Monday Musicale with the Maestro – July 27, 2020 – An Unsung Classic:  “Jurists’ March” by Tchaikovsky

An Unsung Classic:  “Jurists’ March” by Tchaikovsky

From the beginning of my conducting career, I have been a champion of new music and have conducted many premieres, including works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composers William Bolcolm, Joseph Schwantner, and Robert Ward.  But I am just as proud to have enriched the repertoire of orchestras all across the U.S. by programming neglected masterworks they had never performed.  

As Resident Conductor of the North Carolina Symphony, I directed their first performances of Bruckner’s 7th Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s “Manfred” Symphony, and Sibelius Symphonies 3, 4, and 6.  While Resident Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, I led their first performances of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 3 and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6.  As Associate Conductor, I directed the Indianapolis Symphony in their first performance of Stravinsky’s complete ballet version of The Firebird.  And remarkably enough, I was the first to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a performance of Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride!

In 2017 I led the Durham Symphony Orchestra in the North Carolina premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Marche solenelle.  Written in 1885 for the 50th anniversary of Tchaikovsky’s alma mater, the Imperial School of Jurisprudence, it is often called the “Jurists’ March.”  It is a festive and noble composition that deserves to be much better known. 

William Henry Curry
Music Director, Durham Symphony Orchestra

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