 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: heather_roche
Date: 2010-07-05 09:37
Hello all,
I seem to recall reading a letter from Copland somewhere where he complains about Goodman's playing of his concerto. But I can't remember where I read it. Anyone seen it lately?
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2010-07-05 11:51
I have to admit I was disappointed when I heard Benny Goodman's recording as he played the swing bit straight.
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2010-07-05 13:39
It's possible that Copland was disappointed at some point, but from what I've read about him, I don't think so.
Right now I have "Copland Since 1943" (written by Copland and Vivian Perlis) in front of me. In this book, written late in the composer's life, he didn't mince words. If there was a performance of something that he didn't like, he came right out and said it. He spent several pages discussing the Clarinet Concerto, and he never once suggested that he was disappointed with Goodman's playing. The two of them recorded it twice and performed it together on several occasions. On p. 96, Copland writes:
"But with the Clarinet Concerto, after a somewhat inauspicious send-off, it has become one of my most frequently performed works and a standard for clarinetists. Gervase de Peyer has performed and recorded it, as well as other outstanding soloists, among them Harold Wright, Stanley Drucker, Richard Stoltzman, and David Glazer. I always thought that it would help if a player had some feeling and knowledge of jazz, yet when jazz clarinetist Johnny Dankworth attempted the Clarinet Concerto in concert, he ran into difficulty. It was the recordings Benny and I made that garnered the good notices and really launched the Clarinet Concerto. I was pleased when we had the chance to do a second recording--the first had been one of my earliest as conductor, and I was concerned that I had conducted the first movement too slowly."
I will admit that some have questioned certain parts of the two-volume Copland-Perlis collaboration. These two books are an excellent source of information about Copland's life, but they don't quite tell the whole story. About ten years ago I read Howard Pollack's excellent biography "Aaron Copland: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man." Pollack tells it all in this very comprehensive biography, but I don't recall reading anything about Copland being disappointed with Goodman's performance of his concerto.
Post Edited (2010-07-05 13:44)
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2010-07-05 13:41
The Library of Congress has put on line a collection of Copland letters, several of which mention the Clarinet Concerto, but I couldn't find any complaining about BG.
In The Clarinet, there was an article about changes Copland made to remove a couple of licks that BG couldn't manage. Perhaps that's what you remember. The article was in Vol. 23, No. 1, "Too Difficult for Benny Goodman": The Original Version of the Copland Clarinet Concerto. See http://www.clarinet.org/masterIndexVolume.asp.
In the LOC letters collection, there's an interesting one to Serge Koussevitsky rejecting his suggestion that the first movement be arranged as an elegy for strings. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?copland:12:./temp/~ammem_ofF8::
Several years ago, there was a substantial discussion here and on the Klarinet list about how much, if any, "swing" there should be in the cadenza and last movement. Use the Search function to find Copland, being sure to check the Keepers and Klarinet boxes. In Goodman's two early recordings with Copland conducting, he plays with a considerable amount of jazz tone and phrasing. Particularly in the first version (on a monaural LP that's never been reissued), it's 1/3 jazz and 2/3 classical.
Ken Shaw
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Author: mrn
Date: 2010-07-06 01:24
Chris wrote:
Quote:
I have to admit I was disappointed when I heard Benny Goodman's recording as he played the swing bit straight.
But Copland didn't write a"swing bit" in his Concerto.
Jazz-inspired? Yes. But jazz doesn't necessarily mean swing.
As Copland himself stated, "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."
Now I did read somewhere (it was an interview with Stoltzman posted on the Internet--I'll try and find it again if I can) that before Richard Stoltzman recorded Copland's Concerto he called Copland up on the phone and asked Copland if he would mind if he recorded a more "swung" version of the Concerto, and Copland said it would be OK.
But Copland's telling Stoltzman that he wouldn't be offended if Stoltzman "jazzed up" his Concerto is still quite different than if Copland had actually written it that way to begin with.
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