Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Eugene Ormandy

Virgil Thomson Birthday Composer & Critic

Today is the birthday of Virgil Thomson (1896-1989), faux naïf composer and feared critic of the New York Herald Tribune.

I included two of Thomson’s “Five Blake Songs” on this week’s edition of “The Lost Chord” (which repeats tonight at 6 ET at wwfm.org), devoted yet again to recordings of American music by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

The songs, written for baritone Mack Harrell, were originally recorded for Columbia Records in 1951. When the recording was reissued on CRI in the 1970s, Thomson himself suppressed the fourth of them, “The Little Black Boy,” which therefore was absent from the only CD issue, in 1989, on the Bay Cities label. I own both the original LP and the Bay Cities disc, but since I only had time for two songs anyway, I resorted to the more portable CD. Fortunately, another maniacal collector has posted all five on YouTube. Here they are for your enjoyment:

It’s wonderful to have a composer like Thomson born so close to Thanksgiving. Here’s probably his best-known work, the “Symphony on a Hymn Tune”:

And, for good measure, his concertino for harp, strings and percussion, “Autumn”:

Happy birthday, Virgil Thomson!

PHOTO: Thomson, in his “office”

November 25, 2015
Ormandy’s Lost American Music Rediscovered

I hope you’ll join me tonight on “The Lost Chord,” as we round out our trilogy of programs featuring rarely-heard recordings of American music by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

We’ll hear two songs (originally from a collection of five), after texts of William Blake, by Virgil Thomson; Roy Harris’ underrated Symphony No. 7, in a powerhouse performance; and Louis Gesensway’s “Four Squares of Philadelphia.”

Gesensway was born in Latvia in 1906. A violin prodigy, he was one of the founders of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He came to Philadelphia at the age of 19, where he played in the orchestra under Stokowski and Ormandy.

In his mid-20s, he took a leave of absence to study composition with Zoltán Kodály. “Four Squares of Philadelphia” was described by the composer as a “symphonic poem for large orchestra, narrator and street criers.”

The piece opens with a recitation of William Penn’s prayer, then continues with musical evocations of Washington Square (captured in early morning, during Colonial times, with street criers hawking their wares), Rittenhouse Square (on a bright and cheerful afternoon), Logan Square (with its fountains at dusk), and Franklin Square (at night, reflective of noisy bridge traffic, with a side excursion into Chinatown, and interjections from the honky tonk joints located around the square in the 1950s).

I hope you’ll join me for one more trip to the well, with “All-American Ormandy III,” tonight at 10 ET, or that you’ll listen to it (while you’re sitting in traffic, no doubt) when the show repeats Thanksgiving eve at 6. If your family is stressing you out, you can always catch it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.

PHOTO: Statue of Penn high atop the city he founded

November 22, 2015
Ormandy’s Lost American Music

It’s not so much that I am out of ideas, but it is mighty convenient that I had so much material left over from last week’s show, consisting of rarely-heard recordings of American music performed by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” I reach for the already conveniently stacked CDs to cue up three more gems.

Samuel Barber was born in West Chester, Pa., not far from Philly, in 1910. He attended Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music and had his first orchestral work, the “School for Scandal Overture,” performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1931, when he was 21 years-old.

His “First Essay for Orchestra” was sent to Arturo Toscanini in the same mail as his “Adagio for Strings.” Toscanini performed both works with the NBC Symphony in 1938, but it was Eugene Ormandy who made the first recording of the “Essay,” with the Philadelphians, in 1940.

Vincent Persichetti was born in Philadelphia in 1915, and he died there in 1987. In between, he attended Combs College of Music, the Curtis Institute (where he studied conducting with Fritz Reiner) and the Philadelphia Conservatory. He taught at Combs and the Philly Conservatory. Then he received an invitation from William Schuman (some of whose music we heard last week) to take up a professorship at Juilliard.

Persichetti was one of our great composers, but to this day he remains underappreciated, more respected than loved. His Symphony No 4 of 1951 must be one of his most immediately attractive works.

Finally, John Vincent may be the most undeservedly neglected composer in Ormandy’s entire discography. Ormandy described his recording of Vincent’s Symphony in D (“A Festival Piece in One Movement”) as “one of the best we have ever done,” and the piece itself as “one of the finest compositions created by an American composer in the past decade.” The 1954 work sounds at times like Sibelius gone to the rodeo, but my, is it good stuff!

I hope you’ll join me for “All-American Ormandy II,” rarely-heard recordings of Barber, Persichetti and Vincent, on “The Lost Chord,” this Sunday night at 10 ET, with a repeat Wednesday evening at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.

To help get you in the mood, here’s an in-depth interview with Persichetti by Bruce Duffie:

http://www.bruceduffie.com/persichetti.html

November 15, 2015
Ormandy’s Lost American Legacy

Eugene Ormandy, of course, was born in Hungary. His birth name was Jenő Blau. But he became a naturalized American citizen in 1927 and directed the Philadelphia Orchestra for 44 years.

In that capacity, he championed much contemporary music and works by his adopted countrymen –facts frequently forgotten next to his legacy as a superb interpreter of the 19th century classics.

In fact, much of his American legacy has dropped out of print. In the late 1990s, Albany Records briefly attempted to rectify the situation by reissuing some of Ormandy’s recordings of lesser-heard American music. In the event, the series only reached three discs, but each of them is a treasure.

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll hear two works by Pulitzer Prize-winners, both of whose music has sadly fallen out of fashion. The first is William Schuman, the very first recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1943, for his “Cantata No. 2, ‘A Free Song.’” At the height of his fame, Schuman was also President of Lincoln Center.

We’ll hear music he composed in 1955, called “Credendum – Article of Faith,” which was written in response to the first ever commission by the U.S. government for a symphonic work.

Norman Dello Joio was the recipient of the Pulitzer in 1957 for his “Meditations on Ecclesiastes.” The concert suite from “Air Power” was adapted from 22 individual scores he composed for the CBS television series, about the history of aviation, which aired from November 1956 through spring of 1957. Its individual sections underscore the early days of flight, with its barnstormers and daredevils, followed by those of air battles and war scenes.

I hope you’ll join me for these rarely heard recordings of American music, conducted by Eugene Ormandy. That’s “All-American Ormandy,” tonight at 10 ET, with a repeat Wednesday evening at 6; or listen to it later as a webcast at wwfm.org.

November 8, 2015
Thomson’s Louisiana Story Pulitzer & Ormandy

Yesterday, I posted about Virgil Thomson. On this date in 1948, the Philadelphia Orchestra gave the first performance of Thomson’s “Louisiana Story Suite.” As I mentioned, “Louisiana Story” was the first – and so far only – film score to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Robert Flaherty’s semi-documentary, commissioned by the Standard Oil Company, whitewashes the impact of oil drilling in the bayous, which barely impacts a Cajun boy’s adventures with his pet raccoon. Much more irksome is a pesky alligator, for which Thomson composed a fugue.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to give a belated nod to Eugene Ormandy, whose birthday I missed on Nov. 18. Ormandy, of course, was music director and conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra for 44 years.

Praise be! Somebody posted Ormandy’s recording of “Louisiana Story” on YouTube. I’m not sure that it’s ever appeared on CD. At any rate, it is currently unavailable.

Here’s the complete film, if you’re interested. The print, posted by a Russian(!), is much better than an alternative, murkier print, also posted, if you can forgive the foreign subtitles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSvBQOSqHGI

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Be careful driving!

November 26, 2014

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