I recently attended a concert at Chicago’s Symphony Center. I had a chance to hear a favorite, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto #1, played beautifully by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. As I listened, I remembered that I actually have a connection, of sorts, with this piece.

In 1938, the CBS radio network’s program, The Mercury Theatre on the Air presented a special, now infamous, Halloween program, “War of The Worlds”. Orson Welles’ production was so realistically done that listeners literally panicked, believing that invaders from Mars were attacking.  Tchaikovsky’s music was used as the theme for the program. Below is the intro to the program, featuring the music and Orson Welles’ first words:

As you may or may not know, in the 1970’s, I was one of a very few independent audio producers in Chicago. My magnum opus was a modern re-adaptation of the “War of the Worlds”.  My production is entitled “Day of the Martians”.  Below is a snippet from the beginning of that program, starting with the end of my foreword, the theme music, then the intro to the program, performed by a surperb actor, Jim Keith. I could not resist including the dramatic, brassy opening of Tchiakovsky’s piece:

You can hear “Day of the Martians” in it’s entirety here.