CD Review: Of Mice and Men/Our Town

Aaron Copland only wrote a handful of film scores so the release of any new film music from this legendary composer is just cause of celebration. And the new Naxos premiere recording of Copland’s complete scores for OF MICE AND MEN (1939) and OUR TOWN (1940) is, dare I say, a landmark event in film music.

Copland was invited to Hollywood following the success of his score for the THE CITY, a documentary for the 1939 World’s Fair. In short order, Copland scored these two film adaptations based on works by two giants of American letters. Both films were prestigious productions, racking up numerous Oscar nominations including nods for Best Picture for both films.

In my interview with music curator Mark Leneker yesterday, he stated how the complete scores were just sitting in the Library of Congress and must have fallen under the radar to get produced. Through his tireless efforts over a decade, we now have reason to celebrate that this music has finally seen the light of day. Written within months of each other, the two scores explore different facets of Copland’s populist musical language and yet serve as excellent reminders of Copland’s unique harmonic landscape.

John Steinbeck’s 1937 novella, OF MICE AND MEN, follows the tragic Depression-era story of George (Burgess Meredith) and slow-witted Lennie (Lon Chaney, Jr.), two displaced migrant ranch workers in California. The harsh realities of the story can be heard in the bold brass statements over the main titles. The music bears the same Americana stamp as many of Copland’s popular concert works, like Billy the Kid, written the same year, and the later Appalachian Spring. And yet he delves deep into dissonance to convey the brutal and tragic elements of the story.

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Click Track: Death of Mae

Thornton Wilder’s 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning play OUR TOWN is a true American classic, and it’s a shame that the 1940 film isn’t accorded the same status. Wilder’s play is usually performed with minimal sets and props, while the film obviously plays it a bit more realistically. The film has some lovely elements to it, but they are hidden behind the awful quality of surviving prints of the film, which has now lapsed into the public domain.

In 1947, the Soviet Union banned Our Town and another Wilder play, The Skin of Our Teeth, for making family life seem “too attractive.” And Copland contributed a score of exceeding attractiveness to the film version.

Like OF MICE AND MEN, the score is based on a series of folk-like themes. A simple 5-note arpeggiated motif evokes the rusticity and quiet qualities of small-town life in the fictional Grover’s Corners. There is a sweet love theme for Emily (Martha Scott) and George (William Holden) and “music of the stars” that can be heard in numerous cues throughout the score, including the main titles and the famous cemetery scene.

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Click Track: Scene in the Cemetery

You’ll hear some interesting instruments in the scores, instruments that you may not associate with Copland’s music. A Jew’s harp gives a folksy twang to OF MICE AND MEN and the saxophone sashays and sways with Betty Field’s flirting Mae. During “Emily’s Dream” in OUR TOWN, listen for the eerie sound of a musical saw that gives a theremin-like, otherworldly sound to the cue.

Copland extracted two OF MICE AND MEN cues–”Threshing Machines” and “Barley Wagons”–for the 5-movement concert suite, Music from Movies, which also contains a cue from OUR TOWN. Copland further arranged the OUR TOWN score into an 8-minute concert work for orchestra.

Copland garnered a total of four Academy Award nominations for the two scores, one for each film in the categories of Best Original Score and Best Scoring. Only Franz Waxman was so honored with his 1938 score for THE YOUNG IN HEART.

This music has been around for 70 years and if you’re a Copland fan, you may think you’re already familiar with the scores. But this recording is a revelation and an important release in film music reconstruction. Andrew Mogrelia leads a subtle and nuanced performance from the Czech-based Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra. To hear more audio samples and to purchase the download release (the physical CD is due later in the year), visit ClassicsOnline.

This is an important release for the Copland canon as well as film music. Naxos should be applauded once again for its efforts to rescue film music from the sands of time. Bravo!

Film Score Click Track Rating:

Related posts:

1. DVD Review: The City
2. CD Review: Nino Rota – Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2
3. Interview: Mark Leneker
4. A Woman of Independent Means
5. CD Review: The Film Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams Vols. 1-3