Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Aaron Copland

Thanksgiving Movie Music Picture Perfect

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we set the table for Thanksgiving.

Gary Cooper and Dorothy McGuire star in “Friendly Persuasion” (1956), based on the novel by Jessamyn West. The film’s portrayal of family and the resolution of moral conflict, as pacifist Quakers deal with issues both big and small – from the American Civil War, to the introduction of a “sinful” musical instrument into the household – make “Friendly Persuasion,” in my opinion, a good choice for this time of year.

The film was nominated for six Oscars, with Dimitri Tiomkin’s score nominated twice. The title song went on to become the popular hit “Thee I Love.” Only Dimitri Tiomkin would use balalaikas to depict Quaker life!

None other than Aaron Copland composed music for a big screen adaptation of Thorton Wilder’s “Our Town” (1940). The play, which opened at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama only two years earlier. Copland was at the height of his “populist” period. “El Salon Mexico” and “Billy the Kid” had already been written, and “Fanfare for the Common Man,” “A Lincoln Portrait,” “Rodeo” and “Appalachian Spring” would follow within just a few years.

The concert version of “Our Town” has been in circulation for decades, but it’s only fairly recently that a recording of the complete score was made available. It was issued briefly on the Naxos label, available only as a download. The recording is now extremely scarce, possibly because of copyright issues.

The film’s portrayal of small town America and the playwright’s poignant observation, “Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute?,” are timely reminders that there are things we should all be thankful for, while they – and we – are here for us to appreciate them.

“Witness” (1985) may seem like an unusual choice for Thanksgiving, with its themes of police corruption and violence, but when honest cop Harrison Ford goes on the lam, he experiences the “plain” lifestyle of a close-knit Amish community. The highlight of Maurice Jarre’s score is a sequence called “Building the Barn,” in which the community comes together to raise a barn for a newly married couple.

Finally, we’ll listen to selections from “Plymouth Adventure” (1952), with its depictions of William Bradford, John Alden, Miles Standish and Priscilla Mullins. Spencer Tracy stars as the cynical captain of The Mayflower, Gene Tierney is his forbidden love interest, Van Johnson appears as Alden, and Lloyd Bridges is the first mate. If you’re curious to see the film, Turner Classic Movies: TCM will broadcast it this Sunday at 2 p.m. EST.

The music is by Miklós Rózsa, who, already at this stage of his career, was MGM’s go-to composer for historical drama. Seven years later, Rózsa would take home his third Academy Award, for his classic score to “Ben-Hur.”

There’s not a turkey among them! It’s never too early to give thanks this week on “Picture Perfect” – music for the movies – this Friday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

November 17, 2017
Classical Music Rakes Over Leaf Blowers

Who likes leaf blowers? Not Aaron Copland!

We’ll celebrate the birthday of the Dean of American Composers this afternoon with a performance of his Symphony No. 3. That’s the one that incorporates the “Fanfare for the Common Man,” making for a rousing quarter hour. But listen carefully to the symphony’s other 30 minutes, too – the fanfare’s intervals are all over the place.

First, we’ll enjoy another Noontime Concert on The Classical Network. Join me for a Bach birthday bash featuring The Dryden Ensemble. The program was presented twice in March of this year, within days of the anniversary of Bach’s birth. On the program will be music by Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Jakob Froberger, Sylvius Leopold Weiss, Georg Philipp Telemann, and Bach himself. Performers will include oboist and artistic director Jane McKinley, violinist Vita Wallace, bass viola da gambist Lisa Terry, theorbist and lutenist Daniel Swenberg, and harpsichordist Webb Wiggins.

Dryden’s next program, “Bach’s French Taste” – focusing on Bach and the French composers he admired – will be presented this Saturday at 7:30 p.m., at Miller Chapel on the campus of Princeton Theological Seminary, and Sunday at 3 p.m., at Trinity Episcopal Church, Solebury, PA. The concerts launch Dryden’s 2017-2018 survey, “Bach for All Seasons.” Tickets are available at the door or online at drydenensemble.org.

Make America rake again! Also, join me from 12 to 4 p.m. EST. It’s music for common men by extraordinary composers, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

November 14, 2017
Rosh Hashanah Creation Stories on WPRB

In the beginning… we’ll hear “In the Beginning.”

On the recommendation of Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland set a passage from Genesis for a cappella chorus. A beautiful recording of the work, featuring the Choir of New College Oxford, will kick off five hours of musical creation stories for Rosh Hashanah on WPRB.

