Clarinet Concerto

The renowned jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman asked Copland to compose a work for him. The result was a two-movement concerto: the first section is one of Copland's most lyrical and melodious creations; the second is in an all-out jazzy style replete with a glissando or jazz "smear" at the end. The movements are connected by a cadenza for the soloist. Benny Goodman said in an interview, "I always felt good about that commission and about playing the Concerto with Aaron conducting." Since then, many of the foremost clarinetists worldwide have performed the piece.

Author

Vivian Perlis

Year

1998

"The same or similar music" to In Evening Air had earlier appeared in the 1944 piano work Midday Thoughts, in the documentary film score The Cummington Story, and in the Clarinet Concerto, writes biographer Howard Pollack (Aaron Copland: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man, p.515). The piece shares its title with a 1964 poem by Theodore Roethke, the last two lines of which are printed at the end of the score (Pollack p.410).

Year

2018

A new edition of this work, edited by Philip Rothman and Vivian Perlis, is now available from Boosey and Hawkes. In addition to the new engraving, original ossia lines have been restored from the original manuscript, providing the performer with the option to perform the concerto as originally conceived by Copland or with the adjustments made for Benny Goodman.