Rod Corkin wrote:
I looked around for quite a while yesterday but could find nothing, references to the commisioned works yes, but not actually naming them nor their respective composers. Even the orchestra's own website is no help.
I'm rather surprised to read that, especially the information regarding the Cleveland Orchestra's website.
These nine (ten including the Partita) works would presumably have been showpieces intended to show the orchestra off at its best and to have them drop off the radar so completely is hard to believe.
The liner notes to Naxos CD 8.553180 (Walton: Symphony No.1/Partita) only indicate that he was the sole English composer invited to supply a work.
Combining the information from the linernotes and the
WilliamWalton.net website provides the following information on his contribution:
Partita for Orchestra. C67 (
Podcast on the Partita by Stuart Malina, conductor of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra)
Commissioned: 1955
Completed: October 1957
First Performance: 30 January, 1958, Cleveland Symphony Orchestra/George Szell (to whom the work was dedicated)
Unfortunately I do not know enough about the history of the Cleveland Symphony to identify which year was the 40th season, but hopefully this information can help in narrowing down just what the other nine items were.
Edit: Did a little digging of my own, turned up a podcast discussing the piece which I've linked to above, not much more than was mentioned above.
It might be time to hit the newspapers...
