Settling Old Scores: Quiet City by Aaron Copland

A little while ago an interesting discovery emerged. The original score of Quiet City by Aaron Copeland has been found, reconstituted and performed by saxophonist Christopher Brellochs.


Brellochs writes: It’s April 1939, and Aaron Copland brings his baton down as the curtain rises for the Group Theatre in New York City. It’s the dress rehearsal of Quiet City, an Irwin Shaw (1913-1984) play that never made it to opening night. “My career in the theatre has been a flop,” lamented Copland.

Copland’s incidental music for that play languished in obscurity. He used some of the music in a concert version of Quiet City for trumpet, English horn, and string orchestra and some in his film score Our Town. But the remainder of the score – along with a number of wonderful themes and motifs – has not been heard until now, over 70 years later.

This world premiere recording resurrects the unpublished score of Copland’s incidental music for Quiet City, in a new adaptation by composer, arranger and saxophonist Christopher Brellochs.

During his doctoral studies Brellochs obtained a copy of the unpublished manuscript to Quiet City from saxophonist and historian Paul Cohen. The score was handwritten by Copland, included cues and actor’s lines, and called for a chamber ensemble of trumpet, saxophone (doubling on clarinet), clarinet (doubling on bass clarinet), and piano. Here was never before heard music of the highest quality, by an iconic American composer.

Click here to order score and parts.