Customer Reviews

Copland: Appalachian Spring; Billy the Kid; Rodeo

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are so many performances of this work that it has practcally become cliche. I have searched for years for a particular performance which has a small fugue in the violins. No, it is not the "Simple Gifts" theme. This performanc has it. It is exquisite and performed with sensitivity and skill under the baton of Tillson-Thomas. The entire work is played excellently with quality sound (concert hall experience). I have other recordings of the "Spring," but this one will be my mainstay.

This CD of Copland's Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo is music-making at its finest. And at its most rewarding. I've been listening to Bernstein's Appalachian Spring for 30 years and I know it like the back of my hand- I never thought any other performance would relegate it to 2nd place on my preferred list. But this recording has accomplished that.

Each of these performances demand the listener's full attention. It's amazing how effective it can be to put just a little "space" into a performance; subtle tempo changes, different kinds of articulations, a tiny bit more time taken in just the right places, etc. There are so many dramatic opportunities capitalized upon in this Appalachian Spring that it's impossible to not listen closely. Although the Bernstein version has a wonderful sense of forward momentum and is completely satisfying in its own way, yet the Thomas performance is more dramatic, more "intentional" and more emotionally involving, and leaves the impression that the score had far more to say than we might have thought. The playing is also more refined here- it has none of the raggedness that the Bernstein suffers from. The playing here is at the very highest level.

I don't find the inclusion of the 9 minute "revivalist" section to be a plus. Perhaps I've just gotten too accustomed to the familiar version of the score that I'm having trouble adding 35% more music in the guise of "new" material, but for me the whole feel of the piece changes and is rendered less connected, and it's ultimately less satisfying. For that reason I made a copy of the performance and excised the section; a much better result, in my opinion. (There's a reason that composers make cuts in their work- see Vaughan Williams' Symphony #2, "London".)

This particular Billy the Kid is powerful stuff. Intensely dramatic music, given a reading full of poignancy and conviction. Billy's death scene is especially moving. It's amazing how Copland can move from loud, forceful exclamations to tender, sparse beauty within just a few beats, and Thomas makes the most of these contrasts. The only issue I have is that 21 minutes of this score feels like not nearly enough.

The dances from Rodeo are spirited, as you'd expect, and unlike some other recordings the tempos are just right. In a piece with lots of syncopations it's possible to push the tempo to the point where the syncopations are almost lost (see Slatkin/St. Louis), and that results in a less satisfying listening experience. Here the tempos seem ideal.

Am I the last person to learn that Appalachian Spring has nothing to do with Appalachia and nothing to do with spring? Copland's title for the score was "Ballet for Martha", for Martha Graham, and it came to be known as Appalachian Spring only after Ms. Graham found the words in a poem and suggested the title to Copland. The "spring" in the title has nothing to do with the season- in the poem it referred to a water source. It's said that Copland was always amused when people approached him with praises for how well he had captured the feel of the Appalachians. The things ya learn (courtesy of Wikipedia)...

I'm a big fan of Copland. His music can be dramatic, sad, joyful, and just plain fun. I also think his music is a good vehicle for personal expression of the performer/conductor. I don't think this is true for all composers---I cringe at some interpretations of Bach---but I usually enjoy it when a performance of Appalachian Spring or Bill the Kid contains some individual stamp that indicates the performer is really feeling and enjoying what they are doing. The combination of Copland's timeless compositions and subtle playing effects can be very sophisticated indeed.

Michael Tilson Thomas is truly crafting this music, measure by measure. His ability to get organic effects from the orchestra is wonderful. In Billy the Kid, when the music is exciting, you can just feel every player bound together in energy... and then the mood changes character, it becomes slow and soft, and the transformation is astonishing, every instrument now singing a sad song together.

Some reviewers have said that his Appalachian Spring is too dramatic. First you have to realize that the sound on this recording is extremely dynamic. Too often modern recordings of orchestras sound pinched or constrained. Orchestral fortississimos don't have their true impact. Here, RCA has captured much of the power and impact of the low drums and the brass. So any part in the music that calls for drums and brass (and Appalachian Spring often does) is going to be very powerful. If you don't like it, maybe you would have liked it at an actual concert. Recordings never "work" perfectly---effects which sound great live sometimes fail to translate.

For me, I'm very glad to have a recording with such dynamics and impact.

Overall I like the Appalachian Spring here. It's quiet and tender parts are tender indeed. It's exciting parts are very exciting. Although I'd rather have the performer take chances than do what is expected, perhaps MTT goes a bit too far, letting the piece lose some of its integrity. This is just a matter of taste.

Billy the Kid starts and ends with a tone-painting of the "open plain." I've noticed that some conductors play this with a dramatic quality that is very nice, but somehow missed the "open plain" idea. Here MTT makes it sound like an open plain. Very clear tone-painting.

Hoe-Down from Rodeo is really a terrific piece and it's too bad it got used in that commercial. I can hardly hear it now without thinking of bleepin beef. So I really, really appreciate his alive and energetic interpretation. You can just tell how much fun the musicians were having. That's the antidote to the damn commercial we need---make people realize this is wonderful, complex, and most of all fun.

Well, unlike another reviewer, I don't have an anti-Tilson-Thomas bias, but this is not my favorite rendition. Its OK and different, but just a little too dramatic. It does not seem to me to be what the composer intended. Try instead "Bernstein Century - Copland: Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, etc / Bernstein, New York PO"

Or you could try "Copland conducts Copland - Appalachian Spring, etc by Aaron Copland, Aaron Copland, Helmuth Kolbe, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, and London Symphony Orchestra."

I must confess to an anti-Tilson-Thomas bias; but only as a result of this recording (and DVD) of Copland's Appalachian Spring. T-T has taken so many liberties that the piece is barely recognizable; well, okay, you can recognize it, but you wonder what the hell happened to it. It sounds like robots trying to play the blues, which is to say it's stiff, choppy, and doesn't swing. It slows down and speeds up with no apparent reason, other than perhaps their circuits going haywire. The music has so much inherent emotion and grandeur, T-T really shouldn't have made such a point of making it his own: Copland's is much better.

That said, the reason I gave it two stars instead of one (or none) is that it did make me listen to the score differently, and hear things that I hadn't heard in a more traditional interpretation. But I so disliked T-T's take on it in its entirety, that it just made me want to go back to the original and listen with perked-up ears, not listen to T-T's version again. Ever again.

I ordered the product because of the reasonable price and wanted to send it as a gift to my uncle. It was a good product and the service was good and timely.

Wonderful Copland music, conducted by the incomparable Michael Tilson Thomas.

My only issue: the CD cover says "Appalachian Spring; Billy the Kid; Rodeo" but the music on the CD plays in the order "Billy the Kid, Appalachian Spring, Rodeo."