{"title":"Aaron Copland","description":"\u003cp\u003e1900–1990. American composer. in the American Modernism tradition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDefining voice of American classical music; iconic orchestral and ballet works with strong Americana identity. Film scores and populist style cement broad appeal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSignature works:\u003c\/em\u003e Appalachian Spring, Fanfare for the Common Man, Billy the Kid, Rodeo, Symphony No. 3.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-copland-collection-orchestral-works-1948-1971-260538","title":"The Copland Collection - Orchestral Works 1948-1971","description":"The Copland Collection: Orchestral Works 1948-1971","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44626074075370,"sku":"074644723625","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4317602-3139609.jpg?v=1778221243"},{"product_id":"copland-rodeobilly-the-kid-75133","title":"Copland: Rodeo, Billy The Kid \/ Gunzenhauser, Slovak Radio Symphony","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan id=\"ctl00_MainContent_gvReviews_cell2_10_ASPxPopupControl1_ASPxLabel2\" class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003eThe Bratislava orchestra play with such spontaneous enjoyment in \u003ci\u003eRodeo\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBilly the Kid\u003c\/i\u003e that one cannot help but respond. Gunzenhauser, a fine conductor of Czech music, is equally at home in Copland’s folksy, cowboy idiom and all this music has plenty of colour and atmosphere. If some of the detail in \u003ci\u003eAppalachian Spring\u003c\/i\u003e is less sharply etched than with Bernstein, the closing pages are tenderly responsive. The recording is admirably colourful and vivid, with a fine hall ambience, and the spectacle of the Fanfare for the Common Man is worth anybody’s money. A bargain.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"dxeBase_PlasticBlue\"\u003e-- Penguin Guide\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44625505157354,"sku":"730099528221","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/126650.jpg?v=1778381938"},{"product_id":"cedille-copland-piano-music","title":"Copland: Piano Music \/ Ramon Salvatore","description":"COPLAND: Piano Music","brand":"Cedille","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44623996387562,"sku":"735131902120","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1106079.jpg?v=1778333592"},{"product_id":"v2-works-for-piano","title":"V2: WORKS FOR PIANO","description":"Playing the piano was for Aaron Copland one of the necessities of life, like eating or breathing. Wherever he was there was always a piano somewhere near. Even during conversations and interviews, so it is said, his fingers used to move involuntarily on the table-top like on an imaginary keyboard. And it is in piano works that Copland's compositional development found it's culmination again and again. The \"Passacaglia\" is his very first large-scale work, and the 5\"Piano Fantasy\" can be regarded as his most ambitious, most extensive composition in the field of absolute music, a work in which he sums up and concentrates many characteristics of his musical style in a late work.    American musician Nina Tichman has been particularly interested in contemporary compositions and their roots in traditional music for the piano. The music of Sch�nberg 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.","brand":"Wergo","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44711800176874,"sku":"4010228621228","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2857924.jpg?v=1778302599"},{"product_id":"copland-81st-birthday-concert","title":"Copland: 81st Birthday Concert","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Bridge Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44716815122666,"sku":"090404904622","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/546531-2553439.jpg?v=1778295037"},{"product_id":"copland-appalachian-spring","title":"COPLAND APPALACHIAN SPRING","description":"Classical Music","brand":"ALTO","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":44908075024618,"sku":"5055354412295","price":11.01,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3146749-2546955.jpg?v=1778378260"},{"product_id":"american-road-trip-hadelich-weiss","title":"American Road Trip \/ Hadelich, Weiss","description":"Violinist Augustin Hadelich embarks on an American Road Trip, travelling the musical highways and by ways of his adoptive homeland in the company of pianist Orion Weiss. The duo perform works by a melting pot of American composers, writing in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries and drawing on a diversity of idioms, influences and inspirations... from European Romanticism to revivalist hymns; from blues and jazz to bluegrass; from the banjo and ukulele to Jimi Hendrix's guitar, and from a little Mexican star to exquisite Japanese carvings. Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ives and John Adams take their place beside Amy Beach, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Eddie South, Howdy Forrester, Manuel M. Ponce and - flying the flag for today's composers along with Adams - Daniel Bernard Roumain and Stephen Hartke. Augustin Hadelich, born in Italy to German parents, moved to the USA at the age of 19 to study at New York's Juilliard School and became an American citizen in 2014. In the words of The Strad magazine, \"Hadelich's playing brings together the best qualities of both American and European playing: passion, Polish and coherence, but also thoughtfulness, expressivity and nuance.\"","brand":"WARNER CLASSICS","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":45862031294698,"sku":"5021732287908","price":17.28,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4357874-3203607.jpg?v=1778364199"},{"product_id":"an-american-dream","title":"An American Dream?","description":"With 'An American Dream?', Barbara Hannigan explores the concept of The American Dream. \"I grew up in awe of America. I am still in awe, but largely in a nostalgic way. With this repertoire, I want to express my admiration for the incredible creativity and tenacity of composers who shaped a musical language that was truly their own.\" The Canadian conductor and soprano collaborates with her long-term partners, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, on this programme of works by American composers. With 'the fair' as a recurring theme across the repertoire, the image on the cover shows a carousel horse that is at a standstill. A pretty, painted object - but the floor is cracked and half the lights are burned out. Nostalgia and memory are mixed with underlying darkness and destruction. From George Gershwin's masterpiece Porgy and Bess - an opera about love, addiction, racism, and hope - Robert Russell Bennett's iconic arrangement of A Symphonic Picture is featured. Inspired by watching the silent film Nosferatu, Aaron Copland composed the vibrant Dance Symphony. The Carousel Waltz (arr. Don Walker) is the overture to the Broadway musical Carousel by Richard Rodgers. For the grand finale, Barbara Hannigan reunites with American composer and arranger Bill Elliott in their joint creation, At the Fair, a suite which includes a multitude of American songs and themes, including Have I Stayed Too Long at the Fair? and Jule Styne's famous hit Don't Rain on my Parade.","brand":"Alpha","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46000384049386,"sku":"3701624512227","price":18.89,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4498099-3541598.jpg?v=1778215527"},{"product_id":"copland-ives-persichetti-schuman-american-century","title":"American Century \/ Walden, U.S. Navy Band","description":"\u003cp\u003eAfter World War I, composers would cast off the moorings of the traditional European styles to create something inexorably new. This was the beginning of the American Century. The four composers featured are the pinnacle of that achievement. Schuman, Persichetti, Ives, and Copland blazed a trail into a new era of distinctly American classical music on this incredible album from the United States Navy Band Washington D.C.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Altissimo","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012616212714,"sku":"842840114376","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4408810-3332466.jpg?v=1778224506"},{"product_id":"copland-creston-piston-kay-american-orchestral-music-mcallister-mattix-noi-philharmonic","title":"American Orchestral Music \/ Falletta, NOI Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003eJoAnn Falletta conducts the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic in works by four extraordinary mid-20th-century American composers who helped shape the country’s musical destiny: Aaron Copland, Walter Piston, Paul Creston and Ulysses Kay. Includes two world premiere recordings – Paul Creston's Saxophone Concerto and Ulysses Kay’s poignant and elegiac Pietà.