American Classics—Old & New

When young composer Aaron Copland (1900-90)witnessed how dancer/choreographer Martha Graham turned his Piano Variationsinto the “very striking” ballet Dithyramb, he decided to see if theycould next work collaboratively on an original stage work. Though she readilyagreed, the project wouldn’t materialize for more than a decade. Copland’sworking title was “Ballet for Martha,” but Graham came up with the title bywhich it has always been known: Appalachian Spring. Copland’s scoreactually isn’t “about” Appalachia or, for thatmatter, even the spring, but the title seemed right for the work’s mood. Onlyone actual American folk tune is quoted (“Simple Gifts”), but as Coplandexplained, it also “uses rhythms, harmonies and melodies that suggest anAmerican ambiance,” as well as Graham’s “very personal manner that inspired thestyle of the music.” To most music lovers it is the orchestral suite Coplandarranged from the Appalachian Spring ballet in 1945 that is familiar.Consisting of eight connected episodes, it’s widely considered Copland’s mostimpressive accomplishment in what he termed his “vernacular style.”

Composed nearly simultaneously is Copland’s A LincolnPortrait (1942), a restrained and noble evocation of Abraham Lincoln thatuses a speaker uttering some of the president’s very own wordsthe climax ofwhich is a quotation from the Gettysburg Address. Managing to be patrioticwithout bombast, A Lincoln Portrait is one of the most successful andoft-performed concert works that incorporates narration.

Though Copland is surely more famous, Samuel Barber(1910-81) had perhaps the most pronounced lyrical gift among American composersof the 20th century, his orchestral music in particular displaying both finemelodic lines and confident handling of large instrumental forces. Barber wasstill a student at the Curtis Institute when he composed his School forScandal Overture, Op. 5 (1931), a lively and witty piece reflective of theRichard Sheridan play of its title. Seven years later he penned what has cometo be his best-known work, the gravely beautiful Adagio for Strings, Op.11. Beginning life as the slow movement of a string quartet, Barber rescored itfor string orchestra, lending the piece additional emotional gravitas.

All four of the aforementioned works are on tap forthe aptly named “American Classics” concert of the Festival City Symphonyunder maestro Monte Perkins. This concert takes place at the Pabst Theater onMarch 28.

Describing his 2004 work, Omnivorous Furniture,Mason Bates states that it “exists at the junction between a world of morphingelectronic beats and the rich and varied textures of a chamber orchestra.” Thetitle derives from the fact that it is “organized around several ‘omnivorousmoments,’ when material previously perceived as backgroundthe wallpaper or‘furniture,’” he describes, “ultimately consumes the entire texture.” Bateswill be on hand to perform this remarkable work in a concert with PresentMusic; the latter presenting Chamber Symphony (1992) by John Adams,similarly a work derived from two diverse parentsArnold Schoenberg and 1950sWarner Brothers cartoon scores! This concert takes place in the Turner HallBallroom on March 27.