Debussy was never fond of the establishment. When he did accept a chair on the Board of the Paris Conservatoire in 1909, it surprised everyone who had regarded him as a musical rebel. But by that time he was ill, and was being prescribed exercise, morphine and cocaine. He might have been in a euphoric…
Tag: Aaron Copland
A Clarinet in America and the American sound
What is it that makes American classical music of the 1940s and 1950s so distinctive and so different from ours from that period? For one thing, it is so very upbeat. I asked myself this question this week, as I listened to Clarinet in America, which showcases music by Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland and Miklós Rózsa. I…
