Aaron Copland (1900-1990), one of the most "American" of American
composers, developed his unmistakable style by assimilating influences from
popular and folk music of North and South America, as well as from European
art music. He became friends with Bernstein in 1937 and, as his composition
teacher, exercised perhaps the strongest influence on Bernstein, the
composer. Copland's Third Symphony is a very special work for Leonard
Bernstein, since he conducted it several times with the Israel Philharmonic
during his triumphal tour of Israel in 1948. The work itself, composed
between 1944 and 1946, is a powerful piece suffused with an often haunting
simplicity. Although Copland himself said of it that "any reference to jazz
or folk material is purely unconscious," the work fuses these influences
very subtly into a more abstract overall form, which rejects the
programmatic background of his famous dance scores such as
Appalachian Spring and Rodeo or the overtly Latin-American colors of his
El Salon Mexico.
Leonard Bernstein conducts the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert
was recorded at the Jahrhunderthalle in Hoechst, Germany, in 1986.