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012687122666,"sku":"636943991121","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4258445-3142506.jpg?v=1778219121"},{"product_id":"daniel-rieppel-plays-mozart-copland-schumann","title":"Daniel Rieppel Plays Mozart, Copland \u0026 Schumann","description":"\u003cp\u003eDaniel Rieppel, a native of Minnesota of Austro-Hungarian descent, performs Mozart’s Fantasy and Sonata in C minor, the Piano Variations of Aaron Copland and Symphonic Etudes by Robert Schumann. Dr. Rieppel performs widely in North and South America and Europe (most recently in Iceland) and has been Professor of Music at Southwest Minnesota State University for over a quarter century. He has international recognition for his research into Schubert’s incomplete sonatas, finishing several that will be the subject of his next recording.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Willowhayne Records - Label","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012694200554,"sku":"5060742690384","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4387460-3295153.jpg?v=1778224166"},{"product_id":"copland-tilson-thomas-wild-upon-further-reflection-wilson","title":"Upon Further Reflection - Copland, Tilson Thomas \u0026 Wild \/ Wilson","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePianist John Wilson, like his mentor Michael Tilson Thomas, is a servant of the music rather than its dictator and he knows both when and how to step back and let it speak.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dynamic young American pianist John Wilson first encountered Michael Tilson Thomas (affectionately known as \"MTT\") in 2015 when he was a fellow with the New World Symphony. John’s protégé status quickly evolved to that of close confidant and collaborator, leading to this solo debut album featuring the world-premiere recording of the title track, MTT’s three-movement suite for piano, \u003cem\u003eUpon Further Reflection\u003c\/em\u003e. MTT explains innumerable influences that are embedded throughout the work, including the piano music of Debussy and Schumann, bossa nova, gamelan, ragas, Monteverdi, Berg, and Peggy Lee’s rendition of the song \"Alley Cat,\" all of which “flowed together in a way that seemed completely natural... to me anyway.” In 2019, John premiered a portion of \u003cem\u003eUpon Further Reflection\u003c\/em\u003e that was broadcast live on MediciTV to an audience of over 50,000. John embellishes the album’s Americana theme with two titans of the solo piano repertoire – Aaron Copland’s early Piano Sonata – a work lesser-heard than the composer’s other works for solo piano – and Earl Wild’s virtuoso arrangements of seven of George Gershwin’s most iconic tunes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGiven the scope and versatility of his long conducting career, it’s no surprise that Michael Tilson Thomas’s work as a composer has, until now, largely passed under the radar. In recent years, though, it’s begun to emerge. MTT’s latest champion is the pianist John Wilson, a former fellow with the conductor’s New World Symphony and a brilliantly gifted pianist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis new album, \u003cem\u003eUpon Further Reflection\u003c\/em\u003e takes its cue from Tilson Thomas: the title track is a three-movement meditation on the artist’s early life, while subsequent selections by Earl Wild and Aaron Copland draw out different strands of MTT’s personality and long career. Taken together, the program paints an affecting portrait.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eUpon Further Reflection\u003c\/em\u003e is an ingratiating piece. Its freshness derives partly from its eclecticism – echoes of jazz, \u003cem\u003ebossa nova\u003c\/em\u003e, and Broadway collide with more abstracted, nostalgic expressivity – and partly from its wild virtuosity. Indeed, no small part of the thrill of Wilson’s performance is hearing the terrific dexterity with which the pianist dispatches its busiest textures (particularly the concluding “You Come Here Often?,” its material adapted from an aborted 1977 musical).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile Wilson’s just as comfortable with the music’s more ruminative moments – the reflective and somewhat brooding outer thirds in “Sunset Soliloquy (Whitsett Avenue 1963)” are tenderly shaped – much of this piece, like MTT, is smartly extroverted. The profile of the refrains in “Bygone Beguine (1973)” grow in intensity and definition as the movement proceeds, but they never lose their soulful vibe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFilling out the disc are Wild’s \u003cem\u003e7 Virtuoso Etudes after Gershwin\u003c\/em\u003e and Copland’s Piano Sonata.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Wild set, with their knowing adaptations of familiar tunes, fit smartly alongside \u003cem\u003eReflection\u003c\/em\u003e. And Wilson, whose playing is magnificently secure and flawlessly balanced, gives a reading that rivals Wild’s own for character; it exceeds it for recorded quality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWilson’s account of Copland’s Piano Sonata is shaped with similar thoughtfulness. This 1942 score is years removed from the populist composer of that day – its harmonic acerbity recalls the \u003cem\u003ePiano Variations\u003c\/em\u003e of 1930 much more than \u003cem\u003eRodeo\u003c\/em\u003e or \u003cem\u003eAppalachian Spring\u003c\/em\u003e. Regardless, it’s a powerfully-structured work whose three movements chart a course from turbulence to nervous peace.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe pianist has got real sympathy for this music: how it’s structured, how the melodic line develops, its drama is paced, the shifting tone colors, and so on. His control of dynamic contrasts and balances in the first movement are masterful, as is his transition in to the driving Allegro. In the central Vivace, the music shimmers, while the stentorian, oracular gestures at the start of the finale simply melt into the movement’s concluding diatonic counterpoint.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrue, that transition provides one of the most powerful contrasts on this disc – and it’s more a compositional accomplishment than an interpretive one. But Wilson, like his mentor MTT, is a servant of the music rather than its dictator and he knows both when and how to step back and let it speak. The result is a performance of raw power and touching beauty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- The Arts Fuse (Jonathan Blumhofer)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Avie Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012779430122,"sku":"822252245820","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4122927-2947599.jpg?v=1778243305"},{"product_id":"copland-rodeo-dance-panels-slatkin-detroit-75000","title":"Copland: Rodeo, Dance Panels... \/ Slatkin, Detroit Symphony","description":"In the late 1980s, Naxos released a perfectly decent bargain version of Rodeo, recorded in Bratislava under the direction of Stephen Gunzenhauser. Listening to it again it’s still very enjoyable. However, the label has steadily progressed over the years and in this latest offering Rodeo isn’t just a good bargain version. It’s a very good version at any price and should be snapped up by anyone remotely interested in the music of Aaron Copland.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  In Rodeo Leonard Slatkin doesn’t match the snappy, hard driven virtuosity of Bernstein on CBS - nobody does - but many find that disc lacking in relaxation and quite wearing. The general approach in Detroit is somewhat more laid-back - refined, even - but that doesn’t imply that the execution isn’t rhythmically tight. This is playing of the highest calibre and time and again Slatkin reveals details that can be hidden or glossed over in other recordings. The timings for the opening Buckaroo Holiday are 7:00 (Bernstein) and 7:55 (Slatkin). In listening to both, putting the hair-raising Bernstein virtuosity to one side for a moment, I find the Slatkin to be more engaging and involving. It doesn’t just pass you by; it draws you in. From the opening bars you hear a deep sonorous bottom end, full-toned brass, clean string sound and biting transients. Later on the throatily realistic double bass section introduces some trombone playing that just about stays this side of becoming tasteless. The glissandi are pretty outrageous but it’s a piece that’s full of fun at the end of the day. The extended version of Saturday Night Waltz includes an entertaining honky-tonk piano solo. Corral Nocturne is suitably sensuous and the concluding Hoe-Down clocks in at 4:47 compared to 3:06 (Bernstein), 3:16 (Gunzenhauser) and 3:18 (Johanos\/Dallas, a fine disc on Vox). These timings are somewhat misleading. Admittedly, Slatkin does take the music at a slightly slower tempo than usual but he also includes a substantial section of music that isn’t to be heard in the other recordings. It brings Rodeo to a very satisfying conclusion. \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  I have never heard Dance Panels before and quite frankly I’m amazed that such a great piece has been so overlooked. The music is closer to the sound-worlds of Quiet City and Appalachian Spring and makes a welcome contrast to the preceding Rodeo. The music is gentle, ruminative and sophisticated in nature. Even in the more invigorating passages such as the Scherzando of the third movement and the mercurial Con brio of the fifth section (a percussion showcase) the orchestration remains controlled and the very opposite of brash. The woodwind excel throughout and there are some gorgeous sonorities and beautiful tunes. This is Copland at his finest and it’s quite a find. I challenge anyone not to fall for this music.