Post by erik on Jul 2, 2022 12:21:22 GMT -5
For America's 246th birthday, a patriotic work for chorus and orchestra by the "dean of American composers" is in the Classical Works Spotlight.
Copland: CANTICLE OF FREEDOM
America’s greatest composer Aaron Copland pretty much established what we know as The American Sound. But even so, he found himself caught up in one of the ugliest phases in the history of his country: the Communist witch hunts conducted in Congress during the early 1950’s by the notorious anti-Commie senator Joseph McCarthy and his deputy Roy Cohn. Copland had made no secret of his left-wing (but not necessarily Communist) politics, and found himself called into the McCarthy hearings in 1954. Cohn had tried to bait Copland into admitting what wasn’t true, that he was a Communist; but the composer refused to take the bait, instead answering questions in a dignified manner and refusing to name any names. He pretty much escaped with his dignity intact as, like Stalin in Russia, both McCarthy and Cohn had tin ears when it came to classical music. During this time, Copland composed a stirring patriotic anthem in the form of “Canticle Of Freedom” for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the dedication of the school’s then-new Kresge Auditorium. At an average length of fourteen minutes, it has the kind of stirring orchestral declarations one associates with the dean of American composers, and then it introduces the choral section by intoning “Freedom is a wonderful thing!”. Even in the midst of the Cold War, and despite the political pressure he was under because of McCarthy and company, Copland had come up with a work that continues to endure. In the meantime, McCarthy was discredited as a politician, and died in 1957, due, it is said, to hepatitis and booze.
Seattle Symphony Chorale
Seattle Symphony Orchestra/GERARD SCHWARZ (Delos)
Included:
Copland: FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN
Copland: LINCOLN PORTRAIT (Speaker: JAMES EARL JONES)
Copland: AN OUTDOOR OVERTURE
Roy Harris: AMERICAN CREED
Roy Harris: WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME
Copland: CANTICLE OF FREEDOM
America’s greatest composer Aaron Copland pretty much established what we know as The American Sound. But even so, he found himself caught up in one of the ugliest phases in the history of his country: the Communist witch hunts conducted in Congress during the early 1950’s by the notorious anti-Commie senator Joseph McCarthy and his deputy Roy Cohn. Copland had made no secret of his left-wing (but not necessarily Communist) politics, and found himself called into the McCarthy hearings in 1954. Cohn had tried to bait Copland into admitting what wasn’t true, that he was a Communist; but the composer refused to take the bait, instead answering questions in a dignified manner and refusing to name any names. He pretty much escaped with his dignity intact as, like Stalin in Russia, both McCarthy and Cohn had tin ears when it came to classical music. During this time, Copland composed a stirring patriotic anthem in the form of “Canticle Of Freedom” for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the dedication of the school’s then-new Kresge Auditorium. At an average length of fourteen minutes, it has the kind of stirring orchestral declarations one associates with the dean of American composers, and then it introduces the choral section by intoning “Freedom is a wonderful thing!”. Even in the midst of the Cold War, and despite the political pressure he was under because of McCarthy and company, Copland had come up with a work that continues to endure. In the meantime, McCarthy was discredited as a politician, and died in 1957, due, it is said, to hepatitis and booze.
Seattle Symphony Chorale
Seattle Symphony Orchestra/GERARD SCHWARZ (Delos)
Included:
Copland: FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN
Copland: LINCOLN PORTRAIT (Speaker: JAMES EARL JONES)
Copland: AN OUTDOOR OVERTURE
Roy Harris: AMERICAN CREED
Roy Harris: WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME