NYP 11-34: American s Orchestra goes All American

Transcription

1 NYP 11-34: American s Orchestra goes All American (INSERT NATIONAL UNDERWRITERS 01) (NYP THEME MUSIC UP AND UNDER) (ROLL: NYPTW INTRO) AB: and this week (MUSIC MONTAGE UP AND UNDER) AB: we have an all-american music program featuring several recordings from the orchestra s archives. We begin right now with music of Gershwin arranged by Benniett. This is Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture. Andre Kostelanetz conducts the New York Philharmonic. (MUSIC: Porgy ~19:00) AB: Recorded for Columbia on February 15, 1954, that was Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture. The music was by George Gershwin as arranged by Robert Russell Bennett. The New York Philharmonic was conducted by Andre Kostelanetz. (SLIGHT PAUSE)

2 AB: William or let s just say, Bill, Russo, who lived from , had a list of credentials that traversed many plains: educator, administrator, trombonist, and composer & arranger. He counted such serious composers as John J. Becker amongst his teachers, as well as jazz greats such as pianist Lennie Tristano. Similarly, Bill Russo s catalog includes everything from ballet scores to a long list of works for both large and small jazz orchestra. His 2 nd Symphony was written at a time when many composers were attempting to create a high-level coexistence between the classical and popular arts. This piece is one of the most successful in this genre calling for an enormous orchestra with a Stan Kenton-esque brass section and a juicy solo part written for Maynard Ferguson. Here s the composer with more: (WR 01)

3 AB: Russo composed his 2 nd Symphony specifically at Leonard Bernstein s request, on a grant from the Koussevitzky Music Foundation. The title, Titans, was, according to the composer, expressive of the spirit in which the music was written. He recalled the experience of writing and premiering this piece in an interview with WFMT s Kerry Frumkin and Louise B. Frank in 2002: (Documentary blurb) AB: and now we hear the World Premiere performance of William Russo s Symphony No. 2 in C-major, Op. 32, Titans. Maynard Ferguson is the trumpet and Leonard Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic. (MUSIC) AB: Recorded April 18, 1959, that was the worldpremiere performance of the Symphony No. 2 by William Russo. Maynard Ferguson was the soloist and the New York Philharmonic was conducted by Leonard Bernstein. (SLIGHT PAUSE)

4 AB: Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington was one of the most prolific composers of the 20 th century in both the number of compositions he wrote and the number of forms in which he was fluent. His development stands as one of the most spectacular in the history of music, underscored by more than 50 years of sustained achievement as an artist and an entertainer. In April of 1999 just a few weeks before what would have been Ellington s 100 th birthday, Jazz At Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic joined forces to produce a program in which trumpeter and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis arranged four Ellington masterpieces for jazz orchestra and symphony orchestra. Here now is A Tone Parallel to Harlem. Kurt Masur conducts the New York Philharmonic, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis: (MUSIC)

5 AB: Recorded live in April, 1999, that was Wynton Marsalis with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic in music of Duke Ellington: A Tone Parallel to Harlem. Wynton Marsalis was the arranger and Music Director Emeritus Kurt Masur conducted the New York Philharmonic. (SLIGHT PAUSE) AB: After a break, our broadcast will conclude with Copland conducting Copland. I m Alec Baldwin and you re listening to the New York Philharmonic This Week on the WFMT Radio Network. (LEGAL ID) AB: Aaron Copland s opera, The Tender Land, tells the story of a Midwestern farm family. Copland was inspired to write this opera after viewing the Depression-era photographs of Walker Evans and reading James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. He wrote the work between 1952 and 1954 for the NBC Television Opera Workshop, with the intention of it being presented on television. However, the television producers rejected the opera

6 Eventually, the work had its premiere on April 1, 1954 at the New York City Opera, with Thomas Schippers as the conductor, Jerome Robbins as the director, and a cast that included the young Norman Treigle. Some years later and after some revisions, Copland conducted the New York Philharmonic in an abridged concert version of the work on July 28, In the cast were Joy Clements, Claramae Turner, Richard Cassilly, Treigle, and Richard Fredricks. A few days later, most of the same forces were gathered together at the Manhattan Center to record the piece for Columbia. Here s that performance now: (MUSIC) AB: We just heard Aaron Copland conducting the New York Philharmonic in an abridged version of his opera, The Tender Land. In the cast were: Joy Clements, Claramae Turner, Richard Cassilly, Norman Treigle, and Richard Fredricks. The recording is commercially available through Sony-BMG. (INSERT CLOSERS)

7 PROMO for NYP AB: Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra perform the Marsalis Swing Symphony next, time on the New York Philharmonic This Week. Hello. This is Alec Baldwin. Please join me for this broadcast of the Philharmonic s Opening Night performance from September, Also on the program: works by Strauss and Hindemith as Music Director Alan Gilbert conducts The New York Philharmonic!