Bob Dylan and Aaron Copland Throughout the Neverending Tour Bob Dylan has frequently eschewed an opening act, instead beginning shows with selections of pre-recorded classical orchestral music. Nearly peerless in his role defining and defying the forms of 20th century music, Dylan would perhaps be the equal of Stravinsky whose "Firebird" he has played on several occasions. In October of 2001 Dylan began making his entrance to "Hoe Down" from Aaron Copland's "Rodeo Suite". The piece begins with frenetic violins and snare drums as though to spur a horse. Horns precede a joyful romp of piano and pizzicato strings, while claves and a wooden xylophone conjure up hoofbeats. The piece is reckless and restless and joyful, full of optimism and outlaw spirit. In addition to "Hoe Down", Dylan has also played other selections from "Rodeo" as part of the pre-show entertainment. Perhaps Dylan feels some affinity with Copland: both are given to a reworking of melodic forms symbolising the American landscape. Copland took the cityscapes of jazz and the wide western frontiers of folk melody and reworked the themes for classical orchestra - the tune of "Simple Gifts" is incorporated into "Appalachian Spring". Dylan had the folk songs too, but where Copland had jazz, Dylan had last-train-north-to-Chicago blues and the beginnings of rock and roll. Although Dylan's most widely known lending of words comes in songs composed early in his career, he has continued to rehear tunes like "St James Infirmary Blues" (Blind Willie McTell). In the same way that Copland had rescored the American musical idiom for classical orchestra, Dylan rescored for pop and rock and roll. - Kiri Nichol (June, 2002) Aaron Copland: A Biography Aaron Copland was a pioneer of American classical music. His pieces for ballet, opera and film cultivated a distinctive American style that drew on jazz, be-bop and traditional folk music. Born in Brooklyn, New York on November 14th, 1900, Copland was writing short piano pieces by the age of twelve. After graduating from high school he continued his studies in piano, composition and theory for three years before going to France to study under Nadia Boulanger. His early works, "Grohg" and "Music for the Theatre" were influenced by jazz and the cityscapes of New York. During the Depression, Copland began to experiment with classical treatments of folk themes: "Billy The Kid", a ballet about the infamous outlaw, was commissioned in 1938. "Billy" was followed by another western ballet, "Rodeo" and an orchestral piece, "Appalachian Spring". During this time he also composed music for Irwin Shaw's play Quiet Other works include the postcard pieces, "El Salon Mˇxico" and "Danzon Cubano", a clarinet concerto for Benny Goodman, the full-length opera "The Tender Land", "Fanfare for the Common Man", "Lincoln Portrait" for speaker and orchestra, "Old American Songs" and "Symphony No. 3." In the 1950's Copland returned to the more austere style of his youth and experimented with the twelve-tone music popularized by Shoenberg. He was active academically: he began the composition department at Tanglewood and produced several essays and books on musical criticism. He used his status to promote and find patrons for new American composers and he was a frequent attendee at modern music festivals. By the 1970's, Copland had largely retired from composing; his final work, Proclamation (1982), was performed during a concert celebrating his 85th birthday. He continued to conduct, especially his own popular "American" works from the 1940's and 50's. Copland died in North Tarrytown, NY December 2nd, 1990. classical.net sonyclassical.com
