Robert Ward's Symphony No. 1; Alexei Haieff's Piano Concerto

Here are two fine mid-century works by two of the leading composers of the time, Robert Ward (1917-2013) and Alexei Haieff (1914-1994).

Robert Ward

Ward has appeared here before with his Third Symphony; today's work was his first effort in that form. This is the first time that I have featured one of Haieff's compositions on the blog.

Ward, born in Cleveland, attended the Eastman School as an undergraduate. His First Symphony dates from 1941, when he was a graduate student at Juilliard. It is a relatively brief, tonal but dramatic work, showing his early mastery.

Alexei Haieff

Haieff was born in Russia and came to the U.S. in 1931. He was a Juilliard student later in that decade, then went to Paris for work with Nadia Boulanger. He composed his piano concerto in 1947-48 while at the American Academy in Rome. It received its premiere in 1952 with Leo Smit as the soloist and Stokowski conducting.

This recording, made even before the premiere in October 1951, also features the excellent Smit. The conductor is Walter Hendl; discographer Michael Gray identifies the "American Recording Society Symphony" as the Vienna Symphony, which ARS often engaged for these sessions. Gray does not have a listing for the Ward symphony; however, it was likely recorded at about the same time, perhaps in 1951, when its conductor, Dean Dixon, was leading other ARS performances with the Vienna Symphony.

The orchestral work is very good for such unfamiliar scores, and the recordings are well balanced. The cover is unsigned, but appears to be by Peter Piening, a commercial artist who did much work for ARS.