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  The two fillers are despatched with aplomb. El Salón México is superb, opening as it does with its sleazy trumpet solo and cheeky bassoons. Slatkin yet again demonstrates that music such as this doesn’t have to be fast and furious to make its mark. The slow sections conjure up scenes of lazy days in the sun and that’s what Mexico, as pictured by the composer, should be all about isn’t it? The playing is never over the top. It’s done with great taste and refinement but there’s not one boring bar to be heard. All the orchestral soloists have a field day. The closing bars are as thrilling as you could wish for. The concluding Danzón Cubano, one of Copland’s real pot-boilers, brings the disc to a rousing end.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  In summary, this is a great CD featuring top recommendations for Rodeo and El Salón México and a wonderful rarity in the shape of Dance Panels that I urge everyone to hear. The Detroit Orchestra, in superb form for their inspirational conductor, are captured in spectacular and beautiful sound.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  – John Whitmore, MusicWeb International","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46012918989034,"sku":"636943975824","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2248498.jpg?v=1778317252"},{"product_id":"the-legacy-of-aaron-copland-united-states-82329","title":"The Legacy Of Aaron Copland: Emblems \/ United States Army Field Band","description":"\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eThe United States Army Field Band proudly presents the second in a series of concert band recordings honoring the lives and music of individuals who have made significant contributions to the band repertoire and to music education. Designed primarily as educational resources, these recordings are painstakingly researched to authenticate standard performance practices and to reflect the original intent of the composers. The biographical information, detailed program notes, and historical photographs are included to provide music educators and their students with insight into the compositions which they hear and perform. This compact disc was recorded in August 1999 at Devers Hall, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, using multi-track digital equipment. Its release coincides with the centenary celebration of Aaron Copland's birth, allowing educators to use it as a reference in preparing for their own concert programs in the year 2000.\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Altissimo","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013109076202,"sku":"754422631426","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1887796.jpg?v=1778336988"},{"product_id":"red-pony-tender-land-clarinet-concerto","title":"COPLAND: RED PONY TENDER LAND CLARINET CONCERTO 3","description":"(Red Pony) Copland displaying his simple gifts for the ready folk-tune and here the Phoenix woodwinds have what it takes... It was interesting re-hearing his Tender Land suite. So skillful is Copland's orchestral transcription that one might easily be lulled into thinking this had been conceived solely for orchestra. As trumpets signal a new dawn over the open prairies, Laurie and Martin's love blossoms in some of the most generous music outside Appalachian Spring. That evocative solo trumpet again leads the emotional surge. No problems with the barn dancing 'Party Scene'. This is Steinbeck country just as surely as is The Red Pony. Sedares leads a spirited rendition, his warm and willing woodwinds stealing the honours\" (Gramophone)","brand":"ALTO","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013111075050,"sku":"5055354414794","price":11.01,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4239963-3039544.jpg?v=1778370123"},{"product_id":"the-legacy-of-aaron-copland-754422606929","title":"The Legacy of Aaron Copland \/ U.S. Army Field Band Soldiers' Chorus","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Legacy of Aaron Copland is an eclectic collection of works written by the great American composer Aaron Copland. Regarded as the \"dean of American music\", Copland's works are said to evoke the limitless American landscape as they achieve a difficult balance between modern music and American folk styles. (Altissimo) \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Altissimo","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013394256106,"sku":"754422606929","price":9.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1859669.jpg?v=1778332893"},{"product_id":"copland-symphony-no-3-three-latin-american-235057","title":"Copland: Symphony No. 3 \u0026 Three Latin American Sketches \/ Slatkin, Detroit Symphony","description":"\u003cp\u003ePremiered in 1946, a year after the end of World War II, Copland’s iconic Third Symphony was described by the composer as ‘a wartime piece- or, more accurately, an end-of-war piece- intended to reflect the euphoric spirit of the country at the time.’ The fourth movement, heard on this recording in its original uncut form, opens by quoting one of his most well-known pieces, Fanfare for the Common Man. Copland described the Three Latin American Sketches ‘as being just what the title says. The tunes, the rhythms and the temperament of the pieces are folksy, while the orchestration is bright and snappy and the music sizzles along.’ The Detroit Symphony Orchestra is known for trailblazing performances, visionary conductors, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and an ardent commitment to Detroit. As a community-supported orchestra, the continued success and growth of the institution is driven by generous giving by individuals and institutions at all levels. Esteemed conductor Leonard Slatkin became the DSO’s twelfth Music Director, endowed by the Kresge Foundation, in 2008. With growing attendance and unwavering philanthropic support from the Detroit community, the DSO’s performances include Classical, Pops, Jazz, Young People’s, and Neighborhood concerts, and collaborations with high-profile artists from Steven Spielberg to Kid Rock.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLeonard Slatkin can always be counted on to offer a new take on familiar classics. He recorded an excellent Copland Third for RCA back in his St. Louis days, and this performance is almost identical in terms of tempo and expression—but not quite. Copland’s publishers, Boosey and Hawkes, in their infinite wisdom and desire to make a buck or two, have republished the composer’s Third Symphony with its original ending. If you have an older score, you might still find it there. Later printings removed the bits that Copland cut at Leonard Bernstein’s suggestion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow we can all hear definitively that those cuts were a good idea. The finale is already one of the most earsplitting essays in populist pomposity in the entire symphonic literature. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a blast as it stands and I wouldn’t change a note. The original, in comparison, sounds gratuitously, unconvincingly prolonged (sound clip), and before we start blathering about the revision not representing Copland’s intentions, let’s note that both of the composer’s own recordings of the symphony—made decades apart—observe the cuts (there are two, actually, one very tiny).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat said, this is in every respect a terrific performance, excitingly played and conducted, powerfully recorded, and with a nice bonus in the form of the Three Latin American Sketches. As a collector, I am happy to have the opportunity to hear Copland’s first thoughts, but one fine recording of them is enough.