Aaron Copland - 3rd Symphony

Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra
Victor Yampolsky, conductor

Aaron Copland's 3rd Symphony is probably his most neglected work and likely his greatest work. Among all of the many performances of the suites from his ballets, the movie music, .... the absence of this great work is the biggest hole in the common understanding of Aaron Copland.   It is probably known most for the last movement which is based on his Fanfare for the Common Man, which is certainly noteworthy but no more than what precedes it.    But to extract that movement from the Symphony is an abomination because by the time he introduces it in the winds he has prepared that moment throughout the preceding music.  The whole symphony can be analyzed as being based on that well known theme. The real meaning of that music can best be found in its composer's treatment of it in the full context of this symphony, composed as World War Two was ending and in its immediate aftermath.   If your eyes are dry when you hear that first statement, in the winds and especially after the percussion and brass come in after hearing what came before that, there's something wrong with you.

Among symphonies by American composers only the 4th of Charles Ives and several of those by Roger Sessions and William Bolcom are worth mentioning in association with Copland's 3rd.   There aren't many symphonies from any composers of the time that could be considered as its possible equals or betters. I used to wonder why Copland, able to produce a symphony like this didn't produce a 4th.  Maybe he didn't think he could top his achievement in this one.  The context of it, the magnitude of the context of its creation would certainly be hard to match.   I think he might have been wise not to try to outdo it, though you can't help wishing he could have at least matched it, again.