Two days ago we noted the first performance of Aaron Copland’s ballet Rodeo in 1942. Now we look at the first performance of his Symphony no.3, which took place on this day in 1946. The Third is Copland’s flagship symphony, an impressive and powerful work that reaches its apex with music that you will no doubt recognise as the Fanfare for the Common Man, written in 1942. Here is a fine performance of the whole work from the New York Philharmonic and Leonard Bernstein, recorded for DG in 1986:
As with Rodeo, Emerson, Lake & Palmer were not far away, and their adaptation of the Fanfare for the Common Man became their biggest hit in 1977:
Published post no.2,691 – Saturday 18 October 2025
An important new release in the Sir Arthur Bliss anniversary year, from a record company who have done so much to advance the cause of the composer. This is the recording made around a concert in Nottingham in February, where the Metamorphic Variations were appraised by Arcana’s Richard Whitehouse.
Chandos write in their press release: “Perhaps now overshadowed by his earlier ballet Checkmate, Miracle in the Gorbals was a tremendous hit for Bliss and the Sadler’s Wells Ballet company. First performed in 1944, it was repeated in every season through to 1950. Based on a scenario by Michael Benthall (inspired by Jerome K. Jerome and Dostoyevsky), the ballet features the appearance of a Christ-like figure amid Glasgow’s most infamous slum. This mysterious Stranger performs a miracle, reviving the Girl Suicide, who in despair had earlier thrown herself into the Clyde. The locals rejoice, but an Official (Benthall had in mind a priest) is jealous and, after a failed attempt to cast doubt on the virtue of the Stranger via the local Prostitute, has him slashed to death by a razor gang.
Bliss’s score employs a wide range of styles and harmonic language, and also exploits Leitmotifs for the principal characters. Originally titled Variations for Orchestra, Bliss composed the Metamorphic Variations towards the end of his life, during a late surge of creativity. Two of the sixteen movements were dropped before the first performance (given by the LSO and Vernon Handley in 1973) and for some reason were not re-instated at any of the later performances of the work until that given by Michael Seal and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in February 2025, the day before they made this recording.
On this day in 1942, at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, the premiere of Aaron Copland’s ballet Rodeo took place. It was a wildly successful event, with no less than 22 curtain calls for a work that was to become one of Copland’s best-loved.
Often the Four Dance Episodes are performed as an extract for orchestra, and these contain two famous scenes in Buckaroo Holiday and the popular Hoe-Down, which you can enjoy below in a brilliant recording from the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas:
Thirty years after Rodeo’s premiere, progressive rock trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer put their own inimitable stamp on the Hoe-Down, with a virtuosic tour de force that stays faithful to the original but showcases the trio’s daredevil virtuosity, especially in this concert from Milan:
Published post no.2,689 – Thursday 16 October 2025
photo courtesy of Wikipedia – by Reijo Koskinen / Lehtikuva
by Ben Hogwood
On this day in 1970, the first performance took place of a remarkable new work from Witold Lutosławski. The Cello Concerto was written for the great Mstislav Rostropovich, who gave the premiere with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Sir Edward Downes at the Royal Festival Hall.
Here is a more recent account from the fine cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk:
Picture: By uncredited press photographer, public domain
by Ben Hogwood
On this day in 1872, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was born. One of the best-loved English composers, he is loved for quintessentially English portraits such as The Lark Ascending, while his cycle of nine symphonies is gradually getting the acclaim it deserves.
On this occasion Arcana would like to highlight an unusual piece, celebrating its centenary two days ago – the suite for viola, chorus and orchestra Flos Campi. It is set in six movements, each titled after a verse from the Song of Solomon.
The first performance took place at London’s Queen’s Hall, where soloist Lionel Tertis performed with a wordless choir from the Royal College of Music and the Queen’s Hall Orchestra, conducted by Sir Henry Wood.
In the words of the composer, its “unabashedly sensual and lushly orchestrated” qualities were “quite appropriate considering its subject matter”. You can listen to a classic performance below, with Frederick Riddle and the Bournemouth Sinfonietta Choir and Orchestra conducted by Norman Del Mar.
Arcana.fm 