If you watch Ken Burns' The Roosevelts: An Intimate History on PBS (and you should), you'll hear a wide range of music beyond the typical Burns "guitar in the background" sound. Several comments on the web about the anachronistic nature of some of the music ("When they are talking about the 1870s, the background music is Samuel Barber's quintet Summer Music — Barber was born in 1910, and wrote that piece in 1954!"). That led me to the source about the series' score, and there is much of interest there.
But first, about the seven-part, 14-hour documentary, which started on on Sept. 14 and continues nightly (at 8 o'clock on KQED-TV, ch. 9, with 2 a.m. repetitions on ch. 10).
The episode on Friday:
The Common Cause (1939-1944)- FDR shatters the third-term tradition, struggles to prepare a reluctant country to enter World War II and, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, helps set the course toward Allied victory. Meanwhile, Eleanor struggles to keep New Deal reforms alive in wartime and travels the Pacific to comfort wounded servicemen. Diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 1943 and with the war still raging, FDR resolves to conceal his condition and run for a fourth term.
Now to the music by David Cieri, a mixture of early 20th century music and some 15 original compositions and arrangements. Among the unexpected sources, says Cieri:
The "Amour sacré de la patrie" section of Daniel Auber's opera La Muette de Portici acted as a signal to revolution and, when it was performed, a riot ensued that led directly to Belgian independence. While reading about FDR, I felt that I needed music that would compliment his explication of the Four Freedoms. Auber helped me understand what independence sounds like and I worked to get my own versions of these ideas across in "Stand By Water."Then, there's Aaron Copland, whose notion of "getting real by washing dishes" is so perfectly in keeping with The Roosevelts' Progressivism. …
As the democratic struggle against the greed of unregulated capitalism was gaining momentum, spearheaded by Teddy, FDR and Eleanor, Copland's music stood as the ideal score for a country ready to push back against the powers that restrict space. Copland understood that preserving dignity for everyone was the way to freedom. Fanfare for the Common Man stands as his testament to the 99 percent. I tried to get these spaces, both internal and external, into "Stand By Water".
In addition to exploring vast sonic swaths, I needed to acquaint myself with the sound of cramped interiors — private rooms with low light. On the other side of FDR's infectious optimism — his wide-open smile — was a secret landscape of unspoken pains and needs. Perhaps these ideas are best heard in the compositions Huzun and "Roosevelt Saga. Barney Bigard's lonely clarinet in "Mood Indigo" was spiraling around my ears when I wrote these songs, as was Ellington's intimate, despondent piano in "African Flower." Ellington's music sounds like 3am to me — the 3am (be it solitary or salacious) that we all carry within ourselves.