It’s a near certainty that I won’t be able to make this concert on Saturday night, but if you’ll be in New York City and you are interested in unusual and worthwhile repertoire, it’s possible I could live vicariously through you. It’s agonizing to me to have to miss not only the Symphony No. 5 by American composer (and one-time Juilliard president) Peter Mennin, but also the lovely, late-Romantic Violin Concerto by Mieczyslaw Karlowicz. (Rachel Lee Priday will be the soloist.)
The program will open with Giacomo Puccini’s “Capriccio sinfonico.” That’s the student piece he cannibalized for “La bohème.” If you know your Puccini, you will recognize it.
The Mennin is not performed often enough and the Karlowicz is rarely-heard on these shores. You could attend concerts for decades, as I have, and never encounter either one in performance. It is, however, characteristic programming for the New York Repertory Orchestra, whose music director is David Leibowitz.
The programs are always intriguingly and intelligently put together. Sadly, I always seem to have a conflict. (I was bummed to miss their LAST concert, which included the Symphony No. 4 by Ruth Gipps.) TICKETS ARE FREE, with a suggested $15 donation.
So if you’re interested in enjoying some attractive, well-crafted music that for some inexplicable reason has never really gained a toehold in the standard repertoire, hie thee to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 145 West 46th St., between 6th & 7th Avenues, this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. – and taunt me with how fabulous it was to hear this concert live!
More information at the link
https://www.nyro.org/index.html
Rehearsing Mennin
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3285024335012633
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PHOTO: An eerie Octo-Mennin, courtesy of Gordon Parks
Tag: Peter Mennin
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Misty for Mennin
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Peter Mennin Forgotten Genius
The eeriest thing about Peter Mennin is not that he was born in Erie, PA, but that his music is now almost never performed. His Symphony No. 3 was shortlisted for a Pulitzer Prize in 1950. Good luck ever hearing it unless it’s on a recording.
Mennin’s studies with Norman Lockwood at the Oberlin Conservatory were interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the U.S. Army Air Force. Later, he studied with Howard Hanson at the Eastman School. He completed his Third Symphony on his 23rd birthday to fulfill his PhD requirements. The work immediately catapulted him to fame.
He lost the Pulitzer to Gian Carlo Menotti and the opera “The Consul.” However, a performance of the symphony by the New York Philharmonic paved the way for his appointment to the composition faculty of the Juilliard School.
Mennin was also a successful administrator. In 1958, he was named director of the Peabody Conservatory. In 1962, he became Juilliard’s president, a position he held until his death in 1983. In that capacity, he oversaw the school’s move from Claremont Avenue to Lincoln Center. He introduced both the drama and dance departments, he commenced the Master Class Program, and he attracted many high-profile artists as teachers.
In all, he composed nine symphonies (the first two were later withdrawn); also concertos for piano, cello, and flute, sundry orchestral pieces (including “Concertato: Moby Dick”), chamber works, choral pieces, and instrumental music.
Mennin was born to Italian immigrants one hundred years ago today. His brother was the composer Louis Mennini, who retained the family surname.
I just found the Albany Symphony Ochestra’s CD of Mennin’s Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6, with “Concertato: Moby Dick,” at Princeton Record Exchange only last week. The price: $1.00. That’s a penny a year. Somebody give this guy some performances, already!
Buon Centenario, Peter Mennin!
Symphony No. 3, with Dimitri Mitropoulos and the New York Philharmonic
John Ogdon plays the Piano Concerto
Fantasia for String Orchestra
“Concertato: Moby Dick”
“Folk Overture”
In the Erie Hall of Fame
How nice it would have been to acknowledge this important anniversary by sharing some of Mennin’s music over the radio, had my shows not been dropped by WWFM!
PHOTO: An eerie Octo-Mennin, courtesy of Gordon Parks
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