Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony
Famous Conductor Advocated Music by Copland, Stravinsky, Prokofiev
Jul 26, 2009
Few orchestras in the world, let alone the United States, have the decorated history of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. To that end, few conductors cast a wider shadow than Serge Koussevitzky.
Music directors tend to last in one city about as long as baseball managers. Some take on a peripatetic existence. Others get lucky. Koussevitzky succeeded Pierre Monteux in 1924, and he presided over the orchestra for 25 years, practically an eternity for a conductor. But little luck was involved. Koussevitzky was just that good, and his musicians just that skilled.
A full-bodied sound characterized the exquisite musicianship that Koussevitzky coaxed out of his players in a tough-love taskmaster approach. On the podium, he implanted a little fear in them. Off the podium, however, he was genial and fatherly.
But it was his unconditional endorsement of “new music” that left a considerable imprint. Unlike George Szell, who habitually confined himself to a steady diet of repertory from the Classical and Romantic periods, Koussevitzky embraced the music written during his time in Boston. Not that he shied away from the Beethovens and the Mozarts. He just placed as much importance on the present.
In 1942, he established the Koussevitzky Music Foundations to further advance the music of the rising crop of composers for which he championed passionately. To honor his 135th birthday, it’s best to examine the composers who owe a sizeable debt of gratitude to Serge Koussevitzky, either from world premieres or American premieres of their works.
American Composers: Copland, Schuman and Barber
- Aaron Copland. Koussevitzky premiered two pieces while Copland was in his 20s that traditionalist audiences deemed too racy: Music for the Theatre (premiered November 20, 1925) and his Piano Concerto (January 28, 1927). These jazz-soaked works gave way to his 20-minute Symphonic Ode (February 19, 1932). In Copland’s prime, Koussevitzky introduced perhaps his two masterpieces: the concert suite version of Appalachian Spring (May 1945) and his Symphony No. 3 (October 18, 1946).
- William Schuman. One of America’s finest symphonists, Schuman wrote his rousing American Festival Overture to open an all-American concert Koussevitzky programmed on October 6, 1939. After the universally warm reception of the overture, Schuman entered the conversation as a force in American music with two Koussevitzky-commissioned symphonies: his splendid Symphony No. 3 (October 17, 1941) and his Fifth, the Symphony for Strings (November 12, 1943). Under Koussevitzky’s direction, the Boston Symphony also debuted Schuman’s cantata A Free Song (March 26, 1943), which won the first Pulitzer Prize for music.
- Samuel Barber. After having Arturo Toscanini as an early proponent in the 1930s, Koussevitzky presented important Barber works of the 1940s. Barber’s Symphony No. 2 (March 3, 1944) left the composer disenchanted after a round of alterations but it has since been recorded several times. His Cello Concerto (April 5, 1946) is taxing stuff for the solo instrument and has gained traction in terms of more performances. But Knoxville: Summer of 1915 for soprano and orchestra (April 9, 1948) is frequent concert material, and marvelous voices have recorded it, from the original soprano, Eleanor Steber, to Leontyne Price and Dawn Upshaw.
Russian Composers: Stravinsky and Prokofiev
- Igor Stravinsky. Classical music’s supreme innovator fulfilled several commissions for Koussevitzky, who published much of his work. The Boston Symphony unveiled Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms (December 19, 1930) for the orchestra’s 50th anniversary, as well as the Concerto for Violin in D (January 1, 1932) and Orpheus (February 11, 1949, his final season).
- Sergei Prokofiev. Choose a Prokofiev favorite, and it’s likely Koussevitzky unveiled it to America. The Love for Three Oranges suite (November 12, 1926), Peter and the Wolf (March 25, 1938) and the venerable Symphony No. 5 (November 9, 1945) all received U.S. debuts in Boston, along with the little-known gem Russian Overture (October 15, 1937), with Prokofiev at his mischievous and roguish best.
Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert at Tanglewood
Koussevitzky once said – and it is cited often – “If we don't support the music of today, there will be no music of tomorrow.” That so many of these compositions discussed are firmly situated in the repertoire would make him proud.
Today, in the music shed that bears Koussevitzky’s name at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony’s summer home, David Robertson will lead the orchestra in an all-American program. Along with music by Barber and Virgil Thomson, it will perform Roy Harris’ Symphony No. 3 and Leonard Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety symphony. Both were Koussevitzky commissions, and Bernstein’s symphony marked his last world premiere as conductor.
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