Giving Thanks – For American Music & Composers
Giving Thanks – For American Music & Composers
ONE OF MY PRINCIPAL MISSIONS during my tenure as Music Director of the Durham Symphony Orchestra has been to celebrate the richness and breadth of American music. To that end, every program the DSO has performed in the last nine years has included at least one piece by an American composer. We are one of the very few American orchestras in the history of this country to do this over an extended time. And our audiences have been greatly enthusiastic about these “home-grown” works.
American classical music has been neglected and underestimated by Americans since the first American orchestral pieces began to appear in the mid-19th century. Since that time , not much has changed . “Classical music IS European music, right?!” This prejudice extends to American conductors also. We as a breed are not considered to be “exotic” enough by the non-musicians who actually hire the conductors in this country. For instance, the American conductor John Mauceri writes in his memoirs about the experience he had while being interviewed to be the Music Director of a certain American orchestra. All seemed well, until a woman on that orchesta’s board of directors took him aside and let him know that he was unlikely to get the job because he was an American. Her reason: “ We really want the accent!” Yes, to be born outside of the United States of America seems to be a hidden requirement in the contract to be the leader of an American orchestra.
The first American-born conductor of a major American orchestra was Leonard Bernstein. During his tenure he was a dedicated enthusiast of American music .That’s because, having grown up in America with this music he LOVED, it was something he wanted to perform and to share with others. Musicians of my generation grew up looking forward to each new recording Bernstein made of the music of Gershwin, Copland, Roy Harris, Walter Piston, and others. With the exception of his enlightened mentor, Serge Koussevitsky, Bernstein was the best advocate the American composer ever had. That same kind of patriotic, partisan fervor is largely absent from foreign-born conductors who don’t grow up with our music. It’s hard to believe, but even now in the 21st century, American music is almost totally neglected in Europe or Asia. To these cultures, except for pop music, the phrase “American music” is an oxymoron.
Until this country gets over its inferiority complex about American composers and conductors, there is little chance of anything changing.. Yes, occasionally a brief section of a program will be reserved for a work by a “trendy” composer ( preferably female) under 40 in order to to show contemporary relevance”. The result: with the sole exceptions of Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein and Barber, the works by 20th century American composers have been consigned to the ashbin of history. This is wrong, especially since, when this music does appear on a concert program, people LOVE it.
I, a voice crying out in the wilderness, can only do what I have always done; to program this music often and to conduct it with the same kind love and commitment I bring to the music of the classic European masters. Here is a poem by the the great 20th century German composer Paul Hindemith that illustrates my point.
The old is good not just because it’s past,
Nor is the new supreme because we live with it.
Your task it is , amidst confusion, rush and noise
To grasp the lasting, calm and meaningful,
And finding it anew, to hold and treasure it.
In the spirit of loving, sharing and giving thanks during this holiday season, I would like to commend to you 25 of my favorite American orchestra masterpieces.
Charles Ives: Symphonies No. 2 and 3
Copland: Lincoln Portrait, Suites from “The Tender Land” and ”The Red Pony” .
Leonard Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from “ West Side Story”,
George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue, Piano Concerto, An American in Paris
Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings, Violin Concerto
William Schumann: New England Triptych
Alan Scott Hovhaness: Symphony No. 2 (“Mysterious Mountain” )
Howard Hanson: Symphony No. 2 ( “Romantic” ) Suite from “ Merry Mount”
George Walker: Lyric for Strings
Roy Harris, Symphony No. 3 , Symphony No 4 ( Folksong symphony)
Duke Ellington: Martin Luther King, from “ Three Black Kings”
Ned Rorem: Sunday Morning
Robert Ward: Festive Ode
Phillip Glass: Glassworks ( album)
Steve Reich: The four sections
Stephen Jaffe: Violin Concerto
Henry Brant: Kingdom Come