MUS 105 - Music Appreciation

Copland himself is the key explicator of his own extraordinary musical career, from piano lessons in Brooklyn and study with Nadia Boulanger, a fling as a wild-eyed modernist, and finally to his preeminence in the American musical world. The program features a wealth of Copland music, including ballet sequences with Agnes de Mille dancing in Rodeo and Martha Graham in Appalachian Spring, scenes of Copland conducting, and interviews with Leonard Bernstein and Ned Rorem, who said of Copland, "He invented out of whole cloth what it means to be American." Written by Vivian Perlis and produced by Ruth Leon. (58 minutes)

Florence Price is a composer who has been receiving a lot of attention over the last 5-7 years. As the first African American woman to have a major piece performed an orchestra, her first symphony was performed in 1933 by the Chicago Symphony, Price has become one of the most prominent figures in the revival of music written by Black composers as orchestras and performers not only in the US but all over the world attempt to diversify their programming. Price is part of a group of composers from the early twentieth century who were the first nationally successful Black composers. This group included luminaries such as William Grant Stiill, William Levi Dawson, and Nathaniel Dett, among others, and all of these composers have had their works rediscovered during this period, a truly exciting development that has brought a lot of neglected music back onto the concert stage. I’ve wanted to do a show devoted to Florence Price for a while, but when I got the chance to perform Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement with Dr. Ege, I knew I had to ask her to come on the show to tell the incredible story of this wonderful American composer. So the first part of the show is devoted to an interview with Dr. Ege going through Price’s background and talking about her writing style and approach to music. This was such a fun interview - Dr. Ege is a great teacher and I learned a ton about Price that I didn’t know about beforehand. The second part of the show will be an analysis of one of Price’s most rarely played, but in my opinion, one of her best, orchestral works, Ethiopia’s Shadow in America. Join us!

Can the art of music bridge differences that separate us? For Reena Esmail, working as a composer is about more than music: It’s about building what she calls “equitable musical spaces” for the performers and the audience. Born to Indian immigrants, she feels passionately that cultural difference can be a source of richness in both life and music. She remembers one memorable sitar concert at The Met that particularly inspired her to work between the worlds of Western and Indian classical music, a joyful combination that refines and uplifts her sense of purpose.

Sérgio Assad talks with Benjamin Verdery in a pre-concert interview. Recorded May 9, 2015 at 92nd Street Y.

92Y celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Assad Brothers’ career as a duo. According to Benjamin Verdery, “the Assads singlehandedly went on to establish the concept of a guitar duo as a viable concert attraction.” The concert featured the Assads with special guests violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera.

Before the concert, Sérgio Assad—a renowned composer as well as performer—talks with Verdery about his father and how the brothers started playing the guitar as young boys. He discusses some of the works that were written for the duo, particularly Astor Piazzolla’s Tango Suite. He further talks about arranging works and the importance of finding your own voice as a composer.