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The American Stravinsky: The Style and Aesthetics of Copland's New American Music, the Early Works, 1921-1938. By Gayle Murchison. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2012. [xviii, 285 p. ISBN 9780472099849. $80.] Music examples, illustrations, bibliography, index.
Widely regarded as the quintessential composer of American music, Aaron Copland played a crucial role in the devel- opment of twentieth-century art music. From his early experimentation with jazz idioms to the incorporation of folk tunes in his later compositions, the Dean of American Composers was dedicated to creating music with a distinctly "American" sound. Scholars often debate the source of inspiration for this artistic vision and how Copland achieved his compositional style, with each argument contributing to a richer understanding of the composer's works. Taking this important discussion one step further, Gayle Murchison, in her The American Stravinsky: The Style and Aesthetics of Copland's New American Music, the Early Works, 1921-1938, delves into Copland's compositions, arguing convinc- ingly that Copland did not simply see him- self as an American composer, but rather a modern American composer. Offering a de- tailed investigation of Copland's life and careful analysis of his early musical compo- sitions, Murchison reveals the distinctly modernist tendencies permeating his works. Indeed, throughout her thorough study, she successfully challenges the stan- dard convention of dividing Copland's ca- reer into stylistic periods. Instead, she demonstrates how Copland maintained consistent compositional techniques throughout his career, shifting only the "foreground elements of his music or the source of his borrowed melodies and rhythms" (p. 234). This crucial discovery within Copland scholarship reveals a com- positional consistency underlying Cop- land's oeuvre that had not yet been clearly addressed.
Targeting a musically literate audience, Murchison, in an eloquent, well-executed, and accessible manner, reveals Copland's adaptation of modern European composi- tional techniques, and explains how he made them his own. Murchison's strong musical analysis and accompanying score excerpts are a particular highlight of this study. She offers a fresh understanding of Copland's groundbreaking works through the lens of modern European influence, while providing a language with which to discuss Copland's complexity. Moreover, she builds upon the seminal studies that came before her; by combining the socio- historical context of Copland's life with detailed musical analysis of his modern compositional techniques, she ultimately...