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-- ClassicsToday.com (David Hurwitz)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46013418864874,"sku":"636943984420","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3647479.jpg?v=1778297226"},{"product_id":"copland-revueltas-two-classic-political-film-scores","title":"Two Classic Political Film Scores - Revueltas: Redes - Copland: The City  \/ Gil-Ordóñez, PostClassical Ensemble","description":"Revueltas and Copland wrote prolifically for film, and these scores are their greatest achievements in the medium. The scores were crafted for two of the most formidable and politically motivated films of the time. Redes is a story of victimized fishermen in Mexico - and the subject matter drew from Revueltas passionate music that Copland himself admiringly described as 'vibrant and colorful'. The City is a documentary that reveals the musical missing link between Copland's 'urban' and 'country' idioms, prescient of minimalism, and masterly in construction and effect. Without narration or dialogue, both scores are heard here for the first time in full.","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46020620321002,"sku":"747313435074","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4057407-2800706.jpg?v=1778224990"},{"product_id":"aaron-copland-complete-solo-piano-works-vol-168898","title":"Aaron Copland: Complete Solo Piano Works, Vol. 2 \/ Northington","description":"\u003cp\u003eCOPLAND NORTHINGTON COMP. SOLO PIANO WORKS, VOL. 2\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Centaur Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46024029503722,"sku":"044747324029","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2072485.jpg?v=1778290558"},{"product_id":"copland-appalachian-spring-nonet-2-pieces-for-61502","title":"Copland: Appalachian Spring, Nonet, 2 Pieces For String Quartet \/ Davies, Et Al","description":"Dennis Russell Davies clearly has an affinity for Copland's iconically American music. This disc features Copland's most famous work, \u003ci\u003eAppalachian Spring\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as comparatively unknown compositions from both the beginning and the end of his career.","brand":"Nimbus","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46025483845866,"sku":"710357250620","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1375281.jpg?v=1778324459"},{"product_id":"copland-a-rodeo-4-piano-blues-old-american-songs","title":"Copland, A.: Rodeo \/ 4 Piano Blues \/ Old American Songs","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Nimbus","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46025485091050,"sku":"710357526725","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/2093630.jpg?v=1778314981"},{"product_id":"copland-bernstein-clarinet-sonatas-dankworth-suite-for","title":"Copland \u0026 Bernstein: Clarinet Sonatas - Dankworth: Suite for","description":"Sir John Dankworth was inspired by Benny Goodman' playing to study clarinet at the Royal Academy: his delightful Suite for Emma was composed for Emma Johnson, former BBC Young Musician of the Year, who performs it on this disc.","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46025519530218,"sku":"747313224074","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1474186.jpg?v=1778323735"},{"product_id":"copland-red-pony-suite-prairie-journal-falletta-75494","title":"Copland: Red Pony Suite, Prairie Journal \/ Falletta,  Buffalo Philharmonic","description":"\u003cimg src=\"\/graphics\/p10s10.gif\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Although it's played and recorded frequently, there is a genuine difference between a decent performance of Rodeo and a really excellent one such as we have here. This difference can be summed up in two words: rhythm and tempo. When it comes to rhythm, it's not merely a question of hitting the syncopations in the opening movement and concluding Hoedown, but of being both accurate and relaxed enough to let the music swing. This is a quality that Bernstein's performances always had, and JoAnn Falletta understands it too. This gives the music both the necessary verve in the outer sections and real balletic grace in the two inner ones, reminding us that we are, after all, hearing a story told through physical movement.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e When it comes to tempo, the issue is at once simpler and less impressionistic. In Buckaroo Holiday, speeds have to be quick enough to prevent the music from breaking up into discrete, detached bits. Once again, Falletta \u0026amp; Co. come through with flying colors. The music never sounds mechanical, disconnected, or excessively \"Stravinskian\". Copland disliked excessive sentimentality, but his music is never dry (the rich, warm, but clear sonics also help in this department). And what turns out to be a successful recipe for Rodeo works just as well in all of the other pieces here. Prairie Journal (a.k.a. Music for Radio) is one of the least known of Copland's \"Westerns\", but it's every bit as enjoyable as the three great ballets, and this is as fine a performance as you will hear anywhere. Letter from Home is an exercise in nostalgia that never turns overly sweet.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Best of all, perhaps, is The Red Pony, one of the great film scores of all time, and a glorious work that for some reason seldom gets played live. Copland's invention is of exceptionally high quality throughout, and once again you can hear from the unusual freshness of the opening bars how effortlessly Falletta and the Buffalo players get into the spirit of the music. There are so many delightful moments, from the raucous Circus Music to the unforgettable Walk to the Bunkhouse, a piece that has become the very essence of musical Americana. Finally, it's great to see one of the very popular pieces, like Rodeo, coupled with some less ubiquitous examples of Copland's genius. A wonderful disc! [10\/20\/2006]\u003cbr\u003e --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46025990734058,"sku":"636943924020","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/984676.jpg?v=1778337756"},{"product_id":"american-classics-copland-symphonies-alsop-bournemouth-so-117159","title":"Copland: Symphonies \/ Alsop, Bournemouth Symphony","description":"\u003cp\u003eAll of these works predate Aaron Copland's populist American ballets, but they reveal perhaps even more tellingly just what a talented and individual voice he had right from the start. The most important piece here is the Short Symphony (a.k.a. Symphony No. 2), a stunning essay in rhythmic lyricism that was considered all but unplayable when written in 1933--so much so that Copland rewrote it as a sextet. This performance hasn't quite the sharpness and sizzle of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra recording for DG, but the Bournemouth Symphony under Marin Alsop shows itself more than capable of mastering the music's intricacies. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The other two performances are even finer. Alsop catches the bittersweet lyricism of the First Symphony's outer movements very affectingly, while the whirlwind central scherzo is dazzling. The same observation holds true of the Dance Symphony, which works its way to a fine frenzy in a finale that strikingly anticipates the mature composer of the 1940s. Copland's bright, open textures come across well in the problematic acoustic of the Poole concert hall; this is one of Naxos' better recordings from this locale, graced with some really impressive bass sonorities. This is an intelligently planned and impressively executed disc.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46025990930666,"sku":"636943935927","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1446694.jpg?v=1778323890"},{"product_id":"copland-music-for-the-theatre-quiet-city-75382","title":"Copland: Music For The Theatre, Quiet City, Music For Movies, Clarinet Concerto \/ Davies, Blount, Et Al","description":"\u003cb\u003eA winner.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e This is, in race horse parlance, another Nimbus ex MusicMasters production. The recordings are now, amazingly, over twenty years old but they certainly bear the new and somewhat austere, though evocative, livery well.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Music for the Theatre dates from 1925 and owed its genesis to a Koussevitzky commission. The composer took incidental music for a projected play and utilised it for the new work. There are five movements with the Prologue, and its brisk quasi-reveille calls, setting the scene with its quiescent material that leads inexorably to a jazzy and luminous coda. The muted trumpet and clarinet that haunt the Dance suggest a post-Ragtime sensibility and Hot Dance music rather than the Jazz that Copland suggested. It certainly has more of a tightly rhythmic New York feel than the more curvaceous insinuation of a Chicago beat. In the warmly lyric Interlude the cor anglais is the star and this ushers in a cheeky Burlesque where the trombone's cocky call over a walking bass adds greatly to the fun. The finale revisits the first and third movements and adds some restful stasis to end a happy, snappy work, tautly and sympathetically played by the forces of the Orchestra of St. Luke's under Dennis Russell Davies.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Quiet City is naturally better known but again trumpet and cor anglais are to the fore. Stephen Taylor is the cor anglais player here and I assume he was in Music for the Theatre as well. He and trumpeter Chris Gekker play with fine tone and measured cantilena. The strings turn lush when needed; no astringent aspersions are cast. Music for Movies dates from 1942 - the quartet of compositions is presented chronologically. This is a vital, energising piece of work, one of his breeziest and zestiest. It flies kites for serious composers and film music, whilst ensuring that colour, rhythmic flair, localised characterisation, and convincing orchestration are all surely realised. To end we have the Clarinet Concerto. It's not such an odd bedfellow as it may seem, especially when the playing is so consonant and William Blount so highly effective a soloist.