Maybe we can ease into the Copland Clarinet Concerto by focusing on the man without whom it wouldn't exist

Benny Goodman (1909-1986) in 1946, about the time he added Copland to the list of composers he commissioned to create new works for the clarinet.

by Ken

This week we're supposed to be -- no, we're going to be -- thinking about and listening to the Copland Clarinet Concerto, a fairly popular but seemingly unassumng little gem that I'm going to warn you to handle with care, as it could just burrow its way into your soul. The post is mostly written, I think, but stubbornly refuses to allow for the resolution of several issues without which publication isn't possible.

So I got the idea that maybe we might just listen to the piece, and then I got the additional idea that we could pull out of the simmering post several performances featuring as soloist the man without whom there wouldn't have been a Copland Clarinet Concerto, the great clarinetist Benny Goodman.

Like all clarinetists, it was a subject of great regret for Benny G. that the repertory of composed music for his instrument wasn't exactly vast. Unlike nearly all of those clarinetists, however, he did something about it. Wearing all his musical hats, he devoted himself to expanding that repertory, and in the realm of "serious" music he put his money where his mouth was, commissioning a number of composers to make nice with the clarinet.


COPLAND: Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra with Harp and Piano:
i. Slowly and expressively
Cadenza
ii. Rather fast


[cadenza at 6:30; lead-in to ii. at 9:05] Benny Goodman, clarinet; NBC Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, cond. Broadcast premiere performance, Nov. 6, 1950

[cadenza at 6:36; lead-in to ii. at 8:57] Benny Goodman, clarinet; Laura Newell, harp; Abba Bogin, piano; Columbia Symphony Strings, Aaron Copland, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in New York City, Feb. 20, 1963

And by way of a tease, here's just the opening of one more:

This performance is from a 1976 Copland Conducts Copland concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic -- a Unitel recording, if I've got this right, which has been issued by Naxos on both DVD and Blu-ray.


Benny Goodman, clarinet; Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Aaron Copland, cond. Live performance from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, filmed 1976

Last week I noted: "I think we'll be spending more time with the Ives songs." Amazingly, this prediction has come true!

YES, OUR NEW OLD FRIEND GERALD FINLEY IS BACK,
AND HE'S ABOUT TO BLOW THE ROOF OFF THE JOINT

IVES: "They are there! (Fighting for the people's new free world)" (1942-43, solo version)

Gerald Finley, bass-baritone; Magnus Johnston, violin; Julius Drake, piano. Hyperion, recorded Feb. 16-20, 2007

by Ken

In last week's post, "A touch of Ives (featuring a bunch of questions -- not least: Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)," I concluded a batch of quick hits on the Ives songworld with the unassuming note: "NOTE: I think we'll be spending more time with the Ives songs." Which I thought would be safe, because I had a number of threads I wanted to pursue, starting as usual with several that had failed to make it into the current post. What I didn't anticipate, even after plugging away at the material all week, was that I would never quite figure out --

HOW DO WE REJOIN OUR LISTEN-TO OF SELECT IVES SONGS?

What I came up with, sort of, was a quick version -- no multiple performances, no printed song texts -- of the new material that would go above the byline, which would then be repeated in more typical, more discursive Sunday Classics form. And I stuck to this seemingly simple agenda long after it became clear that it wasn't going to work. Even pursuing only a couple of the threads I anticipated from last week, that "above the byline" run-through was stretching out to the horizon.

Unfortunately, "Plan B" turned out to be a cheat version of "Plan A": The so-called quick run-through was dragged down below the byline, where it no longer needed to be quite so compact, and from it a single performance was plucked out and made the post opener. The picture of Gerald Finley -- like the picture of Sam Ramey we're going to see in a bit -- was already ready, from a still-earlier conception of this post that had long since gone by the wayside. (I just had to find them, among the several versions-in-progress of this continuation post that had already sprouted.

So here we are, basically pursuing that rickety, largely discredited Plan B, which continues with several proposed options for rejoining our listen-to of select Ives songs.

