In 1942-43, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra conductor Eugene Goossens led a commission program of eighteen Fanfares to open each orchestral concert series. He apparently intended them to be an artistic call-to-arms during World War II – he had embarked on a similar project in England during World War I.
Seventeen of those Fanfares are essentially forgotten – for many of them you can find zero recordings on Spotify. This includes pieces by celebrate composers like Virgil Thompson, William Grant Still, Walter Piston, Darius Milhaud.
The eighteenth was Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland.
Will every piece you commission be a masterpiece? Probably not.
Will you ever premiere a masterpiece without commissioning composers? Absolutely not.
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