Post by erik on Sept 25, 2021 12:29:56 GMT -5
A symphony that reflects the American Sound of Aaron Copland is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight--but it's not by Aaron Copland.
John Duffy: SYMPHONY NO. 1 (UTAH)
Even with the myriad changes in American music during the second half of the 20th century, the uniquely “American Sound” as pioneered by Aaron Copland and his contemporaries still had considerable relevance among those composers that came after. One of those was the New York City native John Duffy, born in 1926. A World War II veteran, having enlisted in the U.S. Navy and participated in the Battle of Okinawa, Duffy studied composition at The New School with Henry Cowell and Solomon Rosowsky, and then with the master himself, Aaron Copland, at Tanglewood. Music directorships at the Antioch Shakespeare Festival and the American Shakespeare Festival led to work on music for Broadway, and to him winning two Emmy Awards for his scores to two TV documentaries, 1979’s A Talent For Life: Jews Of The Italian Renaissance (for NBC); and 1984’s Heritage: Civilization For The Jews (for PBS). The Copland influence rubbed off on Duffy in 1990, when the Sierra Club commissioned from him his Symphony No. 1, nicknamed “Utah”, a three-movement piece, much influenced by Copland’s classic American works of the 1930’s and 1940’s, that paid tribute to the natural wonders and indigenous people of the state of Utah. The movements are: (1) Utah: God’s Wilderness; (2) Requiem For Glen Canyon; and (3) Puwa. The work was given its premiere at Lincoln Center in late 1990, following the passing of Leonard Bernstein, and was subsequently given its singular recording, fittingly enough, by the Utah Symphony Orchestra and its music director (and former Boston Symphony concertmaster) Joseph Silverstein. Mr. Duffy died at his home in Norfolk, Virginia on December 22, 2015 at the age of 89 after a long battle with cancer.
Utah Symphony Orchestra/JOSEPH SILVERSTEIN (Albany)
Included:
HERITAGE FANFARE AND CHORALE (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/RICHARD WILLIAMS)
HERITAGE SUITE FOR ORCHESTRA (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/RICHARD WILLIAMS)
HERITAGE SYMPHONIC DANCES (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/RICHARD WILLIAMS)
John Duffy: SYMPHONY NO. 1 (UTAH)
Even with the myriad changes in American music during the second half of the 20th century, the uniquely “American Sound” as pioneered by Aaron Copland and his contemporaries still had considerable relevance among those composers that came after. One of those was the New York City native John Duffy, born in 1926. A World War II veteran, having enlisted in the U.S. Navy and participated in the Battle of Okinawa, Duffy studied composition at The New School with Henry Cowell and Solomon Rosowsky, and then with the master himself, Aaron Copland, at Tanglewood. Music directorships at the Antioch Shakespeare Festival and the American Shakespeare Festival led to work on music for Broadway, and to him winning two Emmy Awards for his scores to two TV documentaries, 1979’s A Talent For Life: Jews Of The Italian Renaissance (for NBC); and 1984’s Heritage: Civilization For The Jews (for PBS). The Copland influence rubbed off on Duffy in 1990, when the Sierra Club commissioned from him his Symphony No. 1, nicknamed “Utah”, a three-movement piece, much influenced by Copland’s classic American works of the 1930’s and 1940’s, that paid tribute to the natural wonders and indigenous people of the state of Utah. The movements are: (1) Utah: God’s Wilderness; (2) Requiem For Glen Canyon; and (3) Puwa. The work was given its premiere at Lincoln Center in late 1990, following the passing of Leonard Bernstein, and was subsequently given its singular recording, fittingly enough, by the Utah Symphony Orchestra and its music director (and former Boston Symphony concertmaster) Joseph Silverstein. Mr. Duffy died at his home in Norfolk, Virginia on December 22, 2015 at the age of 89 after a long battle with cancer.
Utah Symphony Orchestra/JOSEPH SILVERSTEIN (Albany)
Included:
HERITAGE FANFARE AND CHORALE (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/RICHARD WILLIAMS)
HERITAGE SUITE FOR ORCHESTRA (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/RICHARD WILLIAMS)
HERITAGE SYMPHONIC DANCES (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/RICHARD WILLIAMS)