Aaron Copland: Fanfare for America. A Film by Andreas Skipis

Copland is generally regarded as the man who all but created a distinctively American music in the 1920s. This 2001 German-made documentary combines lives performances – mostly by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony led by Hugh Wolff – with interviews and historic clips to tell his story. While it is reasonably well done with a particularly imaginative video of the “Fanfare for the Common Man,” the settings sometimes get in the way of the story. Why is Copland biographer Howard Pollack always photographed on a subway train?

As it happens, there is another Copland documentary available on DVD that uses a similar format but does the job much better; it’s called “Copland and the American Sound” and it’s part of the San Francisco Symphony’s “Keeping Score” series. Conductor and host Michael Tilson Thomas knew Copland personally and is able to quickly pinpoint important features in various pieces either by playing them on the piano or conducting. In the same amount of time (60 m), this particular documentary covers far more ground and takes us closer to the man and his music.

Paul E. Robinson is the author of “Herbert von Karajan: the Maestro as Superstar,” and Sir Georg Solti: His Life and Music. For friends: The Art of the Conductor podcast, “Classical Airs.”