Poster Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland Collection
Performance Today®

Copland and Boulanger

When he was 20 years old, American composer Aaron Copland went to Paris; that was where all the exciting new music was happening. He wanted to find a teacher, and he found someone he thought was tremendously inspiring: Nadia Boulanger. Coming up on Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear from an amazing 1980 interview in which Copland recounts how he found his great teacher. And we'll hear his Clarinet Concerto, from a concert at the Windham Music Festival in upstate New York.

Episode Playlist

Hour 1

Richard Wagner: Magic Fire Music from Die Walkure
The Cleveland Orchestra; George Szell, conductor
Wagner Without Words
Sony 46286

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Divertimento for Strings in D Major, K. 136
Concerto Copenhagen; Lars Ulrik Mortensen, director
Garrison Church, Copenhagen, Denmark

Richard Wagner: Overture and Venusberg Music from Tannhauser
North German Radio Symphony Orchestra; Thomas Hengelbrock, conductor
Laeiszhalle, Hamburg, Germany

Robert Schumann: Arabesque in C, Op. 18
Nelson Freire, piano
Music Hall, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

Hour 2

Gabriela Lena Frank: Three Latin American Dances: 1. Introduction: Jungle Jaunt
Utah Symphony; Keith Lockhart, conductor
Symphonic Dances
(recording label not available) catalog number: RR-105

Charles Ives: String Quartet No. 1 "From the Salvation Army"
Miro Quartet; Noah Bendix, violin
Chamber Music Society of Saint Cloud, Calvary Community Church, St. Cloud, MN

Aaron Copland: Concerto for Clarinet, Strings, Harp, and Piano (1948)
Alan R. Kay, clarinet; Windham Festival Chamber Orchestra; Robert Manno, conductor
Windham Chamber Music Festival, Windham Civic and Performing Arts Center, Windham, NY

Harold Arlen: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano; David Zobel, piano
Spivey Hall, Morrow, GA

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About Performance Today®

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American Public Media’s Performance Today® is America’s most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country, including at 1 p.m. central weekdays on Minnesota Public Radio. More information about our stations can be found at APM Distribution.

Performance Today® features live concert recordings that can’t be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today® is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minnesota, but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Also, each Wednesday, composer Bruce Adolphe joins host Fred Child for a classical musical game and listener favorite: the Piano Puzzler.

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