Mid-Century American Musical Negotiations: TMC Orchestra plays Barber, Copland, and Bernstein, by Larry Wallach
Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra concert of American Music, July 6, 2011
Samuel Barber, Second Essay for Orchestra (1942)
Ken-David Masur conducting
Aaron Copland, Billy the Kid ballet suite (1938)
Robert Treviño conducting
Leonard Bernstein, Symphony no. 2, “The Age of Anxiety” (1948)
Miguel Harth-Bedoya conducting, Nolan Pearson piano
Tanglewood mounts a big spectacular every year on July 4th, with James Taylor, the Boston Pops, and fireworks. An equally appropriate, and perhaps more nuanced, way to acknowledge the role music plays in our national consciousness is to offer a program such as the one which occurred two days later in Ozawa Hall. While each work on this program counts as a classic, and the first two have undoubtedly been played in more than one pops concert, the conjunction of the three offers a thoughtful way to experience and appraise the work of three defining figures of 20th century American music.

