Scott Huston | Toccata for Piano and Orchestra | Howard Hanson, Eastman Rochester SO

Huston, (Thomas) Scott (Jr.) (1916-1991)
Toccata for Piano and Orchestra (1951)
William Pursell, piano; Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra
Howard Hanson, conductor
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Dr. Hanson, Orchestra Honored by Composers
By Norman Nairn

Composers, especially the younger ones, are not always appreciative of the efforts of a conductor and an orchestra playing their manuscript works. Usually they take everything for granted. But the 24 graduate student composers represented on the Eastman School's Symposium, which closed yesterday, showed their gratitude in a substantial way, in an unprecedented move.

To the orchestra went a letter expressing appreciation of the way the compositions were played, and for helpful suggestions, and to Dr. Howard Hanson, guiding genius of the Symposium, a box of cigars. This was something new, indeed.

The move could hardly have been more deserved, for I don't know of another orchestra or conductor in the country with more zeal and ability in sight reading. And the several younger members, who will be leaving one of these days, have had an extremely valuable experience. They need not fear to play under any conductor, or to tackle any piece of music.

Everything on this year's Symposium showed a keener grasp of fundamentals and a lesser seeking for purely academic effects, and the orchestra men have been quick to appreciate the better manuscript scores.

The symposium closed with repetition of parts of some of the works which have impressed this department. These included Lyndol Mitchell’s Toccata for Violin and Orchestra, again with Raymond Grinewicz as soloist, a work which I consider one of the best of the Symposiums.

Then there were movements from Perry Beach’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, the composer at the piano; Scott Huston’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, to be discussed further on; Elizeo Pujaro’s “Philippine Symphony,” and Donald H. White’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, also to be discussed later.

Scott Huston's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra had William Pursell as the unusually efficient pianist. The extended work is cogent in musical ideas, quite exciting with secure composing technic, considerable drive toward dramatic expression, the piano part making heavy demands.

Donald H. White’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, another extended and overly-long piece, exploits the cello to the full, played masterfully by Allison MacKown. There are long-breathed melodies, although the first movement is over-orchestrated.

Other works heard yesterday were Walter Hartley’s “Elegy for Strings,” David Meese’s Suite for Orchestra, Elmer Schoettle’s Concerto Grosso, Kemble Stout’s Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra, the efficient soloist being Theodore Grimes; Gideon Waldrop’s “Music for String Orchestra,” and Maurice Weed’s Suite, “The Mountains.”

Nairn, Norman. "Cigars for Conductor: Dr. Hanson, Orchestra Honored by Composers." Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Friday 25 April 1952, p. 32.
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Short biography
Huston, (Thomas) Scott (Jr.), American composer and pedagogue; b. Tacoma, Wash., Oct. 10, 1916; d.Cincinnati, March 1, 1991. After attending the Univ. of Puget Sound (1934–35), he studied with Phillips, Rogers, and Hanson at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. (B.M., 1941; M.M., 1942; Ph.D., 1952). He taught at several schools of higher learning before joining the Cincinnati Cons, of Music in 1952; after it merged with the Coll. of Music in 1955, he was dean until 1956; he then taught there until 1988. His output was marked by a fine command of tonal and atonal writing."

Slonimsky, Nicolas. "Huston, (Thomas) Scott (Jr.) ." Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians.