"Aaron is Moses". Leonard Bernstein's affectionate aphorism about his friend and mentor expresses exactly Aaron Copland's importance in the development of a truly American music. Copland, born 1900, influenced as did no other the emergence of America from a country whose aspiring musicians, with few exceptions, had to go abroad in order to receive adequate training, into a mecca for musical training and a center for new artistic impulses. His personal involvement together with his popularity smoothed the way for innumerable composers and was instrumental in awakening the interest of the American public for its native musical language.
The scope of Copland's language as a composer is defined by two extremes: his so-called "severe" style, determined by serial techniques and stringent formal structure, and his simple style, in which he tried to write music that would be more accessible to a broad public.
American musician Nina Tichman has been acclaimed as one of the leading pianists of her generation (Neue Musik Zeitung). Winner of numerous international competitions and being at home in the major music centers of the world, Nina Tichman has been particularly interested in contemporary compositions and their roots in traditional music for the piano. The music of Schönberg and Debussy, whose complete piano works she has presented cyclically (also released on the WERGO label), as well as that of contemporary American composers such as Copland and Elliott Carter, plays a central role in her repertoire.