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Of course you will have your own Numero Uno to play against each of these four recordings. Probably you'd go for Bernstein, Levi or Litton in Music for Theatre, or Copland himself (or Marriner - excellent) in Quiet City. The composer or Slatkin are probably best for Music for Movies and you have a whole Appalachia full of choices with the Concerto, according to how jazzy or straight you want it - Goodman, Meyer, Stoltzman - best with Tilson Thomas on the rostrum - or maybe Drucker - and there are plenty more.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e As a single disc however this one, excellently recorded, finely played, and well annotated (by Vivian Perlis) is a winner.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e -- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Nimbus","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026136518890,"sku":"710357252228","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1497050.jpg?v=1778288335"},{"product_id":"copland-complete-solo-piano-works-vol-1-84790","title":"Copland: Complete Solo Piano Works, Vol. 1 \/ David Northington","description":"\"An immensely gifted musician…who combines the technical mastery of a virtuoso with the musical sensitivity of a poet.\"\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e -  \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, (Review of David Northington's debut recital at Carnegie Recital Hall.)\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Centaur Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026301604074,"sku":"044747309026","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1855161.jpg?v=1778325777"},{"product_id":"a-copland-celebration-vol-3-vocal-choral-works","title":"A Copland Celebration, Vol. 3: Vocal \u0026 Choral Works","description":"A Copland Celebration, Vol. 3: Vocal \u0026amp; Choral Works","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026341056746,"sku":"696998932920","price":16.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4361709-3215451.jpg?v=1778214167"},{"product_id":"american-classics-copland-symphony-no-3-etc-75495","title":"American Classics - Copland: Symphony No 3, Etc \/ Judd","description":"Don't let the brevity of this review lead to the incorrect conclusion that there isn't plenty to enjoy, for James Judd and his New Zealand orchestra offer a pair of terrific Copland performances. Billy the Kid gets a shapely, dramatic interpretation: the initial and closing evocations of the West's wide open spaces offer grandeur without bombast, while the ensuing episodes follow seamlessly, including a very exciting gunfight. In the symphony, Judd is very much his own man. He catches the simple dignity of the first movement very well, then turns in the most dynamic scherzo since the composer's own Everest recording. The Andantino, taken at a daringly slow (but never slack) pace, sets up the blazing finale with particular effectiveness. Here, Judd and his players pull out all the stops, with nicely differentiated brass timbres in the opening fanfare and some really tight, rhythmic playing in the buildup to the central development's crunching climax. The closing pages once again provide the right feeling of triumph without the excess pomposity that has bothered so many critics and performers (even Bernstein) over the years. Naxos gets good, natural sound, though some of the percussion (snare drum rim shots, woodblock, and bass drum) seems a bit too backwardly placed--not a major point. This is a very fine release indeed. [2\/14\/2002] --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026347544810,"sku":"636943910627","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/416023.jpg?v=1778282991"},{"product_id":"copland-billy-the-kid-grohg-slatkin-detroit-68396","title":"Copland: Billy the Kid \u0026 Grohg \/ Slatkin, Detroit Symphony Orchestra","description":"\u003cimg src=\"\/graphics\/p10s10.gif\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Leonard Slatkin’s Copland is always first rate, and this release is no exception. He already recorded the complete Billy the Kid in St. Louis for EMI, but that disc could be anywhere right now, except readily available, and so if you want the entire work this performance is just the ticket. I actually prefer the full-length ballet to the suite. You get about ten minutes more music, all of it worth hearing, and the result is a work that has a more compelling range of narrative and less of that picture postcard Americana feel that just might be starting to sound a tad old. It only remains to be said that throughout the disc the Detroit Symphony plays terrifically.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Grohg is early Copland, but much of it got reused in the Dance Symphony. Inspired by the silent film Nosferatu, the music is aptly dark and spooky, with a decadent sheen similar to what we find in, say, Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin. That said, you can plainly hear the composer to come in such numbers as the Dance of the Street-Walker, with its angular sonorities and burlesque atmosphere. As with Billy, Slatkin proves a completely convincing guide to a remarkably assured piece of writing. The coupling of these two works also makes for a more interesting release than usual, and justifies purchase even if you already own a Billy the Kid or three. First rate sonics too.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  – ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026363863274,"sku":"636943986226","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3897519.jpg?v=1778279824"},{"product_id":"copland-appalachian-spring-suite-quiet-city-clarinet-68390","title":"Copland: Appalachian Spring Suite, Quiet City, Clarinet Concerto","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis disc substantially duplicates the repertoire on an all-Copland program produced by DG with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. However, where DG included the Short Symphony, Naxos offers the Clarinet Concerto. While the Nashville Chamber Orchestra doesn't offer quite the tonal refinement and polish of Orpheus, it basically plays just as well, and its slightly weightier, gutsier, more rustic sonority arguably suits the music even better. In the famous rehearsal disc that accompanied Copland's own recording of the original chamber version of Appalachian Spring, he can be heard exhorting his players not to sentimentalize the music: \"...it's a little too much on the Massenet-side,\" he tells them. Obviously Paul Gambill understands this point, for he offers interpretations ideally poised between warmth and simplicity, full of those clean and clear sonorities that Copland made his own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt should come as no surprise that, as a major musical capital, Nashville offers a large pool of excellent professional performers from which to draw, and as with its full-sized symphony, the Nashville Chamber Orchestra obviously employs some major talent, particularly among its strings. Copland's music is full of complex rhythms, often combining them with stratospheric violin writing. At such moments as the \"Danza de Jalisco\" from Three Latin American Sketches, or the initial allegro of Appalachian Spring, the Nashville players offer impressive accuracy of both rhythm and pitch. Quiet City benefits from some smooth-as-silk trumpeting from Scott Moore, while Laura Arden (principal clarinet with the Atlanta Symphony) turns in a masterful performance of the Clarinet Concerto. She commands a lovely, liquid tone in the lyrical opening movement (her pianissimo playing at the end is exquisite) and captures the finale's jazz elements without ever turning raucous.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe version of Appalachian Spring offered here is billed as the \"Original Ballet Suite\". It is not. The \"original\" ballet suite is the full orchestral version most familiar to music lovers, dating from just after the premiere in the mid-1940s. More than a decade later, in 1958, Copland published a new orchestration of the suite in which he returned to the chamber instrumentation used in the full-length ballet, allowing the option of a few extra strings (which I assume are used here), and this is what Naxos gives us. Gambill conducts this piece as well as anyone ever has; he's particularly adept at sustaining the flow of the slower sections without letting the music sag, and he gets an astonishingly full sound from his ensemble (listen to the focused tone of the basses when they first enter in the \"Simple Gifts\" variations). Sonics of ideal transparency and presence set the seal on a disc that's practically perfect from just about any perspective. [12\/14\/2002]\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026393354474,"sku":"636943906927","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/456960.jpg?v=1778345916"},{"product_id":"american-classics-copland-works-for-violin-and-94432","title":"American Classics - Copland: Works For Violin And Piano","description":"\u003ci\u003efrom Daniel Felsenfeld's Liner Notes:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Copland seemed to have two separate sides, the populist and the aesthete. The Sonata for Violin and Piano seems to fall in between the two, being jaunty and full of good tunes, but also based on sophisticated harmonies and unorthodox musical schemes. The piece is dedicated to Lieutenant Harry H. Dunham, a close friend of Copland’s who died in battle, and the date of its première (17th January 1944, with violinist Ruth Posselt and the composer at the piano) shows that war was probably very much on the pacifist Copland’s mind. Cast in three movements with traditional titles (Andante, Lento and Allegretto giusto) this is truly a neo-classical work, but it is also pure Copland; as with everything, he took what he needed of the theoretical conceits, but ultimately composed to his instincts.