C is for Copland

Aaron Copland

Chopin was a close second, but you just can't mess with the man. Is he America's premiere composer? The case can definitely be made, not sure if I would support a statement like that though. I guess a better statement would be that he is a gem in America's cultural bracelet or something. There's probably no composer that is more tied to the idea of a truly "American" style of music, but it's not just patriotism that attracts me to Copland's music.

There's two sides to Copland's music: The side everyone knows, and the side no one cares about. On the side everyone knows (sing along if you know the words) Appalachian Spring, Fanfare for the Common Man, Rodeo, etc. Y'know, all the stuff in the "Americana" book (Pretty much all written in the early 40s). The side no one cares about is full of early works that are a bit wild and less tuneful and certainly not "for the common man" and a bunch of later settings that may be a bit more relaxed in scale and complexity from the heavy hitters. Honestly, his non-Americana stuff is pretty good, but it doesn't sound like who we think Copland is. I feel kind of bad because the Copland that is revered today is a brief snapshot of an artist that we want to stretch into a full biography. That's the breaks kid.

The music is more than enough for me to recommend Copland to the list, but he also wrote a book that I really enjoyed. It's called "What to Listen for in Music" and it's a murder mystery that takes place in Cambodia. Just kidding of course. I figure you probably know what the book is about from the title. It has a simple approach that lets anyone get more out of their listening experience. The text encourages active listening and the ability to listen to the different components of what is happening rather than just seeing the whole picture all at once. It helped me go from "I know I like this" to "I know why I like this".

Recommendations? A long list that many of you probably already know. I'll try to put something new into it.

Appalachian Spring - Yep. No way around it. One of the greatest compositions by an American composer.
Symphony 3 - If you like Fanfare for the Common Man (Who doesn't) listen to this. A fine symphony overall and the last mvt. is based on the Fanfare. Glorious music.
Vocalise - An early work that you're probably not going to find easily. It was commissioned to be a part of a collection of vocalise etudes by A.L. Hettich, a teacher at the Paris Conservatoire. The only reason I know it is that it is on a Raymond Mase trumpet CD. A hauntingly simple melody that makes you wonder if you need all that orchestral flair after all.

Since we all know most of the big Copland works to one degree or another, I thought I'd share a lesser known piece that I came across. This is the first movement of Duo for Flute and Piano. Performed here by Nina Perlove, faculty at Northern Kentucky University and a fellow alum of CCM (pretty sure we didn't overlap though).