Copland, Shaw and Rachmaninov

The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra is coming to Domstad with an all-American programme. The young British conductor Duncan Ward, who has already ventured into many surprising projects, has been engaged for this purpose. The surprise here is the Dutch premiere of The Observatory by the young composer Caroline Shaw, in which she looks back from the present to distant flashes of Brahms and Bach. Copland's 'Fanfare for the Common Man' from 1942 is still considered an alternative American national anthem. Leonard Bernstein called the work 'the world's most important hit tune'. The concert closes with the last major orchestral work that Russian emigrant Sergei Rachmaninov committed to paper in the US, a musical painting of the seasons of life.