(1) We heard Donald Gramm sing "Serenity" with an Aaron Copland intro; we could hear the other two songs from that TV group

A touch of Ives (featuring a bunch of questions -- not least: Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)

EARLY TUESDAY UPDATE, with (1) expanded post title; (2) added performance of "Serenity" by Donald Gramm (introduced by Aaron Copland); (3) extra-credit "Questions for Reflection" at the end; (4) smaller touches of assorted sorts here and there

IVES: "Serenity" (1919)

O, Sabbath rest of Galilee!
O, calm of hills above,
where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
the silence of eternity,
interpreted by love.
Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
till all our strivings cease:
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess,
the beauty of thy peace.

-- text by John Greenleaf Whittier

"Serenity" was arranged from a sketch of an ensemble "song" earlier than May 1911 and may well be connected to Ives's projected Whittier Overture, one of his "Men of Literature" series. He suggested this trance-like piece was best sung as a unison chant, over its repetitive chiming accompaniment figure.

-- Calum MacDonald, from his Hyperion booklet note

"Serenity" has a vocal line that hovers between just a few notes, following the natural speech rhythm of Whittier's poem in a very subtle and touching way. It's a truly inspired song. I use that word rarely, but I can use it in relation to "Serenity."

-- Aaron Copland, introducing Donald Gramm's TV performance

Jan DeGaetani, mezzo-soprano; Gilbert Kalish, piano. Nonesuch, recorded c1975

Gerald Finley, bass-baritone; Julius Drake, piano. Hyperion, recorded in All Saints Church (Durham Road), East Finchley, London, Nov. 10-12, 2004

[orch. John Adams] Thomas Hampson, baritone; members of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas, cond. RCA, from MTT's Charles Ives: An American Journey CD, recorded live in Davies Symphony Hall, Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 1999

JUST ADDED: Bonus performance, introduced by Aaron Copland

Donald Gramm, having finished with his part of "Serenity," listens as Richard Cumming sculpts the song's brief but haunting final phrases.

[introduction by Aaron Copland; song at 0:20] Donald Gramm, bass-baritone; Richard Cumming, piano. TV performance (you can watch here; perhaps from NBC, Nov. 29, 1964?)

by Ken

I know this has been a long time coming, and this may seem like a modest payoff, but "Serenity" is a special kind of song, and I think there's a lot to take in from our performers, who include our new budding favorite Gerald Finley, who I promised in the last post, "Some funny things happened on the way through Ives's Holidays," would be leading us into our confrontation with Charles Ives, and one of Sunday Classics' most beloved singers, Jan DeGaetani.


WONDER WHY JAN DeGAETANI IS SO TREASURED HERE?

Glad you wondered! It's a perfect excuse to take yet another listen to this jaw-droppingly radiant performance, with some pretty amazingly concentrated and songfully articulated piano-playing by her longtime piano partner, one of America's most distinguished pianists, Gil Kalish.

Have you watched the NY Phil's new "free online" performance of the Copland Fanfare for the Common Man yet?

UPDATE: Well, I thought of one more (smallish)
thing we could do -- see the end of the post

If you haven't watched it yet -- or even if you have! -- check it out on the Philharmonic's website.

In 1942 Copland composed Fanfare for the Common Man to support America’s effort during World War II. He settled on this title because, as he put it, “It was the common man, after all, who was doing all the dirty work in the war and the army.” He later added, “He deserved a fanfare.” Today, the title could just as easily apply to the healthcare workers and other essential frontline workers who have helped us through the COVID-19 pandemic.

This newly recorded performance was conducted by David Robertson in January 2021 at St. Bartholomew’s Church.

-- the NYPhil website introduction to the video performance

by Ken

Sorry I haven't been able to summon the follow-through to share any of the things I've wanted to. It's just one of those times for me, and it really has nothing to do with the pandemic, except insofar as it adds a layer of complication to all the preexiting complications. I thought I'd at least share this swell video offering from the NY Phil, which has been around for quite a while (I see it was posted on January 16), and I've been meaning to do something with it, so now I'm just passing it along.

And you know, for once I'm not only going to say it but do what I've said, and not say anything more.


OKAY, WELL, MAYBE JUST ONE MORE THING --
WELL, MAKE IT TWO, I GUESS (YOU'LL SEE)