingolf Dahl received its premiere performance in Los Angeles. Sinfonietta for Concert Band was commissioned by the College Band Directors National Association, who were eager to expand band repertory with major new works of the highest quality.Dahl had emigrated to the United States in 1938 and settled in Los Angeles, where he met and befriended Igor Stravinsky, who gave him some practical advice about composing for wind band. “You must approach this task as if it had always been your greatest wish to write for these instruments,” suggested Stravinsky, “as if all your life you had wanted to write a work for just such a group." “This was good advice,” recalled Dahl. “[And] after the work was done that it turned out to be indeed the piece that I had wanted to write all my life. I wanted it to be a substantial piece that, without apologies for its medium, would take its place alongside symphonic works of any other kind.” Dahl and the College Band Directors National Association must have been pleased to see their Sinfonietta rapidly become an established classic of the wind band repertory.Music Played in Today's ProgramIngolf Dahl (1912-1970): Sinfonietta; DePaul University Wind Ensemble; Donald DeRoche, conductor; Albany 435