Composers Datebook

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1932, Maurice Ravel’s Concerto for Piano Left Hand received its public premiere in Vienna. It was one of several concertos for piano left hand commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a wealthy Austrian pianist who lost his right arm during World War I. He also commissioned concertos from Richard Strauss, Prokofiev, Korngold, and Britten.In the fall of 1931, Ravel presented Wittgenstein with the score of his new concerto, and together they gave it a private read-through with Ravel playing the orchestra part on one piano, and Wittgenstein the solo part on another. At first he was not impressed and offended Ravel by suggesting a few changes, which Ravel flatly refused to make. “Only after I had studied the concerto carefully did I realize what a great work it was,” he said. Wittgenstein performed the premiere with the Vienna Symphony led by Robert Heger.A few days later, on January 14th that same year, Ravel himself conducted the premiere of his other piano concerto, this one written for the two hands of French pianist Marguerite Long. In stark contrast to the brooding Concerto for Wittgenstein, the Concerto for Long is light-hearted, with a blues-y slow movement inspired by the Harlem jazz sampled by Ravel during a visit to New York in 1928.Music Played in Today's ProgramMaurice Ravel (1875-1937): Piano Concerto for the Left Hand; Leon Fleisher, piano; Baltimore Symphony; Sergui Commissiona, conductor; Philips 456 775Piano Concerto in G Krystian Zimerman, piano; Cleveland Orchestra; Pierre Boulez, conductor; DG 449 213

SynopsisOn today’s date in 1961, the New York City Ballet presented a new work scored by 35-year old composer Gunther Schuller, who was conducting the pit orchestra. On stage, in the middle of the green- and purple-garbed dancers, were four additional musicians: namely, the Modern Jazz Quartet, decked out in their usual white ties and tails. Schuller’s score, Variants, was an attempt to fuse modern music and jazz into a style he labeled “Third Stream.””I had this idea of the First and Second streams [classical and jazz] getting married and giving birth to a child, which is the Third stream,” recalled Schuller years later, ruefully noting that today one would have to call it the “10,000th stream” as composers have since introduced a multitude of ethnic, folk and vernacular music into the mix as well.But back in 1961, the idea attracted a lot of press — not all favorable. The New Yorker, for example, thought it odd that the MJQ “sat like a quartet of hunters in a duck blind, anxiously shooting out carefully calculated notes.” Time magazine wrote: “Schuller’s score was the essence of the cool — spare, fragmentary, but resembling jazz only in its rhythmic drive.” If this was the Third Stream, the reviewer concluded, “it never seemed to be flowing anywhere.”Music Played in Today's ProgramGunther Schuller (1925-2015): Conversation; Modern Jazz Quartet and ensemble; Gunther Schuller, conductor; Wounded Bird 1345

SynopsisIn Austrian culture there is a theatrical tradition that pokes fun at anything somber and serious. Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute taps into this in the person of Papageno, and in the 19th century the Austrian actor Johann Nestroy deflated pomposity in his satirical plays, including one wicked sendup of Wagner’s opera Tannhauser.In our own time, this tradition is alive and well — and even Mozart is not immune. How else do you explain the 1991 Austrian film, Bring Me the Head of Amadeus! — a work ostensibly released in honor of the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death?That film’s soundtrack was written by a musical jack-of-all-trades named H.K. Gruber, who was born in Vienna on today’s date in 1943. Gruber has composed what might be called “normal” concertos and such but is best known for “abnormal” works, including Frankenstein!!, a piece he describes as a “pandemonium” for voice and chamber ensemble. Frankenstein!! is a musical setting of some very macabre poems by a fellow Austrian named H.C. Artmann. Oddly enough, its bizarre Viennese humor translates well with audiences worldwide. As Gruber put it: “The poems evokes in each culture a unique set of metaphors and associations. The gloomy Russian temperament, for example, seems to find our Frankenstein!! particularly amusing!”Music Played in Today's ProgramH.K. Gruber (b. 1943): Three Mob Pieces; London Mob Ensemble; H.K. Gruber EMI 56441H.K. Gruber (b. 1943) Frankenstein!! H.K. Gruber, vocals; Salzburg Camerata; Franz Welser-Most, conductor; EMI 56441

SynopsisIn 1885, 20-year old violinist Franz Kneisel came to America to become concertmaster of the Boston Symphony. That same year he formed the Kneisel Quartet, the first professional string quartet in America. For the next 30 years, their concerts were major musical events.On today’s date in 1894, this review of a Kneisel Quartet performance appeared in the Boston Globe:“It was one of the most interesting concerts ever given in Chickering Hall. First on the program was the Dvořák Quartet in F Major, which has never before been played in public. It was given a private performance in New York recently, and the composer was so pleased with the playing of the Kneisels that he gave them the manuscript which they used last night. This composition was written last summer and … the melodious parts strongly recall the type of music that the composer says he had in mind when he wrote the quartet … [The performance] was exceptionally good, and the listeners were stirred to a high pitch of enthusiasm. It is safe to say that the Dvořák quartet is a success.”Not a bad “morning after” review for the premiere of Dvorák’s famous American String Quartet. Music Played in Today's ProgramAntonín Dvořák (1841-1904): String Quartet No. 12 (American); Keller Quartet; Warner 44355

SynopsisOkay, raise your hand if you have ever stayed up til midnight to attend the premiere showing of a new film — extra points if you attended in costume as a Hogwarts student! Well, opera fans are no slouches, either. On December 31, 1913, Wagner fanatics arrived at the opera house in Budapest in time to attend a performance of Wagner’s five-hour opera Parsifal that began at one minute after midnight!January 1, 1914 was the date on which the official copyright protection for Wagner’s last opera ran out. Before then, staged performances of Parsifal were forbidden to take place anywhere else than Wagner’s own festival theater in Bayreuth, Germany.Parsifal had premiered there in 1882, but since international copyright laws proved unenforceable in many countries, some opera companies just ignored them. The Met in New York, for example, extensively renovated its stage machinery for the sole purpose of staging Parsifal on Christmas Eve in 1903, and there were also pirated pre-1914 performances in Canada, the Netherlands, Monaco, and Switzerland.One interesting note about that midnight Parsifal in Budapest — the conductor was 25-year-old musical wizard Fritz Reiner, who would eventually be waving his wand — okay, his baton — to lead the Chicago Symphony.Music Played in Today's ProgramRichard Wagner (1813-1883): Parsifal excerpts; Welsh National Opera Chorus and Orchestra; Reginald Goodall, conductor; EMI 65665