Hi Steve,
There certainly were earlier broadcasts of classical music on the radio but it seems that the DSO was the first to do a full concert.
This is from the DSO website:
"In 1922, Gabrilowitsch led the orchestra and guest pianist Artur Schnabel in the world's first radio broadcast of a symphonic concert on WWJ-AM. "
and from last.fm:
"The DSO performed the world’s first radio broadcast of a symphonic concert on February 10, 1922 with pianist Artur Schnabel, and became the first nationally broadcast radio orchestra on the Ford Sunday Evening Hour, later Ford Symphony Hour from 1934 to 1942 on the Columbia Broadcast System."
and from the Schabel Music Foundation:
"Feb. 1922 --Schnabel coincidentally participated in the first live radio broadcast of a complete symphony orchestra concert. This was in Detroit, Michigan during his first American tour."
There are only four instances of Schnabel mentioned in the performance archives of the DSO. The first two are for identical concerts on Feb. 9 and 10, 1922; the second performance was the one broadcast on WWJ (which, however, was still WBL at that time, and did not receive the call letters WWJ until March 3, 1922):
Tenth Programme
Subscription 10
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Thursday, February 09, 1922
Artists
Ossip Gabrilowtisch, conductor
Artur Schnabel, Piano
Program
Mendelssohn - Overture from Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Op. 27
Brahms - Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor, Op.15
Intermission
Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, "Pathétique"
So when did the NYPO start their broadcasts? From their site we have:
"Aug. 11, 1922 - First broadcast by a major symphony orchestra, New York Philharmonic,
program conducted by Willem van Hoogstraten from Lewisohn Stadium."
-- Leo Gillis
--------------------------------------------
On Thu, 3/20/14, Steven Smolian <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Ford Sunday Evening Hour broadcasts
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Thursday, March 20, 2014, 5:26 PM
Hi, there, DDR et al,
The New York Philharmonic was being broadcast regularly the
previous year.
Steve Smolian
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Dennis Rooney
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2014 12:12 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Ford Sunday Evening Hour broadcasts
The 1923 broadcasts are authentic but unrecorded. The were
conducted by
Gabrilowitsch. They may have been the first radio broadcast
of a regular
symphony orchestra concert. The Minneapolis Symphony under
Verbrugghen also
broadcast in that same year.
DDR
On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 7:41 PM, John Haley <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Thanks, Leo. Great info.
> Best, John
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 19, 2014 at 7:06 PM, Leo Gillis <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>
> > The online archives of the DSO for the Ford Sunday
Evening Hour goes
> > from
> > 2/16/1934 to 3/8/1947. A couple are listed for
1923, but I'm not
> > sure if those are correct.
> >
> > http://www.dso.org/performanceTitle.aspx?page_id=648
> >
> > The list of conductors includes: Victor
Kolar, Fritz Reiner, Mischa
> > Levitsky, Alexander Smallens, Charles Hackett,
Richard Bonelli, Sir
> Ernest
> > MacMillan, Emma Otero, Franco Ghione, Elwyn
Carter, Andre
> > Kostelanetz,
> Sir
> > John Barbirolli, Sir Thomas Beecham, Wilfrid
Pelletier, Jose Iturbi,
> George
> > Szell, Sir Eugene Ormandy, Reginald Stewart,
Artur, Rodzinaksi,
> > Eugene Goossens, Victor Kolar, Harold Koch, Dmitri
Mitropoulos, Karl
> > Krueger, William Steinberg, Leonard Bernstein,
Efrem Kurtz, and C.
Valter Poole.
> >
> > The first few years were all Kolar, (DSO principal
conductor) then
> > Reiner and Ormandy began appearing. Kolar, Reiner,
Ormandy, Iturbi,
> > Pelletier
> and
> > Beecham did numerous performances, and many of
these in later years
> > were held at the Music Hall, another fine, small
venue in downtown
> > Detroit, still in operation. Several of the
listings unfortunately
> > do not include the performance venue.
> >
> > -- Leo Gillis
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 7:38 PM, Don Tait
([log in to unmask])
> > < [log in to unmask]>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I have tapes or private CD-Rs of some
of those broadcasts. From
> > circa > 1941/2. Each 30 minutes. All I
have are conducted by Fritz
> > Reiner, who > presumably took the train
up from Pittsburgh for the
> > gig. I got the > recordings >
from fellow Reiner collectors and
> > have no idea who might have
conducted > other > programs. As one
> > might expect, the selections are short
and the musical > gruel is
> > pretty thin. The "theme music" for each
program is the French >
> > horn > "bedtime" music from Hansel und
Gretel.
> > >
> > > I do not remember
whether the
> > announcer(s) said from where the
> > > broadcasts originated. Sorry.
> > >
> > > Don Tait
> > >
> > >
> > > In a message dated 3/18/2014 3:38:10
P.M. Central Daylight Time,
> > > [log in to unmask]
> > writes:
> > >
> > > Starting in 1934 and continuing
for a number of years
> > thereafter, the > Detroit Symphony
appeared on a radio program,
> > the Ford Symphony Hour.
> > > Some
> > > of the most distinguished
conductors of that time regularly
> > guested on > this > show, which
also featured big name soloists.
> > Preserved broadcasts show
> > > that the orchestra was an excellent one
during this period, and
> > the > acoustics audible on these
recordings sound OK, with a touch
> > of nice hall > ambiance. A
number of these broadcasts are sought
> > after by collectors. I >
don't know where these shows were
> > recorded, but I assume they predate
the > Ford Auditorium referred
> > to previously.
> > >
> > > Best,
> > > John Haley
> >
> >
>
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