From the Mar 20 – Mar 26, 2003 issue

Music

Classical & Jazz

Aaron Copland

by Christopher DeLaurenti

Look at the above photo. One of the glories of classical music is that a not-so-handsome, owlish yet gifted composer has a shot at musical immortality. In pop music, of course, the ugly need not apply. And in our hottie-obsessed age, it may be hard to imagine that someone like Aaron Copland (1900-1990), a scrawny kid from Brooklyn, could be one of our era's greatest composers.

Copland masterfully fused tunes from the Old West with the driving rhythmic language of Stravinsky. His faultless ear for lean, plaintive orchestration created the swaggering, broad-shouldered music so often imitated by John Williams (Star Wars), Elmer Bernstein (The Magnificent Seven), and countless other film composers.

Copland wrote his most stirring music, Fanfare for the Common Man, in 1942. The simple ascending brass melody of this short piece guarantees goose bumps every time. In 1946, Copland incorporated Fanfare into his Symphony No. 3, which is everything a symphony should be: bold, brash, always riveting, and summoning the entire universe to sing to your soul.

A tireless advocate for his fellow composers, Copland helped dozens of colleagues land teaching posts, fellowships, commissions, and performances. He would probably be pleased that guest conductor Hugh Wolff and the Seattle Symphony are also tackling two pieces of new music in addition to his Symphony No. 3. The marvelous violinist Hilary Hahn is the soloist for Edgar Meyer's Violin Concerto, a Copland-inspired piece of porch-swing Americana with little ambition but several nice tunes. Rounding out the program is Steven Mackey's Lost and Found. CHRISTOPHER DeLAURENTI

The Seattle Symphony performs Thurs March 20 at 7:30 pm and Fri-Sat March 21-22 at 8 pm. Also Sun March 23 at 2 pm (but without the Mackey piece). Benaroya Hall, Third Ave and Union St, 215-4747, $11-$75.

chris@delaurenti.net

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