Uncommon Composer

I’m growing weary of Mark Swed’s disjointed, contradictory assessments in his musical reports. In last Sunday’s “The Copland Paradox,” he states that Aaron Copland was “certainly no common man.” In the very next paragraph he says Copland was “a plain-spoken and genial man who was generous to a fault” and that he “lived unpretentiously” and “did not appear to be complex or conflicted.” Excuse me, but that sounds pretty common to me. Perhaps Swed meant he was not “common” because he composed music instead of writing articles for newspapers.

Swed speaks of the manner in which Copland is able to “synthesize” his musical “American” voice. Later on he says that Copland’s essential “Americanness” is that he lets the listener think and feel on his own. How does what I think, feel or interpret make Copland’s music more American? Or Mahler’s more Austrian?

Finally, I didn’t know “El Salon Mexico” was motivated by his progressive politics. I always thought he was inspired while visiting a local saloon in Mexico during a vacation stay in order to finish previous work. The colors, the dance, the rhythms, the traditional melodies . . . they stayed with him. From that came the wonderful “El Salon Mexico.” Politics be damned.

MARITA EPP ULRICH

Hacienda Heights