Program Notes for Masterworks 7: Appalachian Spring

Saturday, February 29, 2020 & Sunday, March 1, 2020 MORIHIKO NAKAHARA, CONDUCTOR • STEPHEN WILLIAMSON, CLARINET

• Glass – Anniversary Concert Overture (formerly known as Overture for 2012) • Gershwin – An American in Paris • Copland – Clarinet Concerto • Bernstein – Prelude, Fugue and Riffs • Copland – Appalachian Spring

Phillip Glass Anniversary Concert Overture (formerly known as Overture for 2012)

Composer: born January 31, 1937, Baltimore, MD.

Work composed: Co-commissioned by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony to mark the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

World premiere: Simultaneously co-premiered on June 17, 2012 by the Toronto Symphony in Toronto, as part of the Luminato Festival, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Baltimore, led by Marin Alsop.

Instrumentation: 2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in Bb, clarinet in Eb, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 5 horns, 4 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, anvil, bass drum, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, marimba, snare drum, tambourine, tenor drum, tom-toms, triangle, 2 wood blocks, xylophone, piano, celesta, and strings.

Estimated duration: 7 minutes.

In 2012, the cities of Baltimore, MD, and Toronto, Ontario commemorated the 200th bicentennial of the War of 1812 with a simultaneous performance of a newly-commissioned overture by Philip Glass. The Baltimore Sun noted, “The overture was commissioned by [the Luminato] Festival, the two orchestras, the City of Toronto, and the Maryland State Arts Council as a way of drawing attention to the War of 1812’s impact on both countries (an American invasion of Canada was an early chapter) and the enduring friendship that blossomed afterward.” Of course, the War of 1812 had already been commemorated musically with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, written in 1880 to celebrate Russia’s defeat of Napoleon. Glass described his own Overture as “an homage to the Tchaikovsky. The Tchaikovsky overture is a great masterpiece. What I was looking for is a kind of energy found in the Tchaikovsky, a kind of sweeping flow of music. The Tchaikovsky is a celebration of an event. This (my overture) is a celebration of a celebration.” Tim Smith, writing for The Baltimore Sun, echoed Glass’ sunny assessment of the music. “Except for a few dark brass chords, the ‘Overture for 2012’ does not seem to be concerned with any past unpleasantness. The 75-year-old Glass, a guiding light in the genre known as minimalism, has fashioned an upbeat score that churns along steadily and engagingly. An ear-catching outburst of brass and percussion, including the clang of an anvil, gets the short piece going. Strings and woodwinds soon join the picture, adding sonic richness and sparkle to a steady crescendo.”

George Gershwin An American in Paris

Composer: born September 26, 1898, Brooklyn, NY; died July 11, 1937, Hollywood, CA

Work composed: March - June 1928, while Gershwin and his siblings were vacationing in Paris

World premiere: Walter Damrosch led the New York Philharmonic on December 13, 1928

Instrumentation: 3 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 saxophones (alto, tenor, baritone), 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, bells, cymbals, snare drum, taxi horns, tom-toms, triangle, xylophone, celesta, and strings

Estimated duration: 17 minutes

“My purpose here is to portray the impression of an American visitor in Paris, as he strolls about the city and listens to various street noises and absorbs the French atmosphere,” wrote George Gershwin about his tone poem, An American in Paris. “As in my other orchestral compositions, I’ve not endeavored to represent any definite scenes in this music. The rhapsody is programmatic only in a general impressionistic way, so that the individual listener can read into the music such as his imagination pictures for him.” This highly evocative, colorful symphonic music expertly captures the sights and sounds of Paris as its American protagonist wanders through the streets. To illustrate the American’s journey, Gershwin included several of what he termed “walking themes,” which recur throughout the work. The trumpet sounds the most recognizable of these, the “homesick music,” in a bluesy solo. The “American” section concludes with an up-tempo Charleston played by a pair of trumpets, and the walking themes return. Finally, the orchestra winds up with a glittering, exuberant finale as night falls on the City of Light. An American in Paris marked a breakthrough for Gershwin as a composer, as the first symphonic piece for which he created his own orchestrations. When Rhapsody in Blue premiered in 1924, Gershwin was criticized because the Rhapsody’s orchestral version was created by Ferde Grofé. Four years after Rhapsody’s premiere, with An American In Paris, Gershwin demonstrated his growing command of orchestral colors, effectively silencing his detractors.

Aaron Copland Clarinet Concerto

Composer: born November 14, 1900, Brooklyn, NY; died December 2, 1990, North Tarrytown, NY.

Work composed: 1947-48.

World premiere: Goodman first performed the Clarinet Concerto on the radio, with Fritz Reiner conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra, on November 6, 1950. The first concert performance took place three weeks later, on November 28, 1950, with clarinetist Ralph McLane and conductor Eugene Ormandy leading the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Instrumentation: solo clarinet, piano, harp, and strings.

Estimated duration: 18 minutes.

