Maybe I Just Don't Get It

Okay, I'll admit it.  I don't like Aaron Copeland.  Never have, really.  Sure, that probably means I'm terribly unsophisticated and just don't get it, but ever since the first time I heard Copeland (actually, played it, since I was a bass player in my high school orchestra at the time) I've thought it primarily crap.  To me, it is kind of like Starbuck's coffee:  Trendy and hugely popular, but something that, to me, might as well be overheated skunk oil.  And, yes, that horrendous stench aroma you recognize in Starbuck's but just can't place is like skunk.

For the fortunate few that have never heard Copeland, he was a highly celebrated American composer from the early Twentieth Century, who tried to represent industrial and mechanical themes in his music.  There is one piece he did that seeks to bring to mind the sights and sounds of New York City, including traffic, construction, high-rise buildings and a weekend trip to Coney Island.  But, to me, it just sounds like noise.

The Ways and Means Committee and I had a date last night, and went to the Ordway in St. Paul to see the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.  I love the SPCO.  Always have.  In fact, I have very much loved orchestral music for as long as I can remember, and the SPCO my favorite presenter.  Last night's concert featured a work by Copeland, and music by Charles Ives, among others.  Ives is another celebrated 20th Century American composer.  The director for the night, Scott Yoo, gave a lecture prior to the performance in which he discussed Ives style.  Apparently, he liked to take many different beats, harmonies and keys, and present them at the same time.  Yoo likened it to the paintings of Jackson Pollack, meaning on the surface it is a mess, but when you concentrate it is quite striking and beautiful.  I thought it sounded like the warm-up period of a concert.  You know, that part right at the beginning where each musician is doing his own thing, practicing one individual part or another, generating a discordant cacophony of notes.  Except, this time it was the actual performance.

So, I'm apparently not a big fan of Charles Ives, either.

Maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough.  Maybe my ear just doesn't understand what it is hearing, and how important it is.  I freely acknowledge there are many things I do not like or understand, but that many others do.  And I accept that as more my fault than anyone else's.  But, to me, Copeland was sort of the Brittney Spears of his day:  Highly celebrated and hugely popular, but with little or no talent or substance.

Having acknowledged I may simply not understand the appeal of Copeland and other industrial types of music, I also insist I understand Classical and other styles of music in general, and I have come to realize there are many people who enjoy music and other art forms because they think they are supposed to. These are the peope who give the Arts a bad name, and bring to the forefront such works as Copeland, Minimalist Art, country music and the collected works of Meryl Streep.

A few years ago, WMC and I attended a Minnesota Orchestra performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.  That's the one that feature's "Ode to Joy," and is traditional holiday fare.  The soloist was a German man who was, quite possibly, the largest individual I have ever seen in my entire life.  He was huge.  Massive.  He had smaller soloists revolving around him.  But he was amazing, and the entire performance was most enjoyable.  Just the thing to put me in the holiday spirit.

Leaving Orchestra Hall, we found ourselves in an elevator with one of those pompous buffoons who give patronage of the arts a bad name.  He was speaking hoitily and in depth about the orchestra itself, the uality of the performance, how the singers handled themselves, the greatness of the guest conductor, etc.  Having been a performer (and a fan of many types of music) myself, I recognized his dissertation as complete anbd utter hooey, but his followers seems to be hanging on every word. 

When he finished impressive them with the greatness that is him, he turned to me and, even though quite a bit shorter than I, was actually able to look down his nose at me, and said, "What did you think of the performance?"  I said -- paraphrasing here -- "I was impressed, especially given the group performing.,  For years, the Minnesota Orchestra has depended so heavily on the likes of Copeland and other scions of industrial music, they could make every composer they perform found mechanical and automatic.  Yet tonight, they performed with such beauty and soul, and their ability to belend so seamlessly with the vocal portion of the performance, I would have thought I was listening to the Boston Symphony.  On the other hand, for much of the final movement, all I could I could think was, 'Big fat guy singin'.'"

Comments

[Joe, Jane, Jia and Willa]

Ha! We love SPCO too. They often use a violinist who is very distinctive. We call him Mr. Flair. His real name is Steven Copes, and he is very good, but his mannerisms just make us laugh!

[Linda]

I hear you have some interesting co-workers...any comments.