Programme Note
Antheil’s
Jazz Symphony was composed in 1925 on a commission from Paul Whiteman and premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1927.
Quoting Joplin and Stravinsky and calling upon the trumpeter to employ "all the tricks of the trade," Antheil creates a wholly original and inimitable musical score that once and for all marries jazz to the concert orchestra. Virtuosic piano solos look ahead to the post-bebop "free" jazz of the 60s.