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May 8, 2008 - 8:03pm
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Copland, Fanfare for the common man
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Welsh, I'm so impressed & moved by your desire to know more about classical! The way you're going about trying to find out more, listening more, actually motivates me.
The Fanfare is actually a stand-alone work, but it's not a long piece, however. Copland actually got the title "Fanfare for the Common Man" from the speech given by Vice President Henry Wallace, in which he talked about the 21st century being the century of the common man. Being the heart-swollen leftist that he is, of course Copland had to compose something! A lot of people actually took the title literally & thought that Copland wrote a satiric piece on the "tax-paying common man". So Copland actually scheduled the premiere on Tax Day, I believe. A wiseguy.
In addition to the groups you mention, you'll notice that Queen used a part of the main melody & the stomping rhythm in "Fanfare" in "We Will Rock You."
Bernstein's version of Fanfare is a classic, but I prefer Michael Tilson Thomas w/ SF.
Although Copland's Fanfare is a complete piece in itself, as selfdivider mentioned, Copland later incorporated it into his Symphony No. 3, where it forms the start of the last movement and builds from there. It's one of my favorite symphonies. The best sound of the recordings I've heard is Oue/Minnesota, on Reference (which also includes the stand-alone version of the Fanfare), followed by Slatkin/St. Louis on BMG. There is an excellent performance by Bernstein/NY on DG, but the sound doesn't match up to the two versions I've just mentioned.
Self
What im finding is that once you take the leap to stop pre judging music by its genre then all sorts of things are opening up to be enjoyed.
When younger I was pretty much rock and thats it, now im listening to all sorts of things.
I do believe though classical music is a whole undiscovered world that a large percentage of not just the general population but also teh hifi world dismiss as being mundane and boring. Ive learnt that Elgar, Mussorsky etc at full bore is just as powerful and intense as a Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple and not only that you can begon more and more to see the commonality of music through the ages. Im not there yet but i can see that even the great composers also wrote some pulp pop type stuff just to satisfy certain needs.
Im really excited as I get my new system in a few days, ive been working on that for months i'm hoping that is going to escalate the sound to a new level.
Alan
Alan, it's wonderful to see you enjoying your system so much. It's neat to see your perspective that ELP "popularized" it. It's been a big hit in classical circles for decades now (yeah, I know ELP has been around for decades). If you ever get a chance to hear it live, do, as it'll blow you socks off in the right setting.
Dave
In addition to excellent sound, I find the MN Orch. performance of the Fanfare to be the best.
Most performances just blast. The MN version provides subtlety and understanding, as well as some amazing musicianship (the piece requires players with great chops as the range of notes and other demands placed on the players are great. While accomplished high school musicians can get through it, it takes truly excellent musicians to play it well.
Okay. Just ordered the CD of the Minnesota performance. My wallet hates both of you, Elk & pbarach!
Please report in. I would love to learn what you think.