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Two Pieces for violin and piano, which Copland wrote in the mid 1920s for himself and violinist Samuel Dushkin to play in a Boulanger-sponsored concert in Paris, is a chance to see Copland playing with new ideas, including a new fascination with jazz (this is also the period he was writing his heavily jazz-influenced Piano Concerto). Much of this music would be mined for later scores, but they do hold interest on their own. This is music that is bitonal (in more than one key at once), undoubtedly influenced by Darius Milhaud, whom Copland esteemed highly. In the Ukelele Serenade Copland is having a good time trying to make the fiddle sound like something it is not.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Copland’s piano trio Vitebsk, one of his few \"Jewish\" works, is here arranged for violin and piano. It is a startling piece, full of wailing dissonances, even using microtones, notes which fall in between the cracks of piano keys, not of the \"Western\" well-tempered system. It is based on The Dybuk, a Jewish folk-tale, which also fascinated George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein, about spirits and doomed love in a small Hasidic community, and Copland hoped the music would, in his own words, \"...reflect the harshness and drama of Jewish life in White Russia.\" It is, therefore, a lean, almost angry work, with many moods contained in its taut single movement.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Dipping even further into the well of Copland’s juvenilia, Two Preludes for Violin and Piano are attempts to translate poetry into music, as Liszt had done in his tone poems. The poets in whom Copland found inspiration were Witter Bynner and Wallace Stevens, both contemporaneous and American. Here we see the seed of the Copland yet to come, the off-kilter rhythms, the stark harmonies, and the sparseness of texture. The titles offer their own explanations; these are musical moment pieces, composed to a single-focused and specific idea of mood.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Originally scored for flute and piano, Copland’s Duo was re-scored by the composer in 1977 at the request of Robert Mann, the violinist for the Juilliard Quartet and Copland enthusiast. The \"all-but\" sonata was therefore transcribed into this version, which took a good deal less time than the composition - Copland worked for three years on the Duo, commissioned by William Kinkcaid. The famous flautist wanted something that would work \"...like a sonata,\" and Copland certainly delivered the goods, offering a tightly formed work in three movements. The second movement in particular, the composition of which took most of the three years, evokes, in the composer’s own words \"a certain mood that I connect with myself - a rather sad and wistful one, I suppose.\"\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The ballet Rodeo was a divisive moment in Copland’s career, a complete smash hit, and yet the piece that managed to alienate him from much of his community. Copland, they thought, had sold out. Copland even incorporates some memorable American folk-tunes. It is a cowboy romance, full of wranglers and cowgirls, and culminating in a hoedown. The choreography and scenario were by Agnes de Mille, who, on the strength of her work on Rodeo, was hired to choreograph a new musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein called Oklahoma!, and Copland composed dutifully to her vision, though he preferred his idea for a ballet about Ellis Island. The 1942 première at the Metropolitan Opera was an enormous success, with a standing ovation. The suite from the work is one of Copland’s most recognizable achievements, with hundreds of performances and countless wonderful recordings.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Daniel Felsenfeld\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026399482090,"sku":"636943910221","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/431383.jpg?v=1778282949"},{"product_id":"copland-ives-rachmaninoff-orchestral-works-2-cds","title":"Copland, Ives \u0026 Rachmaninoff: Orchestral Works [2 CDs]","description":"Copland, Ives \u0026amp; Rachmaninoff: Orchestral Works","brand":"Vox","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46026658611434,"sku":"047163503528","price":29.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4309316-3139344.jpg?v=1778241723"},{"product_id":"copland-appalachian-spring-billy-the-kid-britten-181112","title":"Copland: Appalachian Spring, Billy The Kid; Britten \/ Ormandy","description":"\u003cb\u003e*** This title is a reissue of a Japanese release with liner notes in Japanese. ***\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"RCA","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027488559338,"sku":"4988017600702","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3891771.jpg?v=1778281545"},{"product_id":"copland-orchestral-works-vol-1-ballets-wilson-70522","title":"Copland: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 - Ballets \/ Wilson, BBC Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003eAndrew Litton’s recent recording of Copland’s Billy the Kid and Rodeo with the Colorado Symphony (BIS, 1\/16) was notable for offering the rarely performed complete versions of the ballets. John Wilson, in the first in a series of Copland’s orchestral music for Chandos, opts for the slightly shorter suites as well as that of Appalachian Spring. In doing so, Wilson comes into direct competition with Tilson Thomas and Bernstein, not to mention the composer himself. However, none of these recordings, not even BIS’s excellent multi-channel production for Litton, matches the spaciousness, transparency, and weight of the sound on the new Chandos disc. It’s the finest-sounding recording to have come my way for some time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eREVIEW\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWilson’s performances are similarly impressive, and he secures superb playing from the BBC Philharmonic. The three ballets receive strongly characterized interpretations, as piquant and affecting in the slower passages as they are punchy and ebullient in the faster ones. The poignancy and rapture of the quieter episodes of Appalachian Spring are also strongly conveyed. I enjoyed listening to this disc enormously.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– Gramophone\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46027576115434,"sku":"095115516423","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3226565.jpg?v=1778300852"},{"product_id":"copland-orchestral-works-ormandy-previn-262083","title":"Copland: Orchestral Works \/ Ormandy, Previn","description":"Copland: Orchestral Works","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027578441962,"sku":"074646240120","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4318212-3139842.jpg?v=1778220923"},{"product_id":"copland-orchestral-works-vol-3-symphonies-wilson-79402","title":"Copland: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3 - Symphonies \/ Wilson, BBC Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe exploration by John Wilson of Copland’s major orchestral output with the BBC Philharmonic has now reached Volume 3, with this invigorating programme recorded in surround-sound. It opens with An Outdoor Overture, a cheerful and breezy piece which Copland composed in 1938, intending to spearhead an initiative encouraging ‘American Music for American Youth’. Originally written for organ and orchestra, the First Symphony is presented here in its revised version (1926-28) for large orchestra. The six concise movements of Statements (1932-35) introduce a new style, their gritty soundscapes being stunning examples of what Copland later would refer to as ‘hard-bitten’ pieces. The concluding work is the expressive, fantastical Dance Symphony (1929) which explores different styles of symphonic movements, its dark aura a residue of its origin as a ballet on a grotesque vampire theme, composed 1922-25 and named Grohg. The symphony has remained a highly controversial piece ever since.