Slatkin’s Third Album of Copland Ballet Scores

courtesy of Naxos of America

Today Naxos American Classics released the third album in Leonard Slatkin’s project to record the complete ballet scores composed by Aaron Copland. Each album singles out a major work in the history of American dance. In the first volume that was Agnes de Mille’s ballet “Rodeo,” which de Mille herself described as a precursor to her choreography for the highly successful Broadway musical Oklahoma! This was released in June of 2013 (back when I was writing for Examiner.com), followed in September of 2016 with a “complete” account of “Appalachian Spring,” created by Martha Graham, who, as I have previously observed, would probably have objected to the noun “ballet.” Today’s release presents the complete score for Eugene Loring’s ballet “Billy the Kid.” Each of these albums is then “fleshed out” with shorter Copland compositions, many of which are likely to be unfamiliar to most Copland listeners.

Because “Rodeo,” “Appalachian Spring,” and “Billy the Kid” continue to be performed by dance companies, it would not be unfair to call them Copland’s “big three” dance scores. One might even say that they parallel the “big three” ballet scores that Igor Stravinsky composed for Sergei Diaghilev and his Ballets Russes, “The Firebird,” “Petrushka,” and “The Rite of Spring.” It remains to be seen if Slatkin will follow up these three albums with lesser known ballet scores by Copland. My personal guess is that any future releases will explore other aspects of Copland’s work, such as the recording of the original version of his third symphony that was released in June of 2017.

Like “Firebird” and “Petrushka,” these dance scores tend to get more attention through excerpts extracted for suites. (In the case of “Rodeo,” the score consists of four dances.) It is hard for me to say how much is gained by listening to the complete scores without watching the dance; but, because I am such a junkie for choreography, particularly where the history of American dance is concerned, I definitely welcomed the appearance of the new Slatkin recording. Mind you, listening to this version assumes some basic familiarity with the underlying narrative. Fortunately, the booklet notes by Charles Greenwell reproduce a summary of the scenario that was provided as the preface to the original full score. That summary, in turn, correlates well with how the Naxos producers divided the recording into individual tracks.

More curious, however, is the other selection on the album, the one-act ballet “Grohg,” composed when Copland was living in Paris studying with Nadia Boulanger. In the summer of 1922 Boulanger encouraged Copland to shift from the piano or orchestral writing. In the context of all the new music coming out of Ballets Russes performances, the idea of a full-length ballet seemed like a good one, even if there was not yet a choreographer involved. The scenario, inspired by the film Nosferatu, was prepared for Copland by Harold Clurman. The music, however, never got beyond a four-hand performance given to Boulanger in 1932; and the score was never choreographed.

I have to say that, on the basis of my own Copland listening, the score for “Grohg” seems much closer to the influences of Boulanger than to what we would now call Copland’s “characteristic voice” as a composer. Without trying to sound too smug, I would say that the six tracks of this score are likely to draw more attention at guess-who-wrote-this competitions held at listening parties. Nevertheless, there is much to engage the attentive listener that is interested in thoroughness!