Aaron Copland 

El Salón México (1936)

Boston Symphony Orchestra / Serge Koussevitzky

(78 rpm transfer; Victor, recorded Dec. 1, 1938)

During his 1983 European lectures, composer Morton Feldman recalled composer Aaron Copland's lectures in Buffalo, N.Y.

"I remember we once had Aaron Copland talk, and all the students were surprised at his radical mind. They couldn't put it together with what they thought his music was. You see?..."

"...And a lot of people are very upset because of my avant-garde position and I keep reminding them that as far as I'm concerned, the university is like a museum. This is not a private art gallery. And I keep trying my university with all kinds of people coming. Conservative. The conservatives when they make a talk usually sound radical. And when the radicals make a talk, they usually sound conservative [laughter] We had John Cage and Aaron Copland come. [laughs] Aaron sounded like some kind of terrorist. And John Cage was more or less modifying his position. [laughter]..."

from: Morton Feldman Says - Selected Interviews and Lectures, 1964-1987; ed. Chris Villars; Hyphen Press: London, 2006; pp.168 & 192.

Feldman (third from left) listening to Copland lecture, Buffalo, 1977.