Copland

[Lat-Literal]

?????

My options would be Ives, Carter, Babbitt, Cage, Feldman, Varese, Ellington, Sessions, Wolff (and, I suppose, Reich, Zappa and Gershwin).

Thank you, ferney, for your comments.

But I suppose what I was implying was "as commonly recognised". I would see Copland as being commonly recognised as "the American composer" so far as that can be popularly defined. I reckon it would be Gershwin in his absence. Are these not 1 and 2 on the Radio 3 annual playlists? If they are not, then it must surely be Barber at 2 as I hinted at earlier?

I would have Randall Thompson on my list as well as Harris and up to ten others including Ives but I am not sure that any of them would be the automatic first choice.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Interesting, Lats - I'd have to ask who you'd include in the "common" of the "commonly recognised"? I have nothing but my prejudice to support this idea (it's served me well these many-a-year, I'm sure it'll be as reliable now ) but if you asked for the name of an American composer - say as research for a Pointless question - I wouldn't be at all surprised if the most popular reply would be John Williams.

[teamsaint]

America might reasonably claim, I think, to have in a list of contenders for spots in, say , its top 10 pr 20 ,more composers who are currently alive than most countries.
Adams,Glass, could be added to the contender list ?

FWIW, of course.....

[Serial_Apologist]

America might reasonably claim, I think, to have in a list of contenders for spots in, say , its top 10 pr 20 ,more composers who are currently alive than most countries.
Adams,Glass, could be added to the contender list ?

FWIW, of course.....

Oh yes, of course... they're Americans, arent they! And Steve Reich!!

[Lat-Literal]

Interesting, Lats - I'd have to ask who you'd include in the "common" of the "commonly recognised"? I have nothing but my prejudice to support this idea (it's served me well these many-a-year, I'm sure it'll be as reliable now ) but if you asked for the name of an American composer - say as research for a Pointless question - I wouldn't be at all surprised if the most popular reply would be John Williams.

That would be truly shocking but it also confirms that Pointless is the quiz show for me.

I'm going for Charles T Griffes, John A Carpenter and Daniel R Pinkham Jr and I'm claiming my nil points big prize.

America might reasonably claim, I think, to have in a list of contenders for spots in, say , its top 10 pr 20 ,more composers who are currently alive than most countries.
Adams,Glass, could be added to the contender list ?

FWIW, of course.....

Hmm.....one would think so but I am not sure it is true.

Off the top of my head:

Tower, Corigliano, Zwilich, Daugherty, Riley, Samuel Jones, Isham, Bates..........

[Bryn]

Joplin? That's Scott rather than Janice.

[Lat-Literal]

Joplin? That's Scott rather than Janice.

Interesting.

The next inauguration of President Trump to the strains of The Entertainer.

(As for Ms Joplin, had she been alive, she would have been just three years older than him)

@ Copland not Copeland; V Thomson not V Thompson; Janis not Janice etc.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Just to add, too, that this afternoon's performance of Appalachian Spring reminded me of just what a lovely and well-crafted work it is. And the gently self-deprecating humour of the excerpt of the recorded interview with Copland showed just what a really nice guy he was.

[DracoM]

Agree.

In my ignorance, I did not know how revolutionarily inclined and involved Copland was.

[cloughie]

Joplin? That's Scott rather than Janice.

Or even Janis!

[BBMmk2]

Rather good hearing the chamber version of Appalachian Spring, also the composer's rather humouress comments beforehand!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

An entertaining and informative week for me - but not one that really altered my basic attitude to this Music from how I described it in #28: great delight from the more familiar, "populist" works (none of which I'd listened to in years) - and a real sense of dullness in response to the more "serious" works. I did get a little more from Connotations and the Music for a Great City than I remember from [past experience - but that might be after the experience of the Lincoln Portrait from the end of Thursday's programme: Copland channelling his inner McGonagall. But twelve-tone writing didn't come naturally to him (contrast the contemporary Symphonies of Humphrey Searle) and there's always a feeling of "stick those three leftover notes in the second bassoon where no one will be able to hear them" in these works.

So sad (for me) - he was such a decent bloke, I really wish that I could be as enthusiastic across the range of his output as I am about a few of his works.

[vinteuil]

So sad (for me) - he was such a decent bloke...

ferney - write out a hundred times -

"Being a decent bloke doesn't necessarily mean you can write good music. Much excellent music has been written by blokes who were far from decent. Many decent blokes have written rubbish music."


.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

ferney - write out a hundred times -

"Being a decent bloke doesn't necessarily mean you can write good music. Much excellent music has been written by blokes who were far from decent. Many decent blokes have written rubbish music."

Why should I write out 100 times the seeping obvious?! Of course this is the case - it doesn't stop it from being "sad"!

[vinteuil]

Why should I write out 100 times the seeping obvious?! Of course this is the case - it doesn't stop it from being "sad"!

... ah well, if what is an obvious truth is something that makes one 'sad' - hmm, well I suspose buddhism is the answer for you...

Me, I try not to get too sad at the ineluctable....



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