Soon, several other Senators, including Levin’s fellow Michigander Debbie Stabenow and Montana Democrats Jon Tester and Max Baucus, began working toward getting the symphony to the stage.
“I am very excited to hear it,” the elder Van Heuvelen said several weeks before the performance that was 67 years in the making. “I’ll be able to hear all the beautiful violin sounds, the cellos, the chimes, the bells, the wonderful French horn sound and English horn sound and the clarinet and oboes and all the tone qualities, which I have in my hearing. My musical ear can hear all of that, but not in reality. It will be wonderful to hear it.”
The afternoon of the symphony’s world premiere, Maj. Tod Addison, the conductor of the Army Orchestra’s “Pershing’s Own,” paused between the third and final movements and said: “We certainly hope you’re pleased, Mr. Van Heuvelen.”
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