Aaron Copland

Remembering Jubilant Sykes

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American baritone Jubilant Sykes passed away on December 8 at the age of 71. He was the victim of an apparent domestic homicide. A classically trained, Grammy-nominated vocalist, Sykes drew on gospel, jazz and folk influences. He collaborated with a wide array of artists including: Julie Andrews, Renée Fleming, Josh Groban, and Brian Wilson, and appeared on “such diverse stages as the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Arena …

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Copland’s Piano Variations/Orchestral Variations: Unrelentingly Organic

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Unlike the traditional “theme and variations,” Aaron Copland’s Piano Variations do not unfold as a frolicking and far-reaching episodic journey. Instead, they are unrelenting, declamatory, and haunting. The seven-note theme, equally reminiscent of Arnold Schoenberg’s tone rows and Bach’s C-sharp minor Fugue from Book 1 of the Well-Tempered Clavier (BWV 849), permeates the entire work in a way which makes it feel severely organic. While Beethoven and Schubert improvised variations on a theme as a …

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Remembering Stanley Drucker

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The legendary clarinetist Stanley Drucker passed away on December 19. He was 93. Born in Brooklyn, Drucker entered the Curtis Institute of Music at the age of 15, but left after a year to accept a position with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He went on to become principal clarinetist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1948, Drucker joined the New York Philharmonic. His nearly five-decade-long tenure as principal clarinetist of the New York …

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Copland’s “Music for the Theatre”: Jazzy American Vignettes

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In the 1920s, jazz entered the concert hall and infused new symphonic music with a brash, vibrant, and distinctly American sound. On February 12, 1924, George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was premiered in New York at a concert bearing the grandiose title, An Experiment in Modern Music. A year later, the young Aaron Copland returned home from studies in Paris with the eminent Nadia Boulanger and wrote the chamber orchestra suite, Music for the Theatre.  At moments, …

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Copland’s “The Red Pony” Suite: Film Music of the American Frontier

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Aaron Copland was the quintessential city dweller. Born in 1900 to Lithuanian-Jewish parents, Copland grew up amid the brownstones of Brooklyn, New York. At the age of 21, he set sail for Paris to study with the legendary composition teacher, Nadia Boulanger. Returning to the United States four years later, Copland settled in a studio apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Although his maternal grandfather had lived on the Illinois prairie in …

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Copland’s “Short Symphony”: Bounding into Rhythmic Adventure

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From its opening bars, Aaron Copland’s Short Symphony erupts with an infectious exuberance. This music unleashes bright, playful conversations between instrumental voices. Its frolicking “characters” take us on a musical joyride filled with unending rhythmic adventure. Completed in 1933, the Short Symphony (technically Copland’s Second) is scored for a spare, classical orchestra. Its tantalizingly abstract harmonic language flirts with polytonality and serialism. Underlying all of this is a sizzling Mexican vitality. While working on the score, Copland …

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Copland’s “Appalachian Spring”: Ballet for Martha

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In interviews, Aaron Copland recounted, with amusement, conversations he had with concertgoers following performances of Appalachian Spring: “Mr. Copland, when I hear your music I can just see the Appalachian Mountains and I can feel spring.” In fact, Copland composed this music under the working title, “Ballet for Martha.” The more evocative title, inspired by a line from Hart Crane’s poem The Dance, came after the music was written. Still, for most of us there is something distinctly American about Appalachian …

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