Grainger's "Lincolnshire Posy" premiered on this day in 1937

On March 7, 1937, Percy Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy, a monumental wind band setting of folk songs, was premiered at the convention of the American Bandmasters Association, who had commissioned the work, in Milwaukee, WI. The work was debuted with only three of its six movements by the Milwaukee Symphonic Band, a group composed of members from several bands including the Blatz Brewery and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer factory worker bands.  Movement Six had not been finished, and three and five were omitted from the program.  This was because Grainger believed that the performers cared "more about their beer then the music," a note he included in his foreword to the score. Three months after the official premier of Lincolnshire Posy, Edwin Franco Goldman conducted the entire piece, premiering the final three movements.

At a time when wind band directors were seeking the novel idea of quality, original literature for their chosen performance medium, Lincolnshire Posy stands as a startling achievement. Each movement was more than a setting of a folksong Grainger recorded from folksingers throughout the English region of Lincolnshire; the composer attempted to recreate the nuances of the singers themselves, essentially painting a portrait in sound of the vocalists.  Grainger dedicated his "bunch of Wildflowers" (posy) to "the old folksingers who sang so sweetly to me."

There are so many great recordings of this work.  But if you have to choose, try this entry from the Eastman Wind Ensemble, as conducted by Frederick Fennell.