In 1947, legendary jazz clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman asked Aaron Copland to write him a concerto for clarinet. Copland agreed, and wrote a two-movement work that would simultaneously showcase Goodman’s extraordinary improvisational skills and technical ability, but also fuse the rich rhythms and colors of jazz with the timbres of a classical orchestra. “I had long been an admirer of Benny Goodman,” said Copland, “and I thought that writing a concerto with him in mind would give me a fresh point of view.” In recalling the genesis of this concerto, Copland later said that Goodman “assumed that since I was writing a work for him, I’d know more or less what he’d like to play. The decision to use jazz materials was mine, inspired, of course, by Goodman’s playing. Although I didn’t mention this to him, I was certain that he would approve. But, contrary to certain commentators, the jazz elements in the Clarinet Concerto have nothing to do with the ‘hot jazz’ improvisation for which Benny Goodman and his sextet were noted.” Copland provided his own description of the Clarinet Concerto: “The first movement is simple in structure, based upon the usual A-B-A song form. The general character of this movement is lyric and expressive. The cadenza that follows provides the soloist with considerable opportunity to demonstrate his prowess, at the same time introducing fragments of the melodic material heard in the second movement. Some of this material represents an unconscious fusion of elements obviously related to North and South American popular music. The overall form of the final movement is that of a free rondo, with several side issues developed at some length. It ends with a fairly elaborate coda in C major.” A year after its premiere, choreographer Jerome Robbins made a ballet titled The Pied Piper from the Clarinet Concerto, which was first performed by the New York City Ballet on December 4, 1951.

Leonard Bernstein Prelude, Fugue and Riffs

Composer: born August 25, 1918, Lawrence, MA; died October 14, 1990, New York City.

Work composed: 1949, originally commissioned by Woody Herman for his big band.

World premiere: Benny Goodman gave the first performance on Bernstein’s live television show, The World of Jazz, which aired on October 16, 1955.

Instrumentation: solo clarinet and jazz ensemble: 2 alto saxes (one doubling clarinet), 2 tenor saxes, baritone sax, 5 trumpets, 4 trombones, piano, 4 tom-toms, hi-hat, snare drum, bass drum, xylophone, vibraphone, woodblock, 2 timpani, double bass.

Estimated duration: 9 minutes.

Like many 20th century composers, Leonard Bernstein admired and respected jazz music and jazz musicians. In addition to his conducting, Bernstein was also an excellent classical concert pianist, but, as most musicians know, being able to read or write notes is not at all the same as being able to improvise them on the spot, as jazz requires. Bernstein might not have had the chops to ad lib his way through a jazz performance, but he could write jazz music, as Prelude, Fugue and Riffs demonstrates. Jazz bandleader Woody Herman, who commissioned Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, neither acknowledged receiving Bernstein’s completed score nor ever performed it (his band had broken up by the time Bernstein finished the piece). Bernstein then reworked Prelude, Fugue and Riffs as a dance number for his musical On the Town, but it was eventually cut during rehearsals. In 1955, clarinetist Benny Goodman expressed interest in Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, and Bernstein invited Goodman to perform it live on a television program Bernstein hosted, The World of Jazz. On the show, Bernstein remarked, “We always speak of ‘playing’ music: we play Brahms or we play Bach – a term perhaps more properly applied to tennis. But jazz is real play. It ‘fools around’ with notes, so to speak, and has fun with them.” The Prelude features trumpets and trombones; the Fugue is executed by a quintet of saxophones and finally the solo clarinet “riffs,” first with the piano and later the whole ensemble. Bernstein clearly enjoyed writing this piece, alternating precise rhythmic syncopations with raunchy tempos and timbres imported straight from a smoke-filled strip joint.

Aaron Copland Suite from Appalachian Spring

Work composed: 1943-44. Copland won a Pulitzer Prize for the ballet score in 1945. Copland conducted the premiere of the ballet at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. on October 30, 1944, the birthday of arts patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, to celebrate 25 years of her musical philanthropy.

World premiere: Artur Rodziński premiered the orchestral suite with the New York Philharmonic on October 4, 1945.

Instrumentation: 2 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani, bass drum, claves, orchestra bells, snare drum, cymbal, tabor, triangle, wood bloc, xylophone, piano, harp and strings.

Estimated duration: 24 minutes.

Shortly before the debut of Ballet for Martha, Aaron Copland’s working title for the ballet Martha Graham had commissioned from him, the choreographer announced she had decided on the name Appalachian Spring. Graham, who borrowed the words from Hart Crane’s poem, The Dance, admitted she had chosen it simply because she liked the sound of the words together, and that it had no connection with either the location or scenario of the ballet. “Over and over again,” Copland recalled in 1981, “people come up to me after seeing the ballet on stage and say, ‘Mr. Copland, when I see that ballet and when I hear your music I can just see the Appalachians and I just feel spring.’ Well, I’m willing if they are!” In Appalachian Spring, Copland’s penchant for folk melodies and idioms reaches its zenith. The Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts,” which Copland discovered in a 1940 book on Shaker culture, and the celebratory variations of its melody, form the climax of Appalachian Spring. When Copland arranged Appalachian Spring as an orchestral suite, he emphasized the song’s centrality by cutting several episodes from the ballet and changing the order of the variations. As scholar William Brooks notes, “In this context the Shaker melody came to serve as a kind of paradigm for the simplicity and authenticity of frontier America: mythical music for a mythical past.” In similar fashion Copland’s music, particularly Appalachian Spring, became the paradigm for the “American” sound of the mid-20th-century. Copland explained his musical conception: “When I wrote Appalachian Spring, I was thinking primarily about Martha and her unique choreographic style, which I knew well. Nobody else seems quite like Martha: she’s so proud, so very much herself. And she’s unquestionably very American: there something prim and restrained, simple yet strong about her, which one tends to think of as American.” Edwin Denby, a noted dance critic, provided program notes for the premiere of the Appalachian Spring orchestral suite in 1945: “A pioneer celebration in spring around a newly-built farmhouse in the Pennsylvania hills in the early part of the last century. The bride-to-be and the young farmer-husband enact the emotions, joyful and apprehensive, that their new domestic partnership invites. An older neighbor suggests now and then the rocky confidence of experience. A revivalist and his followers remind the new householders of the strange and terrible aspects of human fate. At the end the couple are left quiet and strong in their new house.”

© 2020 Elizabeth Schwartz