Composers Datebook

• On Beethoven, Saint-Saens, and fossil-hunting

  SynopsisHe was dubbed the French Beethoven, and like Ludwig van, was famous as both a composer and a pianist. Camille Saint-Saëns was born in Paris in 1835, and died on today’s date, at 86, in 1921.The death date seems rather fitting, in a macabre sort of way, since December 16 is also the date we celebrate as Beethoven’s birthday. And imagine, if you will, the 10-year-old Saint-Saëns making his formal debut as a pianist at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, first performing a concerto by Beethoven, then, as an encore, offering to play any one of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas — from memory!Saint-Saëns’ keyboard skills were legendary. An early admirer of Wagner, he once amazed that composer by playing entire scores of his operas at sight. Berlioz, another admirer, once quipped he “knows everything but lacks inexperience.”In addition to music, Saint-Saëns was fascinated by mathematics, astronomy, and the natural sciences. As a young boy he collected fossils that he dug out himself from the stone quarries at Meudon. Maybe that experience inspired him years later to add a movement titled Fossils to his Carnival of the Animals, a chamber work he wrote as a private joke in 1886. Saint-Saëns forbade its publication during his lifetime, and probably would have been appalled that this flippant work — and not his more serious symphonies or sonatas — has become his best-known and best-loved work.Music Played in Today's ProgramCamille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) Variations on a theme of Beethoven Philippe Corre and Edouard Exerjean, pianos Pierre Verany 790041Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) Fossils, from Carnival of the Animals Martha Argerich, Nelson Freire, pianos; Markus Steckeler, xylophone; ensemble Philips 446557

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• Dvořák's 'Toy Story?'

  SynopsisOn today’s date in 1893, Anton Seidl conducted the New York Philharmonic in the first performance of Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 (From the New World). This was an afternoon concert, meant as a public dress rehearsal for the work’s official premiere the following evening.Among the December 15 audience was Dvořák's eight-year old son, Otakar, who had a special interest in the success of his father's new symphony. In the preceding weeks, Otakar had accompanied his father to a New York café, where Dvořák met Anton Seidl to go over the new score. Young Otakar amused himself at a nearby toyshop, where a seven-foot long model of the ocean liner Majestic was on display, complete with its own miniature steam-chamber and working propellers. It cost a whopping $45 — a huge amount of money in those days, and the answer from papa was always: NO!Seeing that the boy’s heart was set on having the toy, Anton Seidl suggested to Otakar that he wait until after the premiere and then ask his father again. Seidl told Otakar that if all went well at the premiere, Dvořák would be in a generous mood. The premiere was a great success, and, as Otakar recalled: “When Seidl offered to pay half the cost of the Majestic, Father could not say no. So that is how the three of us celebrated the success of the first performance of the New World Symphony.”Music Played in Today's ProgramAntonin Dvořák (1841-1904): Symphony No. 9 (From the New World); New York Philharmonic; Kurt Masur, conductor; Teldec 73244

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• Roumain's 'Ghetto Strings'

  SynopsisFrom its founding in 1986 the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet has both commissioned new works and arranged old ones for their ensemble of four virtuoso guitarists. On today’s date in 2001, the quartet premiered a new commission: Ghetto Strings, a suite of four pieces written by Haitian-American composer Daniel Bernard Roumain.Daniel Bernard Roumain — or DBR as he likes to be called — was born in Skokie, Illinois, but grew up in Southern Florida, surrounded by music from Latin communities — the Bahamas, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic — as well as his own family’s Haitian music. He took up violin at 5, and says he absorbed a variety of classical and contemporary music. In junior high, he formed his own rock and hip-hop band and in high school played in a jazz orchestra which brought in guests like Dizzy Gillespie and Ray Charles. He later pursued formal musical studies with mentors William Bolcom and Michael Daugherty, earning both his masters and doctoral degrees.The four movements of his Ghetto Strings evoke four places Roumain has called home at various points in his life: Harlem, Detroit, Liberty City in Miami and Haiti.Music Played in Today's ProgramDaniel Bernard Roumain (b. 1970): Haiti from Ghetto Strings; Minneapolis Guitar Quartet; innova CD 858

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• Mahler and Schoenfield at the Vaudeville?

  SynopsisOn today’s date in 1895, Gustav Mahler conducted the Berlin Philharmonic in the first complete performance of his own Symphony No. 2.Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 is often called the Resurrection Symphony, as the work includes a choral setting of the Resurrection Ode by 18th-century German poet Klopstock, but Mahler himself gave his symphony no such title. In a letter to his wife, Mahler confided that his Symphony No. 2 “was so much all of a piece that it can no more be explained than the world itself.”And like the world, music is often full of surprising transitions!American composer Paul Schoenfield quoted a dramatic passage of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in his concerto for piccolo trumpet and orchestra, Vaudeville.In live performances, the sudden juxtaposition of Mahler and the Brazilian tune Tico-Tico always gets a laugh — which is just what Schoenfield intended.“I often suffer from depression, and once, when I was feeling pretty low, a friend of mind suggested I try writing something happy and upbeat to see if that would help. Vaudeville was the result. I don’t know if it helped me, but people say when they hear it, it makes them feel better. The music of other composers I respect has that effect on me, and I’m glad if Vaudeville has that effect on others,” Schoenfield said.Music Played in Today's ProgramGustav Mahler (1860-1911): Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection); London Symphony; Gilbert Kaplan, conductor; Conifer 51337Paul Schoenfield (1947-2024): Vaudeville; New World Symphony; John Nelson, conductor; Argo 440 212

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• Ravel and Zaimont

  SynopsisLa Valse — one of the most popular orchestral works by Maurice Ravel — was performed for the first time this day in 1920 by the Lamoureux Orchestra in Paris, conducted by Camille Chevillard. Ravel’s score was subtitled a “choreographic poem for orchestra in the tempo of the Viennese waltz.”La Valse is a far more Impressionistic work than any of the waltzes by the Strauss Family. It is certainly darker. Ravel said, “I had intended this work to be a kind of apotheosis of the Viennese waltz, with which was associated in my imagination an impression of a fantastic and fatal kind of Dervish’s dance.”La Valse was written for the great ballet impresario Serge Diagalev, who apparently found it undanceable, and his failure to stage La Valse caused a serious rift in his friendship with Ravel.Contemporary composer Judith Lang Zaimont is an unabashed Ravel enthusiast — ”Ravel’s music defines ‘gorgeous,’” she said. “It’s beguiling to the ear, and sensuous. His textures are built in thin layers, like a Napoleon pastry, and his intricate surfaces — beautifully worked-out — shine and fascinate.”Zaimont should know. For many years she taught composition at the University of Minnesota, and her own solo piano, chamber and orchestra works are increasingly finding their way into concert halls and onto compact disc.Music Played in Today's ProgramMaurice Ravel (1875-1937): La Valse; Boston Symphony; Charles Munch, conductor; RCA 6522Judith Lang Zaimont (b. 1945): Symphony No. 1; Czech Radio Symphony; Leos Svarovsky, conductor; Arabesque 6742

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