![]() ![]() The fact that music was in some sense forbidden only increased its attractiveness.”Īs a kind of graduation exercise, Goldmark insisted that Copland compose a sonata. And from there it was but a step to Hugo Wolf’s songs, to Debussy’s preludes, and to Scriabin’s piano poems… As far as I can remember no one ever told me about modern music.” Certainly, the arch-conservative Goldmark never did, except to denigrate it, and that, Copland recalled, “was enough to whet any young man’s appetite. Some instinct seems to lead me logically from Chopin’s waltzes to Haydn’s sonatinas to Beethoven’s sonatas to Wagner’s operas. “During these formative years,” he wrote, “I had been gradually uncovering for myself the literature of music. The bulk of Copland’s juvenilia consists of brief piano pieces and songs. Copland remembered that Rubin Goldmark “had an excellent grasp of the fundamentals of music and knew very well how to impart his ideas.” As a result, the young man was spared “the flounderings that so many American musicians have suffered through incompetent teaching at the start of their training.” Goldmark was the nephew of Karl Goldmark, composer of the then-popular opera The Queen of Sheba, and had studied with Antonin Dvorák. He wanted it to suggest “a spontaneous and unpremeditated sequence of ‘events’ that would carry the listener irresistibly (if possible) from first note to last.” Influence by 12-tone technique but fundamentally tonal, the work was commissioned by the Juilliard School of Music to celebrate its 50th anniversary.Īlthough the French pedagogue Nadia Boulanger was by far Aaron Copland’s most important and influential teacher, his early private studies (1917-21) in harmony, counterpoint and composition with Rubin Goldmark in New York were also crucial. The generous survey concludes with the fascinating Piano Fantasy (1957), Copland’s most complex and virtuosic work for solo piano. Midday Thoughts dates back to Copland’s Appalachian Spring period and shares the ballet’s sweet temperament. Proclamation was originally intended as a large-scale piano piece. Both are based on sketches for never-completed works. The sternly challenging Proclamation (1973/82) and soothing Midday Thoughts (1944/82) are Copland’s last works in any genre. Ramey discovered Copland’s exquisite bagatelle Midsummer Nocturne (1947) while foraging through his friend’s files in 1977. “I didn’t think up the title until the piece was written,” he said. ![]() Serious, abstract, carefully articulated - yet emotionally stirring - Copland’s Passacaglia (1922) shows the influence of composition teacher Nada Boulanger, who stressed control and clarity.Ĭopland insisted that the sweetly pastoral miniature Down a Country Lane (1962), commissioned by Life magazine, had nothing to do with a country lane. Three Moods (1921) marks the first appearance of jazz in Copland’s work. The witty little piece became Copland’s first published work. The Cat and the Mouse (1920) caused a falling out between Copland and Goldmark over the “modernism” of its erratic rhythms and French impressionist veneer. Sonnet II (1919), a 27-bar miniature, is a sonorous, post-Impressionistic piece performed for the first time in 1985. “I invite the listener to decide,” Salvatore says. Pianist Salvatore says the German-Romantic style piece offers “all the elements that attract pianists and audiences to this kind of music” and could become a genuine audience-pleaser like Charles Ives’ similarly backward-looking First Symphony. Ramey was a close friend and associate of Copland. “It demonstrates a familiarity with and mastery of traditional form and harmony that is impressive,” writes composer Philip Ramey in his notes for the CD booklet. Unlike other Copland piano discs, Cedille’s includes only original piano works (no transcriptions), performed with clarity and imagination by a leading exponent of American piano music.Ĭomposed at the behest of his traditionalist teacher Rubin Goldmark, Copland’s Sonata in G Major is his most ambitious early work. On this CD, Salvatore presents an unusually complete stylistic survey: the high Romanticism of the Sonata in G Major, Copland’s early flirtations with French impressionism and jazz, the classic Americana for which he’s best known, and his bold modernism. After nearly 75 years, his Sonata in G Major (1921) receives its performance and recording premieres by Chicago pianist Ramon Salvatore. Suites, arrangements, or transcriptions are generally not included, except such works as the Sextet, Orchestral Variations, and Emily Dickinson Poems, which are widely known in these alternative versions.While studying composition in New York, Aaron Copland composed a Romantic-style piano sonata in the grand manner. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |