Comments on On An Overgrown Path: 'Glorious John' in New York

I think Dimitri Mitropoulos was a better champion ...

2005-11-03T02:37:00.000Z

I think Dimitri Mitropoulos was a better champion of American composers and living composers in general when he was NYPhil music director in the 50's. I heard many of his concerts broadcast on the radio then. It was an amazing time for the orchestra. He was followed by Bernstein, of course.

But I do remember (vaguely) attending a Barbirolli concert at RFH in London where he conducted the Vaughan Williams 7th. It must have been 1966, because my later trips to London, in the '70's were after his death. But I do remember that concert (even tho I can't seem to find any record of it) as being one of the most transcendent I'd ever heard. (I hope I'm not conflating that memory with another one, but I do have the score here, which I bought in the bookstall at RFH.. I only wish I had jotted down some notes). What I do remember was the image of Barbirolli from the stage ... small and frail, but as if coming from a previous century in his tails and formal wear. (I was 22 at the time, and these things impressed me.)

I still love your blog - very informative. I adde...

2005-11-01T19:48:00.000Z

I still love your blog - very informative. I added you to my blogroll.

Sarah

During his first season he read through more than ...

2005-11-01T15:28:00.000Z

During his first season he read through more than fifty new scores from American resident composers.

Pliable, I think that it would be fascinating to see the full list, if it were available -- possibly from the NYPhil archives. Perhaps someone there will see this and help us.

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Barbirolli's reputation was built on the romantic repertoire, but he was also unstinting in his advocacy of new music. The US based composers that he programmed included Daniel Gregory Mason, Joseph Deems Taylor (excerpts from his comic opera Peter Ibbetson), Abram Chasins, Samuel Barber, Ernst Toch, Arkady Dubensky, Charles Wakefield Cadman, Quinto Maganini, Gardner Read, Charles Griffes and Quincy Porter. From further afield came first New York performances of compositions from Ibert, Gossens, and Britten.

Very interesting story, Pliable. Thank you.

Arguably, the strongest American compositional voices on that list are those of Griffes, Barber, Toch, and Porter - and perhaps Cadman -- composers who remain in or on the edge of the American orchestral canon.

I would say that the list doesn't appear to be the strongest list of American works premiered over a seven year period by the New York Philharmonic, or any other American symphony orchestra.

Does anyone want to take a stab at what they believe was the most fertile seven year period for American music by the New York Philharmonic, or any other American symphony orchestra? Or by the American symphony field as a whole? Answers can conceivably be either quantitative or qualitative (opininated).

[Any American Symphony Orchestra League (ASOL)researchers or staffers, or Americanist music librarians with the requisite time available to look into this? Thanks.]

And thanks again, Pliable, for the hingly interesting research and analysis.