Copland, Bernstein, Shostakovich

I’ve been listening to Aaron Copland a lot since I became an American citizen. When it comes to classical music, what is more American than his Third Symphony or Appalachian Spring? Predictably, I’ve gravitated toward my recordings of Copland’s by American conductor extraordinaire Leonard Bernstein. August 25^th marked the 100^th anniversary of his birth, so Bernstein has predictably been the focus of much musical programming over the past few months, and the subject of several books. Interestingly enough, I valued Copland before I became an American but didn’t care for Bernstein. I'd heard many good conductors live; I didn't feel I missed out on much if I didn't hear Bernstein's recorded take on things. Besides, Bernstein has been dead for 28 years. But I gave him a closer listen for the centenary of his birth, and perhaps also because the man is as fascinating as the music he was able to coax out of his orchestras, I've changed my mind about him.

Bernstein is famous for many things, from his interpretations of Mahler to his leading the New York Philharmonic to his being a gifted composer in his own right, but also for conducting American composer par excellence Aaron Copland with the New York Philharmonic - an American superstar conducting work by another American superstar with an American orchestra. But Bernstein has also led the NY Phil in landmark performances of work by Soviet composer Dmitry Shostakovich.

So recently Bernstein became part of a broader reflection I had on musical nationalism: Bernstein conducting Copland with the New York Philharmonic, (Valery) Gergiev conducting Shostakovich with the Mariinsky Orchestra, Bernstein conducting Shostakovich with the New York Philharmonic, (Andris) Nelsons conducting Shostakovich with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Do American orchestras have something novel to offer in the performance of Russian works? What would we think of the Mariinsky Orchestra performing Copland? (It seems hard to imagine, perhaps because Gergiev has been a staunch supporter of Russian works. He knows where his competitive advantage lies. On the other hand, the United States doesn't have a large tradition of first-rate American classical music that would go back multiple centuries. So American orchestras wouldn't have much to play if they had to limit themselves to American music.)

Countries are naturally proud of their best-known composers, and their best-known work shows the essence of that country. Appalachian Spring is imbued with the spirit of the American West at the beginning of the 20^th century and evokes Americans' resilience and can-do attitude. Shostakovich’s symphonies capture the difficulties of life under Stalinism. His Seventh Symphony (“Leningrad”) echoes with the pounding rhythms of war and became a symbol of resistance to Nazism, his Thirteenth (“Babi Yar”) pays homage to the great massacre of 1941.

Do conductors and orchestras of the composer’s same nationality have a particularly insightful perspective to bring to that composer’s work? I like to think so, yet Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre have thrived under Putin, and not every American these days relates to the can-do "I will succeed on my own terms" attitude of their elders. Recent scandals suggest that to some American companies, lying, cheating and exploiting workers might have become the preferred way to wealth. Now that the Soviet Union has imploded and music is available easily on the Internet, should we even continue to consider Bernstein’s recording of Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5 as a landmark contribution to music? Or should we accept instead that an American conductor, born and raised in a democracy, will never completely relate to the horror of living in a dictatorship, and so will not be able to fully convey the symphony to his listeners? To be fair, Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic recorded Symphony No 5 after they toured the Soviet Bloc, where they performed the piece in front of Shostakovich himself, so the musicians did draw from this deeply moving experience. Their performance remains recognized for its emotion to this day. Perhaps the gratitude of living in a democracy shines through in their playing, as does the 1982 performance at the John F. Kennedy Center of the National Symphony Orchestra led by Mstislav Rostropovich, the most famous cellist of the 20th century with great conducting gifts and a staunch advocate of human rights.

Bernstein recorded the symphony in 1959. A lot has changed since then, and I prefer purchasing recordings of Shostakovich symphonies by Russian orchestras or at least orchestras from the former Soviet bloc. Among those, no one is better than Valery Gergiev. But can a famous Russian conductor and music director at the helm of the best Russian orchestra who could live anywhere in the world but chooses to keep living in Russia (perhaps to keep conducting Russian musicians), who necessarily has to make compromises with people in power, relate to Shostakovich’s anguish in any sort of meaningful way? Or should we forget who the conductor and orchestra are? In the end, I tend to gravitate toward Rostropovich when I want to listen to Shostakovich's 5th, because of his human rights record. I don't know if it makes for better playing but it does lend the conductor more gravitas.

When I become interested in a topic, I don’t do things halfway. True to myself, I’ve purchased quite a few books on Bernstein. He was a complicated man who was widely recognized as a genius and deeply appreciated his beautiful wife but he was also a homosexual who collected one-night stands with far younger men and treated his assistants in such a dismissive way that they never lasted. I’ve read the memoirs by his daughter and the one by his former assistant, both focusing on a troubled man rather than his music (the books don’t make for a very deep read), and I’m now engrossed in his biography by Humphrey Burton, but my favorite books are by Bernstein himself: his essays about music and – more than anything – his letters. What a gifted writer he was. Yet he wanted to be remembered for his music, as he instructed his former assistant on his deathbed. So I should end with a mention of my favorite recording of his, his final concert in August 1990. That second movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony gives me chills whenever I listen to it.