Sunday, October 25, 2015

Aaron Copland - Something Wild



About as different a film score from The Cummington Story as could be imagined.   "Something Wild" was probably not a very widely seen movie but I would bet that more people heard Copland's music for that move than heard his recasting of some of it as Music For A Great City three years later.   When I listened to this yesterday I wondered if maybe Copland was getting a bit back by copying some of Bernstein's stuff from On The Waterfront, but then I realized Bernstein was likely borrowing some of that from Copland and others.  Even with some superficial similarities, Copland was writing Copland's music, even if it isn't the Copland that you get from listening to the big five or so pieces.

Aaron Copland, conductor

Update:   Now I'm sure more people heard the music while watching the film.   A memory of seeing Something Wild on one of the few good things on TV during the 60s,  Saturday Night At The Movies was gnawing at me and, in an example of one of the few good things about the internet,  I can confirm that.   I can't imagine network TV doing anything that close to being intellectually responsible, these days.

Update 2:  Sims is making such such a stupid substitute for an argument trying to link NBC TV in the 1960s to Rupert Murdoch's purchase of 20th Century Fox two decades later that I'm tempted to post it.  It's tempting to post it but since it could either be lazy stupidity or incipient dementia that I'll resist temptation.  I don't have any doubt that his good buddies think it's brilliant.   So far none of them has argued with anything I said above nor do I expect them to because that would require some attention. And, remember, they're the fans of the Enlightenment.

2 comments:

  1. Well, according to Jeffrey Tayler this morning, the best response to the three most egregiously sanctimonious GOP candidates (minus Santorum, who is now invisible) and to 2/5 of the GOP supporting some kind of "theocracy" in government (he says), is not to GOTV and run decent political campaigns and offer legitimate alternatives to Huckabee and Cruz.

    It is to eliminate religion from the face of the earth. In the name of "reason," of course.

    It's such a cliche but I want to quote "The Princess Bride" at him, because I'm quite sure he doesn't understand what the word "reason" means. He's almost the personification of "unreasonable."

    Then again, reason doesn't draw the crowds.

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    1. For neo-atheists reason is just a four letter word,"REZN" and they put the " EZ" in it.

      It's amazing how illiterate they are. I mean, we were expected to read Adorno in Frosh Rhetoric, I just figured everyone did. And they're the rational class.

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