CHARLOTTE SYMPHONY: COPLAND The beauty of Aaron Copland is that, for all his familiar, pastoral accessibility, the man was a tone poet. Not long after composing his mammoth “Symphony No. 3,” he explored serialism — a relative of atonality. But the skill required to compose so counterintuitively is obvious even in the spacious, balanced intervals of the relatively traditional “No. 3.” The understated theme (as well as the embedded “Fanfare for the Common Man”) is more about tonal interplay and modality than anything so painfully explicit as melody. The first of two consecutive nights. $26.50-$82.50. Belk Theater.
This article appears in Feb 14-20, 2012.
