Copland's Quiet City

This post is written by Adrianne, saxophonist and Artistic Director of Chamber Project St. Louis

We’re always searching for interesting works to program on Chamber Project St. Louis concerts.  Sometimes we have favorites in mind, or classic works of the chamber repertoire, but sometimes we want to find something new and unique to perform.  A piece by Copland would surely fall into the category of a classic or well-known work, but not in this case! 

<--Copland wrote for saxophone?! 

You can imagine our surprise when, about two years ago, we heard about a newly discovered version of Copland’s relatively well-known orchestral piece Quiet City.  It turns out that the original version of the work, which was written for a play by Irwin Shaw, was for clarinets, alto saxophone, trumpet and piano.  How perfect for Chamber Project!  Copland did not write much chamber music repertoire, so this is a very exciting discovery.  

It turns out that we have Christopher Brellochs to thank.  He was pursuing a Doctorate in saxophone at Rutgers University when his professor approached him with what turned out to be the long lost Copland score.  National Public Radio featured his story about unearthing and adapting the original work, which is how we came to know about it. 

Find out more about Copland’s Quiet City—check out the NPR interview and recordings here!

What an exciting way to start the season! Dana and I look forward to performing with Dawn Weber on trumpet and Peter Henderson on piano for this upcoming concert.  This will be Dawn’s first performance with Chamber Project St. Louis!  Come and hear the St. Louis premiere of this new classic on September 6 at the Chapel.

 Chamber Project St. Louis presents DANCE
September 6, 8:00 PM
The Chapel Venue

MACKEY Breakdown Tango
COPLAND Quiet City
STRAVINSKY Four Dances from The Soldier’s Tale for Trio
PIAZZOLLA Tango No. 4
MARTINU La Revue de Cuisine

Purchase tickets here