We’ll also hear the Adam and Eve duet from Franz Joseph Haydn’s oratorio “The Creation,” Jerome Moross’ Adam and Eve ballet “The Last Judgment,” and the “Creation Symphony” by Scottish composer William Wallace.

Not all of the selections will derive from the Judeo-Christian tradition. We’ll also hear Alberto Ginastera’s “Popol Vuh,” after the Mayan creation story; Darius Milhaud’s “La Création du monde,” inspired by African creation myths; “The Creation of the World” from the “Edda Oratorio” by Icelandic composer Jon Leifs; and Jean Sibelius’ “Luonnotar,” after a passage from the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala.

We’ll round out the morning with a collaborative curio organized by composer and conductor Nathaniel Shilkret. Shilkret managed to cajole a number of the day’s greatest talents, then living in California, into collaborating on the “Genesis Suite,” a seven movement work for narrator, chorus and orchestra. The individual movements were composed by Arnold Schoenberg, Alexandre Tansman, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Ernst Toch, Igor Stravinsky, Milhaud and Shilkret himself.

That’s a full morning of creation stories for the Jewish New Year, from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. When tempted with the Forbidden Fruit, we always ask, “Where’s the honey?,” on Classic Ross Amico.

September 21, 2017
Copland’s Hollywood Ice Cream Social

Life isn’t so bad when there’s ice cream.

Perhaps that was what was going through Aaron Copland’s head, decades after getting jerked around by Hollywood. After all, if you want to work in the film industry, you’ve got to expect that once in a while somebody’s going to mess with your things – even if you’re a Pulitzer Prize winner, lauded as the “Dean of American composers.”

Copland was not very happy when his music for “The Heiress” was chopped to ribbons, dialed down and rescored without his approval. William Wyler (“Wuthering Heights,” “Friendly Persuasion,” “The Big Country,” “Ben-Hur”) was a brilliant director, but he had a tin ear. His films consistently sported the best scores of their era, and yet he mostly underappreciated, if not outright disliked, the music.

“The Heiress” was made fresh off Wyler’s runaway success with “The Best Years of Our Lives.” The film, based on Henry James’ “Washington Square,” was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning four, including Oscars for Olivia De Havilland and for Copland’s score, which is so strong it manages to maintain its integrity despite all of the studio tinkering.

Wyler insisted Copland work the song “Plaisir d’Amour” into the fabric of his music, which he artfully did in three cues. But that wasn’t good enough. Without Copland’s knowledge, the main title was replaced with a garish arrangement of “Plaisir,” which was also looped in for some of the love music. André Previn, in 1949 already one of Hollywood’s bright young talents, likened the return of Copland’s original thoughts following these interpolations to “suddenly finding a diamond in a can of Heinz beans.”

When Copland’s contribution was recognized by the Academy, it was the only instance up to that time of a score being honored after being shorn of its main title, the part of a score that generally makes the biggest impression. Copland never bothered to collect his award. “The Heiress” would be the last time he would work in Hollywood.

He did compose one more film score, however, for the 1961 independent film, “Something Wild,” which contains some of his most insistently non-commercial music. Occasionally brutal and often thrilling, its character is worlds away from the pastoral tranquility of “Appalachian Spring.” It’s a brilliant piece of work, yet it did not receive a commercial release until 2003.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll sample music from “The Heiress” and “Something Wild,” as well as from the controversial pro-Soviet film “The North Star.” We’ll even hear a little bit from the 1939 World’s Fair documentary “The City.”

Get your Labor Day weekend off to a good start with a cold cone of Aaron Copland classics, this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

September 1, 2017
WPRB Remembering Artists & Classical Music

So far, this morning on WPRB, we’ve been remembering artists who died in 2016. We’ll pick up the thread with Part II, which will air next Thursday, January 5, from 6 to 11 a.m.

For the remainder of this morning, we’ll shift gears, starting at 9:00, when I’m joined by Gail Wein, president of Classical Music Communications. Gail will talk a little bit about what she does and the artists she represents. We’ll also play from some of the CDs she’s been enjoying recently. Some of those will include music by Aaron Copland, Ben Johnston, Steve Mackey, Astor Piazzolla, and Louis Vierne.

We’ll leave the dead, for the time being, and keep it lively until 11:00, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com.

More about Classical Music Communications here:

http://www.classicalmusiccommunications.com/

Steven Mackey’s “Stumble to Grace,” with pianist Orli Shaham, will be among our featured works, between 9 and 11:00 EST, on WPRB.

December 29, 2016

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