Name: No. 1969 Subscription (Program C)
Start: 2022-11-18T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2022-11-19T00:00:00.000Z
Location: NHK Hall

Organization

Conductor

Leonard Slatkin

Orchestra

NHK Symphony Orchestra

No. 1969 Subscription (Program C)

Tokyo

Japan

NHK Hall

No. 1969 Subscription (Program C): Appalachian Spring Suite Copland (+1 More)

Public

Private

Appalachian Spring Suite

Four Dances from Rodeo

Approved

The future "Dean of American Composers," Copland was trained by the legendary music pedagogue Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the early 1920s. At the time, he began to search for an “American” style under the influence of jazz. Although he mostly parted with the jazz idiom after a while, he would continue to ask himself what true American music is. The best-known result of this quest is his trilogy of ballets: Billy the Kid, Rodeo and Appalachian Spring.
Appalachian Spring was scored for the American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham and premiered in 1944 in Washington D.C. with the set by the Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Incidentally, Copland had completed the music before Graham suggested him the title, a quote from Hart Crane’s poem. It since amused the composer to hear people praising him for skillfully describing the springtime Appalachians of which he had never been aware during the composition.
The story is set in the early 19th century in Pennsylvania. It recounts a pioneer celebration at a farmhouse newly built for a young bride and groom, featuring also an older pioneer lady, a revivalist preacher and his congregation. Square dances and rural fiddlers heard in the middle of the work brings about a folkish feeling. The highlight of the whole score comes afterwards with a set of five variations. It is on the famous Shaker song Simple Gifts of which the melody is introduced serenely by a clarinet solo. According to Copland, this is the only quote of an actual folk tune in this ballet, and besides it he created "rhythms, harmonies and melodies that suggest an American ambiance".
Copland's pursuit of a distinctive American classical music resulted in a simple but strong, accessible but highly unique style with tunefulness and evocativeness. He himself mentioned that the basis for this quest was his increasing dissatisfaction with the relations of music-loving public and living composers.
Rodeo: The Courting at Burnt Ranch was composed for Agnes de Mille, another leading American dancer. Its 1942 premiere in New York was a tremendous success. Indeed, the supremely American subject and the score abundant in American folk melodies—most of which are intact—were a perfect fit with the wartime patriotic mood.
The ballet tells a story linked to gender concerns of today. The opening Buckaroo Holiday is a bustling scene where cowboys gather for a rodeo. A mannish Cowgirl, the lead role, is portrayed by the slower, hesitating melody. She tries to attract the Head Wrangler by riding a wild horse, but he prefers another feminine girl. In Corral Nocturne, a melancholic clarinet melody describes the Cowgirl lone and disappointed. Then honky-tonk by piano starts Ranch House Party. Cowboys and their girls swirl in pairs during Saturday Night Waltz while the Cowgirl in a boyish outfit is standing alone before the Roper approaches her. Hoe-Down begins with the famous American fiddle tune Bonaparte's Retreat which recurs during this finale. Here the Cowgirl, dressed up to prove her charm, steals the hearts of cowboys including the Head Wrangler.

English

No. 1969 Subscription (Program C) by Copland, Nuo (2022/2022), Dirigentas Leonard Slatkin, NHK Hall, Tokyo, Japan

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