What a great night last night at Carnegie Hall! JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra celebrated the centenary of the birth of Lukas Foss.
In addition to being a brilliant composer, conductor, pianist, and educator (he succeeded Arnold Schoenberg as professor of music at UCLA), Foss was music director in Buffalo from 1963 to 1970.
Falletta served as his associate conductor at the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (where Foss was director from 1981 to 1986), later assuming the directorship he once held in Buffalo. Falletta has been music director in Buffalo since 1999. Her recordings of opulent repertoire and music by unjustly neglected composers for the Naxos label, among others, hold an honored place in my CD collection.
She’s also one heck of a nice person. She gives so much of herself (she’s been a guest on my radio shows three or four times over the years, twice in person), I honestly wonder where she finds the energy.
Last night’s program was all (or mostly) Foss, including “Ode for Orchestra,” “Three American Pieces” (with concertmaster Nikki Chooi, violin), the “Renaissance Concerto” (with Amy Porter, flute), “Psalms” (with the Choir of Trinity Wall Street), and the Symphony No. 1. Also included, as kind of an encore after “Psalms,” was the famous “Alleluia” by Foss’ teacher, Randall Thompson.
I never dreamt I’d get to hear so much Foss in one place. In a sense, I feel like I got more “Foss” than I did when I actually met him in person, over 30 years ago. His was a great era for American music. I wish that particular generation of American composers would be represented more frequently in our concert halls. To bring a full program to Carnegie was very special indeed.
A truly memorable evening, then. Thanks to JoAnn Falletta, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and everyone else who helped to make it possible.
And a special thank you to Paul Moon, who scored me my ticket and was my generous host for the day!
