Festival Focus, Week 4

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YOUR WEEKLY CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE

FESTIVAL FOCUS Supplement to The Aspen Times

Monday, July 16, 2012

Vol 23, No. 5

AFO Plays Copland No. 3, McDuffie Plays Schuman AMFS vice president for artistic administration and artistic advisor. “Copland liked open intervals, and he liked certain Aaron Copland, sometimes called “the dean of Ameri- types of sequences that give it that Americana sound.” can composers,” wrote many musical works that are said Copland also brought American folk music into the to capture the beauty and spirit of early America, the sim- concert hall, sometimes quoting recognizable tunes of old plicity of an era gone by. and other times inventing them, “as any good composer The Aspen Festival Orchestra will perform the music of will do,” Santourian says. Copland at 4 pm Sunday, July 22, in the Benedict Music The works of the July 22 program were all written durTent, to celebrate the theme ing the 1940s. At the same of the Aspen Music Festival time that Copland was writand School (AMFS) 2012 ing a combination of symseason: “Made in America.” phonies, operas, ballets, and The concert will include film music, Schuman was at a performance of William work trying to write the Great Schuman’s Violin Concerto American Symphony with an by Robert McDuffie, the inentirely different approach. ternationally famous violinist, “Composers were conand Hugh Wolff will conduct. vinced they needed to be The program will open extremely serious in this era with Copland’s much-loved of American music,” Fletcher Alan Fletcher Fanfare for the Common Man says. “Copland was already AMFS President and CEO and end with his Symphony well-established before WilNo. 3, which directly quotes liam Schuman and had an the Fanfare, composed four established interest in the years earlier. AMFS music director Robert Spano says the theater. He was not disturbed by those boundaries and Fanfare “finds its full expression in the Third Symphony.” did not think he had to be restricted to concert music.” Decades after their composition, pieces such as the Schuman’s music never achieved the popularity of CoSymphony No. 3 continue to call to mind a picture of pland’s, but his writing lives on, as well, in ambitious repAmerica’s landscape and spirit. ertoire such as the Violin Concerto. “Just as there was a quest for the Great American Novel, “It’s challenging for the orchestra; it’s challenging for there was a quest for the Great American Symphony, and I the soloist,” Santourian says. think, of Copland’s works, this is the most likely claimant,” Aspen alumnus McDuffie was nominated for a Grammy says AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher. Award in 1990 for his recording of the Schuman concerto. Fletcher describes the characteristic Copland sound as He has enjoyed worldwide success, performing as a solo“clean, angular, and sweet,” and unlike any of his Euro- ist with major orchestras and founding the Rome ChamALEX IRVIN / AMFS pean contemporaries. ber Music Festival. The Mayor of Rome recently presented The AFO concert this Sunday, July 22, will feature Robert “In technical speak, it is a choice of intervallic distances him with the prestigious Premio Simpatia award for fur- McDuffie performing W. Schuman’s Violin Concerto. Also and harmonic relationships,” says Asadour Santourian, thering the city’s cultural life. on the program are two works by Aaron Copland. GRACE LYDEN

Festival Focus writer

There was a quest for the Great American Symphony and ... of Copland’s works, this is the most likely claimant.

Ingrid Fliter to Perform Beethoven Sonatas Fliter will return to Aspen to perform a recital of Beethoven sonatas, including the famous “Tempest” When Argentinian pianist and 2006 Gilmore Prize- and “Appassionata” sonatas that she recorded on her winner Ingrid Fliter first came to the Aspen Music Fes- latest album, at 8 pm on Saturday, July 21, in Harris tival and School (AMFS), it was Concert Hall. both her first trip to North AmerFor Fliter, playing Beethoven’s ica and her eighteenth birthday sonatas is an emotional experipresent. Her parents wanted her ence. to experience something unique, “They are a journey into huand she says she will never forman life, because Beethoven get it. wrote for the people and think“It was amazing from every ing about the people, about the point of view,” Fliter says. humanity that is inside all of us,” Fliter had only ever studied Fliter says. with her private teacher and fo“When you play a Beethoven cused on her individual practicsonata, you call on your own exing, so the Festival was a breath perience in life.” Ingrid Fliter of fresh, Aspen air. Today, the sonatas offer a “It was an opportunity to open means of understanding how my horizons and open my ears to making music with Beethoven’s music evolved throughout his life, accordother musicians, and listening to so many concerts al- ing to Asadour Santourian, AMFS vice president for arPHOTO BY GARY HOULDER ways helps to open your appreciation and understandIngrid Fliter will perform Beethoven’s “Tempest” and “Appassionata” sonatas on Saturday, July 21, in Harris Concert Hall. ing of your own self, as well,” she says. See FLITER Festival Focus page 3 GRACE LYDEN

Festival Focus writer

Beethoven wrote for the people and thinking about the people, about the humanity that is inside all of us.

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