Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra

Greening for orchestra was written to a commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in California, which commissions many works from contemporary composers. The legendary conductor Zubin Mehta led the first performance of this work, dedicated to him, on 12 April 1973. The idea for the title came to Nordheim following a conversation with the young composer Hal Clark (who later worked for the Henie-Onstad Art Centre), who gave him a copy of Charles Reich’s The Greening of America, about how America could theoretically look. (jc)