Synopsis

On today’s date in 1948, Leonard Bernstein, 29, conducted the Boston Symphony in the premiere of a new orchestral work by Harold Shapero, 27.

This was Shapero’s Symphony for Classical Orchestra, a work modeled on Beethoven but sounding very much like one of the Neo-Classical scores of Igor Stravinsky. This was exactly what Shapero intended, but some found the music perplexing.

Aaron Copland, for one, wrote, “Harold Shapero, it is safe to say, is at the same time the most gifted and baffling composer of his generation.” That comment by Copland, one should remember, came at a time when Shapero’s generation included the likes of Barber, Bernstein, Menotti and Rorem. But Copland continued, “Stylistically, Shapero seems to feel a compulsion to fashion his music after some great model. He seems to be suffering from a hero-worship complex — or perhaps it is a freakish attack of false modesty.”

“Copland was so original that he just couldn’t understand anyone who wasn’t,” Shapero responded.

Even so, Shapero’s superbly crafted orchestral imitations suffered many decades of neglect. In the 1980s, however, conductor and composer Andre Previn fell in love with Shapero’s Symphony, performing and recording it with the LA Philharmonic, and declared its Adagietto movement the most beautiful slow movement of any American symphony.

Music Played in Today's Program

Harold Shapero (1920-2013): Symphony for Classical Orchestra; Los Angeles Philharmonic; André Previn, conductor; New World 373