"Hi! I'm Aaron Copland, American Genius and Master of One Tune!

Cafe Society
1

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on the boards, I’m stuck in Chicago for the next few weeks on a family matter. Over the past months when I’ve had to be here, I’ve kept the radio tuned to WFMT, the classical station, which has kept me entertained in a fine fashion, playing lots of the more obscure music that I love, and FAR fewer warhorses than New York classical stations play.

This weekend they’re playing American composers ONLY, as a tribute to the Glorious Fourth. Well, fine, I can see that. Of course, you can imagine what I’m getting to listen to.

I’ve probably heard “Rhapsody in Blue” six times, and “An American in Paris” four. Barber’s “Adagio for Strings,” a dozen. Enough Louis Marie Gottschalk and Edward MacDowall to make me fully understand why they are considered “minor composers.” John Phillip Sousa, God help me. Charles Tomlinson Griffes…well okay, I like Griffes a lot. But in SMALL DOSES. Ditto Leonard Bernstein. A smattering of Riegger, Piston, Diamond, Sessions. Virgil Thomson, shoot me now.

No Charles Ives! No Gerorge Antheil! No Elliott Carter! Can’t spook the ears of the Midwestern burghers!

And certainly WAY MORE Aaron Copland than I ever hoped to hear. This, I think, is killing me more than anything else. AARON COPLAND IS RECOGNIZABLE WITHIN SIX BARS OF ANYTHING HE EVER WROTE, because EVERYTHING AARON COPLAND WROTE SOUNDS EXACTLY ALIKE.

Aaron Copland is also considered the God of 20th century American music, because of his hard work getting people to respect it. He started Tanglewood or some damn thing. So the Academy LOVES him. And the Common Man loves him, because his shit is very accessible. No scary atonal stuff. Not too many drums. No slithery rhythms.

I have never owned a recording of an Aaron Copland piece except for “Appalachian Spring,” which is the one Aaron Copland piece you should have, 'cause it’s pretty good, and everything else he wrote sounds exactly like it.

2

When I hear Aaron Copeland on the local classic radio station, it always makes me hungry for a steak.

3

It makes me hungry for the Sounds of Silence.

Or more Chuck Berry.

4

I’m as patriotic as the next guy. But I think an All-American weekend on a classical music station would end up having the opposite effect than was intended. It pretty much demonstrates we’re a second rate country in the genre.

5

No Philip Glass?

6

I am posting merely to say that I once had dinner with Aaron Copland (with maybe a dozen other students at the same table), around 1970 when he came to visit my college.

7

To be fair, WFMT is, in fact, a music station.

8

I would have loved to have a couple cocktails and dinner with him. Maybe smoked a little ganja and spun a few platters, dug some sounds together, talked about the contemporary music scene. He seemed like a very cool fellow.

Unfortunately, ALL HIS FUCKING MUSIC SOUNDS THE SAME.

9

“So, Aaron, did you know that in the future, the American Beef Council is going to use “Fanfare for the Common Man” as its theme song?”

“No shit? Hey, get my steak offa there in another minute, I want medium rare. Got any more of this gin?”

10

…except for this and this and this.

11

I remember four years ago July 4th when a radio station, in the midst of playing all sorts of patriotic stuff, decided to throw in 76 Trombones.

12

It’s a gift to be simple.

13

Yeah, well, in those days, everyone had to give Schoenberg the occasional blowjob, in order to be taken seriously.

14

Always a good policy.

15

You bad-mouthed Sousa? This weekend?

Communist.

16

I’m going to respectfully disagree with your conclusions, with the understanding that all music appreciation is largely subjective.

I’d say that most of his stuff is immediately recognizable as Copland, because he does have a style all his own, but that doesn’t make it all the same. I can pretty easily tell his compositions apart, though admittedly I listen to a lot of Copland. He’s one of my favorites. (And lest you think I only care for simple, accessible Music of the Common Man™, my favorite composer of them all is Vaughan Williams.)

I will agree that among the Copland most often played on the radio, the pieces they choose are probably his three or four most similar to Appalachian Spring – Billy the Kid, Rodeo, Red Pony Suite.

But as for “slithery rhythms,” give his Danzon Cubano a listen.

17

**Silenus: **Well, yeah! I’m also pissed that they’re not playing Marc Blitzstein.

18

Parthol: Vaughan Williams? Pfui. Cow Pat Music.

(Kidding…I love Vaughan Williams, especially the Third, Sixth, and Seventh symphonies. I just enjoy saying “cow pat music,” which he must have HATED.)

19

Out of curiosity did they play any John Williams?

Yes, I know, purists would be shocked. Williams composes soundtracks! But let’s face facts, a lot of the great composers would be working in the movies if they were alive today. It’s the 21st century equivalent of sucking up to a duke or archbishop.

20

So, to you, Fanfare for the Common Man sounds just like the music they use for “Steak — it’s what’s for dinner!”, then?

Interesting. How long have you felt this way?