Janos Gereben asks:
>Question: What is the Fantasy's performance history, recordings,
>current circulation?
Here's the NY Times review of its premiere, performed by William Masselos,
who was mentioned by Professor Chasan in his previous note in this thread:
Copland Fantasy for Piano Heard
By HOWARD TAUBMAN
October 26, 1957
Aaron Copland was treated last night like a gray eminence of American
music. His new Piano Fantasy was presented in its premiere in a
framework worth of a prophet in his own land. It was the only piece
on the program; it was played twice.
The Juilliard School, which commissioned the work for its fiftieth
anniversary celebration last year, planned the occasion and served
as the host. The pianist was William Masselos, who played the Fantasy
with the resourcefulness of a virtuoso and the perception of a
thoughtful and progressive musician.
The Fantasy, which is dedicated to the memory of the uncommonly gifted
American pianist, William Kapell, is one of Mr. Copland's most
significant compositions. It deserved the respectful introduction it
received.
Mr. Copland has been at pains to explain that the Fantasy was designed
as absolute music. No suggestion of his folk or popular style was
allowed to intrude. It is as if the composer turned his back on an
easy triumph. His aim was to let his fancy roam in the rarest regions,
concerned only with bringing back the choicest and deepest musical
thoughts.
This is an intensely serious work, but it is not forbidding. Mr.
Copland uses twelve-tone devices, but he does not follow them slavishly.
Often the piece has a tonal feeling.
The writing is often spare and economical; at other times it flares
up into virtuosity. But everything about the layout and shape of the
work is pianistic. It is true that Mr. Copland indulges in wide skips,
that he contrasts extreme highs and lows, that he asks near the end
for an effect described as "no tone." But none of these things is
capricious in impact, for everything fits into the large design.
There is no doubt about the skill and tightness with which this music
is organized. Though Mr. Copland has said that he sought "a spontaneous
and unpremeditated sequence of 'events' that would carry the listener
(if possible) from the first note to the last," he has not meandered.
He has given his imagination wide range, but a cultivated mind and
ear have been in control of the selection and development of material.
The listener who has any experience with the contemporary world of
music and who gives his attention to Mr. Copland is carried along.
This Fantasy has a largeness of scope that reminds one of the Fantasies
of Mozart and Schubert, thought its idiom is a far cry from theirs.
There is nothing obvious, and it has little chance of becoming a big,
popular success. But it will reward investigation. It has size and
a sort of rigorous grandeur, and from time to time there appear
passages of shy and grave lyricism.
Mr. Masselos, one of the best of our young pianists, played the
Fantasy with unremitting concentration. The second performance was
as full-blooded and commanding as the first. He made clear the logic
of Mr. Copland's thought.
The printed score looks formidable in its difficulties. On one page,
for example, there are almost twenty changes of rhythm. But what
seemed thorny on the printed page became clear and exciting under
Mr. Masselos' hands.
The audience was one of the most knowledgeable that could be assembled
in New York. At the end of each performance it hailed composer and
performer.
Scott Morrison
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