Klarinet Archive - Posting 000201.txt from 1995/04

From: "Michael A. Cassara" <michael.cassara@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Copland Concerto
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 20:08:00 -0400

Hi Justin,
This information probably doesn't fit
the criteria, but I found some neat stuff
so have fun. Good luck!

As you probably know the Concerto was written
on commision from Benny Goodman. It was started
in 1947 and completed in 1948. On the piece,
Goodman tells Copland biographer Vivian Perlis:
"I made no demands on what Copland should write.
He had completely free rein, except that I should have
a two-year exclusivity on playing the work. I paid
two thousand dollars and that's real money. At the
time there were not too many American composers
to pick from... We never had much trouble except
for a little fracas about the spot before the cadenza
where he had written a repetition of some phrase. I
was a little sticky about leaving it out- it was where
the viola was the echo to give the clarinet a cue.
But I think Aaron finally did leave it out... Aaron and I
played the concerto quite a few times with him
conducting, and we made two recordings."

On the piece, Copland writes:
"The instrumentation being clarinet with strings, harp,
and piano, I did not have a large battery of percussion
to achieve jazzy effects, so I used slapping basses
and whacking harp sounds to simulate them. The Clarinet
Concerto ends with a fairly elaborate coda in C major
that finishes off with a clarinet glissando - or "smear"
in jazz lingo."

I got both of the above quotes from the writing of Peter Laki
in the program of Franklin Cohens recent performance of the
piece (March 16-18, 1995 with the Cleveland Orchestra).

Copland also once told Phillip Ramey that he decided to use
a jazz idiom was "inspired by Goodman's playing" but that,
"contrary to certain commentators, the jazz elements in the
Clarinet Concerto have nothing to do with the 'hot jazz'
improvisation for which Benny Goodman and his sextet
were noted."

Copland also stated that the exuberant finale is "an unconscious
fusion of elements obviously related to North and South
American popular music (for example, a phrase from a
currently popular Brazilian tune, heard by me in Rio,
became embedded in the secondary material)."

The above two quotes came from various liner notes
and I'm sorry I can't give more detailed bibliographic information.

Copland was in Rio de Janeiro in 1947 as a lecturer and
conductor. It was there that he made many drafts of the Concerto.
Goodman premiered it under Fritz Reiner and the NBC
Symphony on November 6, 1950. Since then it has been
performed by many of the great clarinetists. Marcellus,
Drucker, Stoltzman, Combs, and Cohen.

I hope this helps. If I find anything else I'll pass it along.

Mike Cassara,
Cleveland, Ohio
Internet Mail: Michael.Cassara@-----.Com