Two very fine American symphonies had their premiere performances today. On today's date in 1943, the British conductor Sir Thomas Beecham led the Seattle Symphony in the premiere performance of the Symphony No. 1 by a 30-year old composer named Jerome Moross. The slow movement of the Moross symphony was inspired by the American hobo tune "The Midnight Special." As Moross once said, "A composer must reflect his landscape and mine is the landscape of America. I don't do it consciously, it is simply the only way I can write." The new symphony was well received, but subsequent performances have been rare events. These days, Moross is better known for his film and TV work. His 1958 score for "The Big Country" was nominated for an Academy Award, and he also wrote the music for the popular TV Western series "Wagon Train." Three years after the Seattle premiere of the Moross First Symphony, Aaron Copland's Third Symphony had its premiere on the opposite coast. Serge Koussevitzky conducted the Boston Symphony in the 1946 premiere of Copland's score, which includes as one of its themes Copland's enormously popular "Fanfare for the Common Man," a work the Cincinnati Symphony had premiered in 1943. Critics may prefer Copland's more adventurous first two symphonies, but the Third has proven the clear choice of audiences and orchestras over the years.