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46027579588842,"sku":"095115519523","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3756757.jpg?v=1778298498"},{"product_id":"copland-conducts-copland-appalachian-spring-etc-255297","title":"Copland Conducts Copland- Appalachian Spring, Etc","description":"Various\/Copland. CBS Masterworks 42431 [Appalachian Spring (complete ballet in original chamber scoring); Billy the Kid; Lincoln Portrait].\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  Although it has come to be much better known in Copland’s arrangement for full orchestra, Appalachian Spring was originally composed for a chamber-sized complement of 13 instruments, the maximum that would fit in front of the stage at the Coolidge Auditorium in the Library of Congress – where Martha Graham’s company gave the premiere of the ballet in 1944. Many listeners prefer the more vibrant and homespun sound of this original version of Appalachian Spring, with its intimate expressiveness, to the splashiness and color of Copland’s rescoring, as brilliant as it is. Here, Copland conducts a hand-picked group of New York free-lancers in what must be counted a definitive performance; the playing is energetic and expressive, the sentiment deep but not too sweet. Copland’s 1968 account of his Lincoln Portrait, with Henry Fonda as narrator, and 1969 reading of the suite from Billy the Kid round out the disc most satisfactorily. All three recordings are remarkably vivid. – Ted Libbey, author of  \u003ci\u003eThe NPR Guide to Building a Classical CD Collection\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027727962346,"sku":"074644243123","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4317450-3139505.jpg?v=1778205673"},{"product_id":"copland-dance-symphony-short-symphony-etc-slatkin-134161","title":"Copland: Dance Symphony, Short Symphony, Etc \/ Slatkin","description":"This disc received the 1997 Grammy Award for \"Best Classical Engineered Recording.\"  It was also nominated for the Award for \"Best Classical Album.\"\u003cbr\u003eThis disk presents a vivid picture of Aaron Copland's growth in the decade from his arrival to the creation of his early masterpieces.  The 1924 'Organ Symphony' shows the enfant terrible throwing crashing dissonance and jazzy accents around with such high spirits that conductor Walter Damrosch told the premiere audience \"if a young man can write like that at twenty-three within five years he will be ready to commit murder.\"  The 1929 'Dance Symphony' recycles music from a never-staged ballet, which accounts for its somewhat episodic nature, while the 'Short  Symphony' of 1933, modest in dimension and taut in structure, reveals a dramatic increase in the composer's powers, a development first signaled by the 1930 'Piano Variations,' arranged by Copland in 1957 as the 'Orchestral Variations.'\u003cbr\u003eLeonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony are old and trusted hands with Copland's music, having recorded nearly all of the major orchestral works for RCA and EMI.  These performances are right on, full of energy catching the young composer's heady mix of French color and American attitude.  The recording is excellent, having both atmosphere and punch, with the featured organ captured impactfully in Christ Church Cathedral, Saint Louis.","brand":"RCA","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027814469866,"sku":"090266829224","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3891832.jpg?v=1778280832"},{"product_id":"he-got-game-the-music-of-aaron-261122","title":"He Got Game - The Music Of Aaron Copland","description":"He Got Game (Motion Picture Soundtrack)","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027844976874,"sku":"074646059326","price":11.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4318128-3139773.jpg?v=1778221417"},{"product_id":"copland-music-for-the-theatre-appalachian-spring-suite","title":"Copland: Music for the Theatre \u0026 Appalachian Spring Suite","description":"Classical Music","brand":"Bridge Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027846254826,"sku":"090404914522","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/170120-2553246.jpg?v=1778284687"},{"product_id":"copland-el-salon-mexico-rodeo-etc-ormandy-229484","title":"Copland: El Salon Mexico, Rodeo, Etc \/ Ormandy, Mata, Et Al","description":"Aaron Copland is perhaps the quintessential American composer whose works of the 1930s and '40s convey an open-air quality that captures in sound a bright and vast American vista.\u003cbr\u003e'Appalachian Spring,' the Pulitzer Prize winner for music in 1945, is one of the glories of American ballet. Originally written for 13 instruments, the recording here is for full orchestra. Alternately boisterous and solemn, this work was an instant hit and has remained so since its premier in 1944. 'Billy the Kid' comes from 1938 and is one of Copland's most dynamic scores in his American style. Utilizing old Western and country melodies (but in a very deceptive fashion), this work depicts the life of William Bonney (a.k.a. Billy the Kid) who terrorized the West for two decades after the Civil War. 'Rodeo,' a score dating from 1942, is a rather uncomplicated ballet (it consists of nothing more than sequences displaying the joys of roping and riding); it has an immediacy that has made it a favorite since its premiere.\u003cbr\u003eBMG has done a marvelous job of re-mastering these classic recordings (and exemplary performances). The result is an incredibly sumptuous sound, and an essential CD that showcases Copland's finest woks of Americana.","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027880726762,"sku":"090266346721","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4317329-3140227.jpg?v=1778206354"},{"product_id":"the-essence-of-america-copland-tilson-thomas-229521","title":"The Essence Of America - Copland \/ Tilson Thomas, Et Al","description":"This set includes 10 spoken word tracks (45'02\") featuring Michael Tilson Thomas's description of the repertoire in the two accompanying discs.\u003cbr\u003eBorn in 1900, Aaron Copland was perfectly positioned to represent his country in the 20th century, at least the first three quarters of it, and no other composer's career has so completely traversed the many byways of American classical music, folk, pop and jazz and European modernism. Copland's wilder side is most clearly heard in early works such as the Piano Concerto where jazz and Stravinsky converse in an urban setting, while the famous ballets of the 1930s and 40s transform folk tunes with inexhaustible wit and grace to create what is widely considered the ultimate expression of rural America.\u003cbr\u003eWith the discs COPLAND THE MODERNIST and COPLAND THE POPULIST Michael Tilson Thomas assumed the mantle of Leonard Bernstein as the leading interpreter of Copland's music, and in this special edition box set he emulates Lenny even further as an insightful lecturer-demonstrator on the bonus disc entitled THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC, which also features a performance of the familiar 'Fanfare for the Common Man.' There could hardly be a better or more thoughtful introduction to Copland than this.","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027906351338,"sku":"090266372027","price":24.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4317369-3140267.jpg?v=1778207112"},{"product_id":"copland-appalachian-spring-complete-ballet-hear-ye-68151","title":"Copland: Appalachian Spring (Complete Ballet) \u0026 Hear Ye! Hear Ye! \/ Slatkin, Detroit Symphony","description":"\u003cp\u003eAaron Copland wrote his rarely-heard ballet Hear Ye! Hear Ye! for Ruth Page, the dancer and choreographer who was to become the Grande Dame of American ballet. Its scenario is a murder in a nightclub and the ensuing trial in a Chicago courtroom. Copland infused the score with the spirit of his jazz-influenced pieces, controversially distorting part of the National Anthem, and infiltrating music from some of his earlier works. In complete contrast, Appalachian Spring is his most famous work, a true American masterpiece founded on transfigured dance tunes and song melodies.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Naxos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46028035621098,"sku":"636943980620","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3445169.jpg?v=1778380054"},{"product_id":"copland-orchestral-works-vol-4-wilson-bbc-59266","title":"Copland: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4 \/ Wilson, BBC Philharmonic","description":"\u003cp\u003e“I hope you will knuckle down to a good symphony,” wrote Samuel Barber in September 1944 to his fellow composer Aaron Copland: “We deserve it of you, and your career is all set for it.” It was a strange thing to say given that Copland had already composed a variety of symphonies, albeit admittedly all more experimental than Barber might have preferred. The fourth volume in the highly acclaimed Copland series from John Wilson and the BBC Philharmonic opens with the resoundingly successful Symphony No. 3 (1944-46). The optimistic spirit of this work resonated perfectly with the euphoria of post-war America, resulting in its becoming an emblem of US nationalism. This lesser-recorded original version comes complete with the twelve bars which Bernstein later suggested cutting from the fourth movement. Three commissions complement the symphony: ‘Letter from Home’ (1944) reflects the feelings of receiving a letter from a loved one. ‘Down a Country Lane’ (originally commissioned by Life magazine as a solo piano work) is here performed in its orchestral version (1964), reimagined for a series of concerts showcasing youth orchestras. ‘Connotations’ (1962), a twelve-note serial composition premiered by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic at the inauguration of The Philharmonic Hall, complete this invigorating surround-sound album.