BERNSTEIN, COPLAND & MARSALIS IN AMERICAN SOUNDSCAPES
that his parents attended the Boston premiere.“ I was delighted when Ma said it was her proudest moment and that my playing in the Concerto made all those music lessons worthwhile!” The piece is in two distinct movements, each giving us a glimpse of the different styles of jazz Copland was hearing in the 1920s. The first movement opens with a triumphant fanfare that sets us up for the piano’ s first solo entry. Much of the rest of the movement is gentle with clear references to the blues, although it does build up again to a dissonant climax one last time before fading away. The soloist is in the spotlight in the second movement, playing a series of dissonant chords that morph seamlessly into lively dance music that one can imagine hearing in a 1920s jazz club.
Instrumentation: Two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, E-flat clarinet, alto saxophone( doubling soprano saxophone), two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, Chinese drum, cymbals( pair), military drum, wood block, xylophone, tam tam, triangle, celesta, and strings, in addition to the solo piano.
Wynton Marsalis
Born October 18, 1961, in New Orleans, Louisiana Resides in New York City
MVT. I FROM BLUES SYMPHONY( SYMPHONY NO. 2) [ 2009 ]
Dubbed the“ Doctor of Swing” and the“ Pied Piper of Jazz,” renowned trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Wynton Marsalis has released more than 127 albums and influenced a generation of musicians. An advocate for American music, Marsalis grew up studying both jazz and classical music in New Orleans. His 2009 Blues Symphony is a substantial seven-movement work that takes listeners on a journey through two centuries of American musical styles. Marsalis opens the piece with the snare drum and piccolo, hearkening back to the fife and drum corps of the Revolutionary War era. As the first movement develops, Marsalis weaves together a rich sonic tapestry of interlocking rhythms and melodies infused with elements of American fiddling, military bands, ragtime, big band, and jazz. Underpinning all of this is the 12-bar blues progression, which is one of the most frequently utilized harmonic progressions in popular music. This specific pattern of repeated chords was derived from a combination of African American spirituals and early southern country music. Marsalis writes that the Blues Symphony“ gives symphonic identity to the form and feeling of the blues,” codifying his masterful melding of classical and jazz idioms. The movement ends with the lingering sound of a fife and drum, giving the aural impression that a grand parade has passed and is now fading into the distance.
Instrumentation: Two flutes( second doubling piccolo), piccolo, three oboes( third doubling English horn), three clarinets( third doubling bass clarinet), two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, small suspended cymbal, bass drum, large suspended cymbal, small bass drum, xylophone, snare drum, small snare drum, tom toms, cymbals, suspended cymbal, tambourine, field drum, and strings.
Florence Price
Born April 9, 1887, in Little Rock, Arkansas Died June 3, 1953, in Chicago, Illinois
SYMPHONY NO. 3 IN C MINOR [ 1938 ]
Florence Price made history in 1933 when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra premiered her First Symphony, making her the first Black American woman to have a symphonic work performed by a major orchestra. Across her career as a composer, pianist, organist, and teacher, Price wrote more than 300 works ranging from solo keyboard pieces to large orchestral masterpieces. Her music has only recently been published, recorded, and performed by prominent ensembles. This was not due to a lack of effort on Price’ s part. For nine years, she wrote to Serge Koussevitzky asking him to consider programming her music. As conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Koussevitzky regularly premiered new American works including Copland’ s Piano Concerto, but he never considered Price’ s music. Price knew what she was up against, wisely writing in one of these letters:“ To begin with, I have two
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