As with the original version for Appalachian Spring, I wish this was better known. I heard this long before THAT piece of his which is the only one you’ll find simply by entering his name. You need to know of his entire output as search engines reduce it to one piece alone. The three essays and two symphonies should be part and parcel of the repertoire of every orchestra. Look at and listen to this score. Better still, why don’t ballet companies include it instead of dances in tutus? I have no idea what things are like within the USA, but in the UK it’s as though Martha Graham never existed. One other thing, I can’t find a commercial recording of this chamber version. That’s criminal.
I don't get what the hype is about--I don't understand/like the symphony 😕 it seems incoherent; it doesn't seem to flow together, which in my opinion is necessary for a symphony.
Poulenc had to write those interludes because in the first production at La Scala they needed more time to change the sets. They are not included in the standard score - have to be ordered from the publisher.
Auf der Campagne (On the Roman Campagna) A Tone Poem Richard Strauss This piece is about 10 minutes long, but I have listened to only the first four minutes. What I hear is a series of pleasant chords, and some individual notes running between the chords. Strauss is using every piece of a large orchestra: there’s something for each instrument to play, even in just the four minutes. I can hear the low strings, the high strings, an occasional high wind instrument. Some notes are held for several beats; others are short. In two-second intervals, I would guess, the chunks are each pleasant to hear. That is, a brief clip taken from anywhere in these four minutes would probably sound good, by itself. There are transitions from minor and dissonant chords, to major chords, and those fragments are also pleasant. I would call the feeling “serene” and “calm”, but it is also shaded with those minors and conflicting notes, which are more jarring than calm. This music sounds like it would serve as background to a movie. For example, if someone was exploring an unknown forest, or traveling through space while looking out the window, or trying to wake up in bed after a difficult night, you could put this music there as a backdrop while that sort of action was on the screen. The sounds do not move in any direction at all; nothing is developing here. This is the reason I was satisfied to stop after four minutes. Just as well, I might have stopped after two minutes. What follows one bit (a few seconds of music) does not seem to be related to what came before; it is entirely independent, to my ear. It could be repeating, or replaying in reverse, or Strauss could have had a computer chop up the whole ten minutes into five-second clips, and then rearrange them in a random sequence, with no loss of impact. So these sounds are interesting, even appealing, in fragments, but because there is no progress, no development, no order to it, it does not stand as art, as I understand art. It is like watching some two-year-olds goofing around, or a fireworks display, or touring the entire Museum of Science & Industry at high speed, in four minutes. Each little bit is fine - good, even - but it does not make a cohesive, coherent whole. I don’t know anything about the Roman Campaign, so it might help me to know why Strauss chose that title. I have never learned what a “tone poem” is, and I cannot see in this piece anything akin to poetry as I understand it, though, for sure, my experience with poetry is very limited. This is the kind of music that causes listeners like me to believe they could do just as well as Richard Strauss, as it seems to me that I, too, could muster a team of musicians to play a series of chords and individual notes, with no less sense than what I feel in this composition. This is entirely frustrating. I don't know what's wrong with me.
Take that back! It’s not Mozart, but it is the first American symphony that can credibly be called part of the standard repertoire. Someone had to go first, and he taught and inspired a generation of American composers. And Copland established the American sound. If you think this music is unoriginal, that’s because composers have been copying Copland since 1950
@@robertatallo9771 I don't think that it is unoriginal, rather originally boring, and many great American composers both preceded and followed Copland. To me he stands out as an oasis of mediocrity.
it's not intended to be played in time, hence why there's no marked time signature, and in some movements the time signature is in parenthesis to indicate that some measures do not follow it
1st Oboe miscounts their solo after figure 30 in movement 2 (8:48). Probably realised when the rest of the orchestra hits the fabulous Appassionata at figure 31.
Still can't think of any extra-cool things about the US, but this piece at least inspires me to stop and think about it. So, thing #1: Aaron Copland. Thing #2: pizza. Thing #3 ...well, I'll keep working on the list.
Couldn’t you choose to be a bit more positive? Do you really have nothing to say about, for example, the country’s natural beauty? Lake Tahoe, White Sands, Death Valley, Yellowstone? Or would acknowledging this deflate your silly rhetoric? The United States has about a billion different problems, and I love it when people are sharply critical of the country because that’s how we make it better. Everyone knows the US needs some of that. But it’s really stupid to bring your unnecessarily anti-US commentary to a music video that you yourself admit is something you like about the place.