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"SACD","offer_id":46028050628842,"sku":"095115522226","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3835209.jpg?v=1778379573"},{"product_id":"the-music-of-america-aaron-copland-236070","title":"The Music Of America: Aaron Copland","description":"Aaron Copland created maybe the most distinctively “American” sound in 20th-century music, with his exuberant ballet scores Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo – works that caught, as never before, the vastness and rugged beauty of the American landscape, and the hope-filled spirit of the people. Copland’s music is a virtual signature of the mythic American heartland. At the same time, he was a native New Yorker whose ambitious modernism was refined and transformed by his studies in Paris with Nadia Boulanger in the 1920s. This set includes the three great ballet scores, Fanfare for the Common Man, the Clarinet Concerto (heard throughout Ken Burns’ “The War”), Lincoln Portrait (Henry Fonda narrating) and a selection of Copland’s own film music. Many of the performances are conducted by Copland himself, but also feature Leonard Bernstein, Benny Goodman, Michael Tilson Thomas and John Williams.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Also includes: Quiet City, An Outdoor Overture, The Promise of Living from The Tender Land, The Red Pony Film Suite for Orchestra, Old American Songs (Set One), Concerto for Piano and Orchestra and music from the movies The City, Our Town and Of Mice and Men.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46039779016938,"sku":"886977004728","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4316495-3187668.jpg?v=1778810772"},{"product_id":"copland-the-populist-tilson-thomas-san-francisco-48463","title":"Copland The Populist \/ Tilson Thomas, San Francisco So","description":"What does America sound like? To many ears it sounds like Aaron Copland, and the three ballet scores featured on this CD are why. What now seems like a mainstream national style was quite original when 'Billy the Kid' arrived, a music educated in Paris but bursting with New York energy and chutzpah and hankering to go west. The integration of American folk tunes into a modernist palette, alive with polytonality and vigorous rhythmic displacement, had never been achieved so successfully before, nor has it since. Of course 'Appalachian Spring' followed the same formula down a somewhat more genial path and became the most beloved of all American ballet scores.\u003cbr\u003eSince the 1960s the performances of Leonard Bernstein have had no rival in this repertoire, but now they do. Even among Michael Tilson Thomas' many fine discs of American music, COPLAND THE POPULIST stands out, as these well-known pieces are made to sound fresh and alive again. This 'Billy' is a great, energetic dancer, yet has wonderful delicacy, stopping to smell the cactus roses, as it were, on the way to a tragic fate. 'Appalachian Spring,' for all its beauties, is more attentive than usual to its darker side, especially as it includes the rarely heard \"revival\" scene, an edgy, propulsive, and forward sounding episode that immediately precedes the final Shaker apotheosis.","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46039869653226,"sku":"090266351121","price":11.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/4317342-3140240.jpg?v=1778819642"},{"product_id":"copland-symphony-no-3-slatkin-saint-louis-97233","title":"Copland: Symphony No 3 \/ Slatkin, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra","description":"There are pages here to rival even Bernstein. Come the finale, Slatkin well and truly throws down the gauntlet: his \"Fanfare\" is impressive, and within bounds—the right side of credibility— but it's the contrapuntal jubilance, the dance of life at the heart of the movement that really begins to set the adrenalin flowing. And nowhere more so than at the moment when we see this raunchy music for what it really is: counterpoint in search of its theme—namely, the \"Fanfare\" itself. Slatkin forges a toughly syncopated climax in its wake, driving home the halting dissonance which by now seems somehow inevitable—a moment of truth. The most moving pages of all then ensue, and Slatkin is still unassailable weaving Copland's piccolo-led tracery (woodwind, harps, piano, celeste) towards a tremendous peroration. Ihe anvil and xylophone hammer through terrifically at the close, heavy brass, bass drum and tam-tam ensuring a formidable pay-off.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e So where are the drawbacks? Are there any? One or two: I am not entirely happy with the sound. Warmth, perspective and weight (handsome bass extension) are not a problem, but there is what can only be described as a curiously 'covered', unfocused quality which makes for a degree of opaqueness, particularly in the more densely scored tuttis. You need plenty of volume for the best effect. Not that Bernstein's live recording (DG, coupled with Quiet City) was ideal. Best for sound so far has been the 1987 EMI Mata\/ Dallas Symphony Orchestra disc (nla). Sound apart, though, I don't think Slatkin quite catches the sheer audacity of the scherzo. Bernstein is second-to-none here: the raucous trumpet cackles and side-drum rim-shots—their effect in the Slatkin is somewhat muted, though he does pull off a swaggering climax as the trio tune reappears unexpectedly in canon. Again, though, I should like to hear it in more sharply focused sound.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Slatkin's first and third movements seem to me ideal. He certainly honours Copland's instruction \"with simple expression\" as the New England\/ Quaker hymnody unfolds at the outset (Bernstein is inclined to burden these bars with 'significance'). The Saint Louis orchestra play very sweetly indeed as the words dolce, sonore and intensivo begin to appear on the page. The archlike superstructure is surely drawn, its two climactic edifices like great pillars of support. In the slow movement, Bernstein achieves a greater sense of dream-like remoteness in the opening bars though Slatkin is by far the subtler of the two as solo flute spirits us into nostalgic reverie. The texture is gorgeously light and airy, even as the dancing grows more boisterous (Bernstein does rather rush his fences here), and Slatkin's control of the long, slow wind-down (the dream fading gradually into the deepest recesses of the mind) is masterly. I only wish he had held the pause on the final diminuendo in the strings just a shade longer (lunga, Copland marks) so as to heighten the moment at which the flutes so magically announce both \"Fanfare\" and finale. This is a performance of real distinction, though. Bernstein's burning conviction, his unique electricity, set him apart, but there's always room for more than one view.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Slatkin's coupling might sway some collectors. Copland's own 1966 CBS recording of Music for a Great City, his reworking (for the LSO's sixtiethbirthday season) of the score for Jack Garfine's 1961 film Something Wild, has not yet resurfaced on CD. But Slatkin's reading is a winner: gritty and urgent in Copland's suitably frantic evocation of the New York City \"Skyline\" with its jazz and latino explosions, not least the movement \"Subway Jam\"—a kind of angry Rumba, fractured brass and percussion to the fore. \"Night Thoughts\" is Edward Hopper\/Quiet City territory: now languid, now anxious, now wistful—a telling reminder of just how well Copland understood the soul of both rural and urban America.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e -- Gramophone [2\/1991]\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"RCA","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46039887479018,"sku":"090266014927","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3623823-2420243.jpg?v=1778821491"},{"product_id":"leonard-bernstein-the-royal-edition-vol-27-213563","title":"Leonard Bernstein - The Royal Edition Vol 27 - Copland, Etc","description":"LEONARD BERNSTEIN - THE ROYAL","brand":"Sony Masterworks","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46039889477866,"sku":"074644754421","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/3815567.jpg?v=1778821665"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/collections\/Aaron_Copland_1970.jpg?v=1777582881","url":"https:\/\/arkivmusic.com\/collections\/aaron-copland.oembed","provider":"ArkivMusic","version":"1.0","type":"link"}