Happy Aaron Copland Day (tomorrow) to all who celebrate.
At least, July 4 and Thanksgiving seem to be just a bit saturated with the cowboy ballet sound. You probably don’t need me to link you to Rodeo or Appalachian Spring.
No shame in it though - I am no Copland hater.
And music theory numbers jokes aside, I’ll spare you an actual playlist of music in 7/4 time, since the opera Peter Grimes isn’t actually fun holiday listening for most of us. That being said, in honor of the holiday, I will give you some works of American music to enjoy.
Rather than the Independence Day concert favorites you can get by tuning in to any local station today, or by catching A Capital Fourth on PBS tonight, these selections are more of your patriotic deep cuts.
Duke Ellington: The River Suite
Rivers have been a big source of inspiration for composers for a long time. And Ellington collected many of the favorites - The Moldau, Water Music, La Mer, etc. for research when he composed his ballet The River for the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater.
William Grant Still: Afro-American Symphony
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that William Grant Still helped usher in the Harlem Renaissance as he sat in the pit orchestra for the musical Shuffle Along. Shortly after the show closed and the depression struck, Still wrote his first symphony.
Charles Ives: Variations on America
I would love to have been in the church when a 17 year old Charles Ives played this organ work on Independence Day in 1891. Its tongue-in-cheek set of variations on what was THE patriotic song of the time must have been a shock. Ives even wrote that his father didn’t let him play the work often since it made too many congregants laugh. It was left unpublished until the 1940s, when it was also arranged for orchestra and just winds.
Jennifer Higdon: All Things Majestic
Higdon grew up just outside of the Smoky Mountains, so she knows the value of America’s National Parks. All Things Majestic is a set of four musical postcards from these treasures.
Florence Price: Dances in the Canebrakes
Right up there with Copland and Gershwin’s signature American Sound, I’d place this next work by Florence Price.
For reference: canebrakes used to cover 10,000,000 acres of what is now the USA in thick patches, while Native Americans would take care of them with controlled burns. This is until European settlers basically let their pigs eat them, causing many an ecological disaster. Many of them were also cleared to make way for plantations - work done by the enslaved.
Jack Stamp: Pastime
What would a list like this be without something for band, and something about baseball? You’ll recognize the quote at the opening of this piece. And for the music theory nerds among us, there are plenty of hidden references to various historic ball players.
William Schuman: American Festival Overture
Speaking of games, William Schuman’s start here is meant to evoke the sound of boys yelling for each other to come outside and play.
Michael Abels: Global Warming
You’d never know that Abels was the composer of some of the latest and greatest horror films (the Jordan Peele collection) by this effervescent work. It’s not about climate change, though that is referenced, but it also evokes international relations becoming more warm and friendly in the 1990s, post cold war. May it be so.
John Philip Sousa: Manhattan Beach
When I tell you I have played every single march by John Philip Sousa, I am not exaggerating. It was in one concert: a medley of all 136, led by a retired USMC conductor.
I’m not sure if it was harder on the audience or us. But it did give me a chance to judge them all and figure out which was a hidden gem (i.e. not Stars and Stripes or Washington Post).
In a very relatable origin, this piece was Sousa’s equivalent of pulling something out of his “gift closet” (fellow moms know what I’m talking about) at the last minute. He wrote it as The Phoenix March but when he was staying at the Manhattan Beach resort he changed the name and offered the work in dedication.
And what’s more American than that?
Enjoy your fireworks tomorrow! And if your puppy needs some soothing sounds, turn on your local classical station.
P.S.:
Other titles/subjects I considered for today’s newsletter:
“Red White and Blues Crossover”
“More like indepen-dance day, am I right?”
“Tune out fireworks with these fire works”
Album reviews pick up again next week and the puns will never go away, so be sure to subscribe.