Klarinet Archive - Posting 000063.txt from 2009/12

From: Tim Roberts <timr@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: Copland Clarinet Concerto note question
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:46:46 -0500

OnWed, 16 Dec 2009 21:04:54 -0800, Sean Osborn <feanor33@-----.net> wrote:
> Here's a story related to me by Robert Marcellus:
> On the famous Copland/Goodman recording, Benny Goodman plays a
> C-natural in measures 413 and 415, though Cb is in the key
> signature. When Marcellus had an opportunity to ask Copland about
> this note, he said, very respectfully, "Maestro, you have a Cb in the
> score, but Benny plays a C-natural here. Which would you like me to
> play?" Copland replied (somewhat dismissively of his own
> composition) "C-flat, C-natural: Play what you want!"
>

Copland was quite a character. Here's a repeat of a story I related a
couple of years ago.

The director of the community band in which I play was trained at the
Kansas City Conservatory of Music. At the Conservatory, he was assigned
the task of organizing a symposium on a topic something like the Impact
of Jazz on American Classical Music. He thought it would be great to
get Aaron Copland to come speak at the symposium. Being young and
naïve, he got on the telephone and called Copland. A gruff voice
answered the phone. Expecting to have reached an aide, a secretary, or
an agent, he said he was trying to reach Aaron Copland. "This is Aaron
Copland," came the response.

Copland, in his 70s at that point, told him that he was far too old to
be gallivanting about the country making personal appearances, but he
spent the next hour on the phone, sharing his thoughts on jazz and 20th
Century American music. It was a highlight of his time at the Conservatory.

--
Tim Roberts, timr@-----.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

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