Copland’s Work Celebrated

“Copland is really one of the greats when it comes to American band music in the 21st century,” says Bilal A. Siddiqui ’11, one of the managers of the Harvard University Wind Ensemble. Tomorrow, the Wind Ensemble will perform “Old American Songs of Aaron Copland,” a showcase of songs from the corpus of this renowned American composer in celebration of Arts First.

The performance, which will take place in Sanders Theatre, will include the piece “The Promise of Living” from Aaron Copland’s opera “The Tender Land,” as well as a selection from Copland’s “Old American Songs.” The latter will feature vocalist Davone J. Tines ’09 accompanying the ensemble. The performance will conclude with the march, “The Circus Band,” originally composed by Charles Ives.

The inclusion of this last piece is meant to encompass the rich musical heritage of the U.S. by contrasting the works of two American composers, showing how each contributed to American Culture in their own way. Mark E. Olson, Assistant Director of Bands at Harvard and the conductor for this concert, explains that “[Copland’s] use of American folk music and jazz captured the ear of the average American,” whereas Charles Ives “was an innovator of rhythm and harmony, often using polyrhythms and cluster chords, a practice rather common today but unheard of at that time.” The contrasts between the two composers are representative of the multifaceted nature of American music.

The focus on traditional American music gives listeners a rare opportunity to experience a performance by the Wind Ensemble unlike others in the past. Olson emphasizes the uniqueness of this concert, commenting that this arrangement of “Old American Songs” is relatively new and that “The Tender Land” opera is rarely performed.

In addition, this is the first time that the group will feature a vocalist. With this Arts First performance, the Ensemble is attempting to “reach out to the Cambridge community and expose people to what American music is really like,” according to Siddiqui, adding that “Copland is very representative of that.”