Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man

Soon after the start of the Second World War, Aaron Copland (1900-1990) was one of eighteen American composers invited by conductor Sir Eugene Goossens (1893-1962) to write patriotic fanfares to begin the concerts in the Cincinnati Orchestra’s '42-'43 season. Goossens wanted to produce "stirring and significant contributions to the war effort" as he had done so effectively with the help of British composers during World War I.

Copland's piece was titled as a reference to a famous 1942 speech given by Vice President Henry Wallace, who proclaimed the arrival of the "century of the common man." With Copland's vigorous approval, Goossens scheduled the premiere for March 13, 1943 as a tribute to the common man at income tax time.

Goossens left Cincinnati for Australia in 1946, and Copland was one of nine composers who co-wrote the farewell piece, Variations on a Theme by Eugene Goossens. In Sydney, Goossens would later be influential in the development of the Sydney Opera House, but a scandalous love affair clouded the rest of his career.

Copland fared better, despite the suspicions later placed upon him by the House Un-American Activities Committee during the Red Scare. Ironically, he had by that time completed the most prolific period of his career, including such definitively American works as Rodeo (1942), A Lincoln Portrait (1942), and Appalachian Spring (1944).

So stately and momentous are the chords, crashes and timpani strokes of the Fanfare that it has been quoted many times in popular music, television, film and official occasions throughout the western world. Copland himself borrowed it as material for his Third Symphony, in which it appears prominently in the final movement.

Elgin Symphony Celebrates "America's Musical Treasures"

Forgoing a scholarly explanation, suffice it to say that American music has always been populist—that is, "music of the people"—and the people loved the Elgin Symphony Orchestra's program of "America's Musical Treasures" last weekend at the Hemmens.

A far cry from the stuffy art salons of the Old World, an ESO concert is now a bustling free market of ticket sales, shopping, opinion surveys, food and drink concessions and commercial messaging. It's a shame the ATM was out of service.

Overflowing with talent, this 90-minute program gave a convincing account of American musical genius, highlighting the abundant connections to jazz, dance and the theatre in the work of four great twentieth century composers.

Music Director Andrew Grams conducts the Elgin Symphony Orchestra.

Leonard Bernstein's boisterous "Overture to Candide" (1956) kept us delightfully off balance with its elusive downbeats, while the "Three Dance Episodes from On The Town" (1944) made every toe tap to its irresistible and propulsive riffs. Giving voice to musical ideas as big as New York City, the tightly synchronized ESO made it all look easy.

Authentic orchestral arrangements from Richard Rodgers' South Pacific (1949) and On Your Toes (1936) showcased the talents of this Broadway legend, and the exuberant conducting of Music Director Andrew Grams restored the luster to melodies we are often too quick to write off as high school band fare.

Contributions like those of the unlikely composer Paul Schoenfield are what makes America great: grass roots innovation that makes a difference. Inspired by personal experiences, two of his "Four Parables for Piano and Orchestra" (1983) bravely pushed us out of our comfort zone, but without insult or condescension. 

The unusually large orchestra was equipped with synthesizer, bass guitar, saxophone and an array of percussion in "Senility's Ride" and the quirky "Dog's Heaven." Though some of its unorthodox gestures defy description, Schoenfield's music speaks directly to our intuitions, and the dialect is distinctly American.

Soloist William Wolfram congratulated by
Maestro Andrew Grams

Listeners were overheard complementing the professionalism of piano soloist William Wolfram, whose performance of Schoenfield was entirely on point: vivid and unpretentious.

In one of several remarks given by Maestro Grams throughout the program, he confessed a particular appreciation for the music of Aaron Copland, whose voice is considered by many to be something of an American archetype.

Three movements, taken from Copland's ballet Rodeo (1942) and opera The Tender Land (1954), were combined into a suite for the concert's finale. So revered are these works by artists and audiences that their performances are like liturgical readings, and the ESO always rises to the occasion. After lengthy applause, the audience was treated to a rollicking rendition of Copland's "Hoedown" for an encore.

This month's thematic combination of classics, new music, and a guest artist—with wind and brass sections at their best—make a powerful argument for the future of live symphonic music in Elgin.

Contrasting Climates Featured in Elgin Symphony Concert

Audiences were transported across a variety of musical landscapes and languages this weekend as the Elgin Symphony Orchestra presented a series of picturesque works, enlivened by guest artist performances. With attendance near full capacity Saturday, the Hemmens Auditorium buzzed with anticipation of another superb concert led by Musical Director Robert Hanson.

The first stop was at Fingal's Cave, a rock formation in the islands west of Scotland, where Felix Mendelssohn was thought to have taken his inspiration for The Hebrides Overture around 1830, when he was in his twenties. The sensation of deep and shallow waters, and visions of Fingal (the Scots' mythical giant) filled the hall, as echoes of the Classical masters and shades of the new German Romantics clashed throughout Mendelssohn's rarely peaceful work. The orchestra played like a force of nature, through tense countermelodies, stormy chords and crashing sixteen-note unisons, drawing on a collective musical consciousness that spans the continents and the centuries.

French composer Edouard Lalo's Symphonie espagnole (1875) for Violin and Orchestra featured soloist Chee-Yun in a magnificent performance. The concerto-like work in five movements has a definite Mediterranean flavor, seasoned with traces of Gypsy dance, and spicy rhythms imported from the New World. From one moment to the next, you cannot take your eyes off the radiant Chee-Yun as she teases airy and intricate phrases from the Stradivarius, then tumbles three octaves into a swarthy, even scandalous twirl through the low register. The orchestra all but disappears when she plays, until her notes are briefly doubled by another voice in a sultry musical gancho. Her effortless blending of wet and dry techniques were like a feast of Spanish tapas that you wished would never end.

For an encore, Chee-Yun's performance of a Fritz Kreisler cadenza offered more stunning proof that world-class talent is as much a part of Elgin culture as the local pub where she and other musicians gathered after the concert. And the community clearly loves the ESO: even though most patrons had already seen the video preview of next year's concert season, they gladly applauded it once again.

Headlining the program was Aaron Copland's beloved Appalachian Spring, a suite derived from music he wrote for a ballet depicting the American pioneers of western Pennsylvania. The music starts off open and transparent, as the winds bravely enter, one or two at a time, just the way early Americans set out across the continent with no cover from the elements. As different tones and tempos come together with a form, scale and repetition not unlike the art-glass designs of Frank Lloyd Wright, the music finds a voice we now recognize as characteristically American. On a compositional spectrum that includes Gershwin and Bernstein, Copland's musical language touches us prairie folk the deepest, and the ESO, with perfect diction, speaks this language like true natives.

An Orkney Wedding, With Sunrise by contemporary English composer Peter Maxwell Davies served as the dramatic finale. While the reverse dotted figures and solo reeds are recognizably Scottish, the unfamiliar (uncomfortable to some) musical setting throughout this piece clearly charts a territory few of us know. The piece required unusual discipline from the ESO throughout its chaotic middle, but the convincing final entrance of Highland bagpiper Carl Donley reminds us of everything we love about the Scotch: though like the whisky, some will say it's an acquired taste.