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Quoting Hannibal Smith...
Jul. 1st, 2015 09:07 pm"I love it when a plan comes together!"
Of course, it wasn't much of a plan, nor was the goal really spectacular, but while driving home earlier this evening, I caught something like the last two minutes of Copeland's Appalachian Spring on the public radio station, and paid attention to the announcer long enough to determine that the piece had been played by "the Aurora Orchestra."
Upon coming home and settling in for a evening of translation, I noticed that Spotify had decided to upgrade itself, so on impulse, I searched for "Appalachian Spring Aurora," and—bang!—found the recording. There are a number of other cuts on the album that I find interesting, so I guess this one's going to be a "keeper."
Growing up when I did, watching the CBS Evening News anchored by the smooth-tongued Walter Cronkite, I could not help but take note of the rather sweeping, majestic music the network used when it wanted to segue to a news program or coverage.
The effect that music had on me was similar to that of the heavy, majestic—sorry, no other word occurs to me—section that appears twice in Liszt's Les Préludes, which I became aware of in the course of watching old Flash Gordon serials on afternoon after-school television on WOR in New York, but I digress...
Majesty was the furthest thing from my mind many moons ago, the first time I heard Appalachian Spring. There is a movement in that work in which Copeland displays variations on the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts. The music was light and simple—easy to follow, with a quick tempo. As the variations progress, the music becomes more complex, and it would be easy to imagine people dancing or joyfully undertaking a barn-raising.
Then the tempo of the theme vacillates. It slows down, speeds up, and slows down again, ever so slightly each time, each time quite moderately.
Then, with about 40 seconds left in the movement—the seventh, Doppio movimento—Copeland turns the tune into a slow, majestic (that word again) anthem that happens to be what CBS News adopted for its use.
It may have been one of the first experiences I had with cognitive dissonance. :)
Of course, it wasn't much of a plan, nor was the goal really spectacular, but while driving home earlier this evening, I caught something like the last two minutes of Copeland's Appalachian Spring on the public radio station, and paid attention to the announcer long enough to determine that the piece had been played by "the Aurora Orchestra."
Upon coming home and settling in for a evening of translation, I noticed that Spotify had decided to upgrade itself, so on impulse, I searched for "Appalachian Spring Aurora," and—bang!—found the recording. There are a number of other cuts on the album that I find interesting, so I guess this one's going to be a "keeper."
Growing up when I did, watching the CBS Evening News anchored by the smooth-tongued Walter Cronkite, I could not help but take note of the rather sweeping, majestic music the network used when it wanted to segue to a news program or coverage.
The effect that music had on me was similar to that of the heavy, majestic—sorry, no other word occurs to me—section that appears twice in Liszt's Les Préludes, which I became aware of in the course of watching old Flash Gordon serials on afternoon after-school television on WOR in New York, but I digress...
Majesty was the furthest thing from my mind many moons ago, the first time I heard Appalachian Spring. There is a movement in that work in which Copeland displays variations on the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts. The music was light and simple—easy to follow, with a quick tempo. As the variations progress, the music becomes more complex, and it would be easy to imagine people dancing or joyfully undertaking a barn-raising.
Then the tempo of the theme vacillates. It slows down, speeds up, and slows down again, ever so slightly each time, each time quite moderately.
Then, with about 40 seconds left in the movement—the seventh, Doppio movimento—Copeland turns the tune into a slow, majestic (that word again) anthem that happens to be what CBS News adopted for its use.
It may have been one of the first experiences I had with cognitive dissonance. :)
