He was America’s foremost composer of “art music.” What he was not was George Gershwin.
Join me this afternoon, as we celebrate the birthday of Aaron Copland with, among other things, his Piano Concerto, composed in 1926. Copland was still feeling his way toward his “populist period” (which began with “El Salón México,” not given its premiere until ten years later), when he wrote this concerto, which spikes 1920s modernism with American jazz.
The composer was the soloist in the work’s first performance, which featured the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Serge Koussevitzky. The critics panned it, but Copland’s mother beamed with pride. The composer wrote, “I was delighted when Ma said it was her proudest moment and that my playing in the Concerto made all those music lessons worthwhile!”
It retained its reputation as a shocker until 1947, when Leonard Bernstein revived it with Leo Smith as the soloist, and it struggles still, even next to Copland’s own Clarinet Concerto. In the meantime, Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” (from 1924) has never been out of the repertoire.
Hear this underexposed work today, between 4 and 7:00 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.
