According to Shilkret,[3][4] Bartók did not do his task due to ill health, and Manuel de Falla and Richard Strauss had also been approached in connection with the project at some point, but declined.
My idea is strictly one for the masses—I wanted to appeal to all record buyers.” "I admit that Schoenberg, Strawinsky, Milhaud and maybe Toch did the artistic job away from Hollywood influence, but my number received more applause [at the premiere performance] even from the concert audience.
Tansman (not strictly a Hollywood composer), Tedesco (also not too Hollywoodish) and I did a more operatic style of scoring.” "In fact, so successful was my score at the concert that we [Shilkret and Werner Janssen, who conducted the premiere concert performance and was shortly to conduct the premiere recording] are changing the order of the records.
[2][3][4][6][7][8][9][10] The program, which includes the complete list of orchestra personnel for this performance, is reproduced in the archival edition of the Shilkret autobiography.
An anecdotal event related to the premiere performance is that the rehearsal the day before the concert is one of only two times that Schoenberg and Stravinsky, whose mutual dislike for each other is well-known, were together.
The Utah Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Janssen, with narration again by Arnold, performed the Genesis Suite on 9 February 1947 in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City.
A 1951 royalty statement in the Shilkret archives notes “Advances: One-half of $500.00 fee paid to Ted Osborne for narration.” This album was reissued in 2001 in CD format as Angel Records 67729.
[2] The narration was by acting stars Tovah Feldshuh, Barbara Feldon, David Margulies, Fritz Weaver, and writer Isaiah Sheffer.
The Genesis Suite was performed by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gerard Schwarz, accompanied by the University of Washington Chorale, with narrative by F. Murray Abraham and Patty Duke on 29 and 31 May 2008.
[7][10] The Genesis Suite was performed for the first time in the UK by the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Simon Rattle in 2018.