Editing Boston Symphony Orchestra (section)

===Koussevitzky and Munch===
[[File:Symphony Hall front view.jpg|thumbnail|right|[[Symphony Hall, Boston]], the main base of the orchestra since 1900]]
The orchestra's reputation increased during the 1924–1949 music directorship of [[Serge Koussevitzky]]. One million radio listeners tuned in when Koussevitzky and the orchestra were the first to perform a live concert for radio broadcast, which they did on NBC in 1926.<ref name="young">{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffeoiFFET3kC&q=%22the+firestone+hour%22&pg=PA176| last=Young| first=William H. and Nancy K.| title=Music of the Great Depression| publisher=Greenwood Press| location=Westport, CT| year=2005| isbn=978-0-313-33230-2| access-date=October 15, 2020| archive-date=February 9, 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209140425/https://books.google.com/books?id=ffeoiFFET3kC&q=%22the+firestone+hour%22&pg=PA176| url-status=live}}</ref>

In August 1942, the [[American Federation of Musicians]] kicked off the [[1942–1944 musicians' strike|two-year long musician's strike]], with the goal of musicians receiving more in royalty payments from record companies. Initially, the BSO were the only major performing group in the nation unaffected; the orchestra's musicians hadn't been unionized since the orchestra's founding. By the end of 1942, however, the orchestra joined the AFM, effectively joining the strike, and also kicking off a long series of live radio concerts on CBS with Koussevitzky conducting.<ref>Cooke, James Francis, ed. (February 1943). "The World of Music". The Etude. Theodore Presser. 61 (2): 3.</ref>

Under Koussevitzky, the orchestra gave regular radio broadcasts and established its summer home at [[Tanglewood]], where Koussevitzky founded the [[Berkshire Music Center]], which is now the [[Tanglewood Music Center]]. Those network radio broadcasts ran from 1926 through 1951, and again from 1954 through 1956. The orchestra continues to make regular live radio broadcasts to the present day. The Boston Symphony has been closely involved with Boston's [[WGBH (FM)|WGBH]] Radio as an outlet for its concerts.

Koussevitzky also commissioned many new pieces from prominent composers, including the [[Symphony No. 4 (Prokofiev)|Symphony No. 4]] of [[Sergei Prokofiev]], [[George Gershwin]]'s ''[[Second Rhapsody]]'' and the ''[[Symphony of Psalms]]'' by [[Igor Stravinsky]]. They also gave the premiere of [[Béla Bartók]]'s [[Concerto for Orchestra (Bartók)|Concerto for Orchestra]], which had been commissioned by the Koussevitzky Music Foundation at the instigation of [[Fritz Reiner]] and [[Joseph Szigeti]].

Koussevitzky started a tradition of commissions that the orchestra continued, including new works by [[Heitor Villa-Lobos]] ([[Symphony No. 11 (Villa-Lobos)|Symphony No. 11]]) and [[Henri Dutilleux]] for its 75th anniversary, [[Roger Sessions]], and [[Andrzej Panufnik]], for the 100th, and lately for the 125th works by [[Leon Kirchner]], [[Elliott Carter]], and [[Peter Lieberson]]. Other BSO commissions have included [[John Corigliano]]'s [[Symphony No. 2 (Corigliano)|Symphony No. 2]] for the 100th anniversary of Symphony Hall. [[Hans Werner Henze]] dedicated his [[Symphony No. 8 (Henze)|Eighth Symphony]] to the orchestra.

Although Koussevitsky recommended his protégé [[Leonard Bernstein]] to be his successor after he retired in 1949,<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Alex |last=Ross |title=Fresh Breezes: An impressive début and new works at Tanglewood |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=August 27, 2012 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2012/08/27/120827crmu_music_ross |access-date=May 20, 2013 |archive-date=June 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130605064103/http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2012/08/27/120827crmu_music_ross |url-status=live }}</ref> the BSO awarded the position to the Alsatian maestro [[Charles Munch (conductor)|Charles Munch]], who would lead until 1962. Munch had made his Boston conducting debut in 1946. He led orchestra on its first overseas tour, and also produced their first stereo recording in February 1954 for [[RCA Red Seal Records|RCA Victor]]. In 1952, Munch appointed the first woman to hold a principal chair in a major U.S. orchestra, flutist [[Doriot Anthony Dwyer]], who remained as BSO principal for 38 years.<ref name="Kean">{{Cite thesis|degree=D.Mus.A.|title=First Flute: The Pioneering Career of Doriot Anthony Dwyer|url=http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11132007-163128/unrestricted/Kean_dis.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100720005545/http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11132007-163128/unrestricted/Kean_dis.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 20, 2010|location=Baton Rouge, La.|last=Kean|first=Kristen Elizabeth|year=2007|publisher=Louisiana State University|access-date=May 31, 2010|oclc=209994674}}</ref>