Max Derrickson

Aaron Copland
(Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1900; died in North Tarrytown, New York in 1990)

Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra (with Harp and Piano)
1. Slowly and Expressively
– Cadenza
2. Rather Fast
– Coda

During the 1930’s America’s taste in popular music was all about “Swing” music (as Jazz was called then) played on the radio, play-at-home records, and local dance halls.  One of the greatest Swing bandleaders in that era was Benny Goodman (1909-1986) who was also a phenomenal jazz clarinetist.  But during WWII and the 1940’s, American tastes changed as Swing gave way to the “Bebop” jazz of Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk.  Goodman changed, too, and so began his second career as a classical clarinetist but with a jazz inflection.  It was in this new role that in 1947 Goodman commissioned a concerto for clarinet from the greatest contemporary American Classical composer, Aaron Copland.

At this time, Copland was lecturing and conducting in Brazil where he created most of Goodman’s Concerto.  Copland infused the work with an ear towards Goodman’s hallmark jazz, while also weaving in aspects of popular Brazilian music, almost unconsciously as Copland said.  The Concerto was premiered to great acclaim in 1950 in New York with Goodman as the soloist, and it quickly became a beloved fixture in the clarinet repertory.

The Concerto is conceived in an unusual structure with only two movements, one slow and one fast, connected by a long clarinet cadenza.  Accompanying the soloist, Copland relies on a sparse orchestra of strings, harp, and piano.  The first movement, Slowly and Expressively, begins with the open and glowing simplicity of plucked basses and harp, […] exceptional lyrical abilities and extraordinary range.

At about six minutes, the music quiets considerably, and the soloist begins a two-minute-long cadenza.  At first the feeling is pacific, but soon the mood changes dramatically, shot through with increasingly frenetic passages.  Within this lengthy cadenza, […]

This second movement, Rather Fast, begins with the harp plucking, the strings playing harmonics and tapping their strings with the wooden end of their bows, and the piano playing short, soft notes, directed to be played “staccato, delicate, and wraith-like [like a ghost],” evoking a kind of mischievous, apparitional music box playing at high speed.  This movement focuses on short ostinatos and riffs – little syncopated […] as he explained, “I used slapping basses and whacking harp sounds to simulate [jazzy percussion effects]” which you can hear at about three-and-a-half minutes after the start of this second movement. 

Evocations of Brazilian popular music begin to appear […] This masterpiece Concerto nearly hurls itself to its final bars, jubilantly ending with “a clarinet glissando – or ‘smear’ (in jazz lingo).”