James Tobin <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >Mark Seeley: > >>Didn't Reiner also have some role in commissioning this particular piece? > >It was Koussevitsky who commissioned it. Koussevitsky, who didn't even like Bartok's music, commissioned Concerto for Orchestra only after much arm-twisting from Reiner and, I think, Szekeley (sp?). Reiner knew that Bartok would construe any commission coming from him (Reiner) as charity and refuse to accept it. As it turns out, Koussevitsky loved the Concerto and said it was one of the great compositions of the century. Dan Dickstein