The Greatest American Composer

I know that is a bold statement, "the greatest American composer," but it's true.  This man was able to craft the feelings and attitudes of America into music like no other.  And he accomplished it in the most American way: by encompassing sounds from all over the world.  Aaron Copland's music is accessible to even the most ardent classical music listeners, yet complex enough for the most avant garde.  In fact, in his day, Copland was always pushing himself with his music and politics.  He studied music composition in Paris and was heavily influenced by Mexican folk, American folk, jazz, and the master composers of Europe.  He was one of the most influential avant garde's of his time, and yet he strived to make music that could be enjoyed by the masses.  Let's take a listen to some of his work.

This first one, entitled Orchestral Variations is an adaptation of one of his earlier pieces Piano Variations.  Notice all the stops and starts and all the dissonant chords?  That's the avant garde for you right there.  Also, its a bit hard to swallow, so don't feel bad if you can't listen to the whole thing.  But it is really good.

Now this one, El Salon Mexico is a bit easier to handle.  Notice that there is still a lot of stops and starts?  Also, I think that much of the melody if recognizable if you're a Looney Tunes fan.  Looney Tunes, or Merry Melodies often took great classical pieces and adapted it to cartoon slapstick.  But there is still a lot of dissonance going on, which is Copland's avant garde side still making an impression on his work.

Now, this is his Appalachian Spring which is awesome.  It has a slow start, as most of his works do, but get to about a minute-thirty and you've got the feel of America: vast, wild, open, space.  He gives his notes a lot of freedom, and Copland has been known to say that he always tried to only put important notes in his work, no excess.  Which ties in nicely to the Simple Gifts theme he puts in later into this piece.  Copland's politics enveloped the ideals of the Shakers, hence the homage to theme in using this hymn.

 'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.

Fanfare For the Common Man makes me cry, almost every time I hear it.  The tight harmonies played by the brass section, gives me chills (I'm a sucker for great brass harmonies).  This song makes you feel okay with being an American.  Notice there are stops and starts throughout this one too? 

Now, if this isn't America, then I don't know what is.  Hoedown from his ballet, Rodeo is part of the ballet called Four Dances.  It's the last number of that section, and the most raucousy and fun.  It's triumphant, bold, and it gets me going every time I listen.  At this point in his career, Copland has, in a way, put down the dissonance he was so fond of early in his career for more pleasing fourths and fifths.  But he was still pushing the envelope in that his contemporaries thought he was selling out by creating something so easily accessible.  Copland was never a snooty artist, but instead embraced America in a way that no other composer has been able to do.  Not to ignore the Irving Berlin's or George and Ira Gershwin's of America, but Copland was there first.  In fact, he inspired them and they learned a lot from him.  Before Copland, American composers just mimicked European composers with little variation.  Aaron Copland took a deep look inside America and his thought and feelings towards his native land and vocalized it in a way no one has ever been able.  He is America's Greatest Composer.  

  

Prometheus

So there's a whole Alien franchise that I didn't really know about or have interest in until last October when I watched Aliens.  At the time I didn't realize that Aliens was the second film in the series but is considered by some to be better than the first, Alien.  My take on it goes with my usual feeling that the first is always the best and that the following films get worse and worse.  While the first two films were directed by the legendary Ridley Scott and visionary James Cameron, the following Alien 3, Alien Resurrection, Alien vs. Predator, and Alien vs. Predator:Requiem, were all filmed by upcoming/unknown directors where constant struggle of creative control took place. Oftentimes filming wold start before the script was finished and then the studio would take over and twist editing around to make it a completely different movie than what was initially envisioned.  Basically its the unfortunate case of studios wanting to make more money by using a plot that will bring sure-fire success and fans being too crazed to prove the studios wrong.  Ridley Scott created a monster, or alien in this case.  So, about thirty years later, Scott came back and created Prometheus which came out June 8.  One can always feel at ease when the original creator comes back.  This film has the look and feel of the original.  It's slow, deliberate, and not all about the scary blood and guts that the franchised had turned into.  It even feels consistent with Aliens and I think that's more of a tip of the hat to James Cameron for being able to pick up on Scott's intentions.

Here's the trailer of the original:

And here's a trailer of Prometheus:

Notice that just in the trailers of the two, it has a shared fluidity?  From the music to the sound effects to the ship and even to a strong female lead freaking out about what she is experiencing, there is a sense that these two films belong together.  

On another note, I want to point out the cleverness of those who promoted Prometheus.  I feel that people are getting bored by the same old traditional trailer and movie poster that has been able to sell movies for decades.  They want something new.  And some marketers are getting that.  Recently The Hunger Games put on a brilliant campaign that charged head-on to social media and was incredibly successful, especially given the fact that they used half of their usual man power and spent a fraction of their usual budget to promote that film.  And while the marketers here didn't necessarily play towards social media, they did do a bit of a revamp on the old teaser trailer by making promos that were released virally.  The same could be said for the many spoof trailers made for The Muppets.  It all depends on the audience the film is trying to target and if you notice, each of these films knew who they were going for.  Teens and young adults are all about social media (Hunger Games), young adults, and more importantly young adult males, are more apt to look on different sites and nerdy blogs to find stuff that interests them (Prometheus), and families are still obsessed with YouTube to find all their entertainment (The Muppets).  It is also important to note that while each film in this case had a highly active online presence, they also went the traditional route with commercials, posters, ticket giveaways, promotion tours, news releases, etc.  But with the way technology is ruling the world these days, I often wonder how long will the traditional route last?  I guess time will only tell.  Enjoy some Prometheus promos (Promotheus'?).