Customer Reviews

Copland: Appalachian Spring; Billy the Kid; Danzon Cubano; El Salon Mexico

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

 

 

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The attraction of Dorati's readings of ballets is that he was a staff conductor of the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo for a long time and conducts ballet as dance...so he's right there, without seeming to know it. He doesn't seem to know either that Dorati's complete Appalachian Spring and Billy the Kid are REALLY complete minus a few gallop off points. They are of the later, concert orchestrations, though, so they aren't original versions. Nevertheless, they are the most rapt and fluent readings in the catalog and have been for nearly 40 years.

More research--like looking at printed scores, reading commission and rehearsal letters, and the ballet scenarii thenselves--indicates Copland wanted playing "a slancio" (Italian here Gino: "on slouch") for both Salon Mexico and Cubano. Salon takes place in a desert Mexican bar, so a Eugene Ormandy or Herbert Von Karajan reading is not called for. The New York commission wanted a sleaze to the pit orchestra for Cubano. So the clams Gene hears are right there for you to see and hear if you bother to read and listen. The Minneapolis Symphony and Dorati are the only performers save for Howard Mitchell and the National Symphony to get any of this right on target.

So, take it from someone who has found out--Copland admired Dorati intensely for a reason, and believe me, it's here for you to hear in Wilma Cozarts superb, restored sound.

Dorati gamely conducts American music better than you might think. I once heard his take on the Ives "Holidays" Symphony (filling in for an ailing Morton Gould with the Detroit Symphony), and it was as good as I had ever heard! What I find most distinctive about this traversal of the thrice-familiar "Appalachian Spring" Suite and "Billy the Kid" Complete Ballet is the pace he takes, markedly slower than the average American conductor. As we are sometimes told by Those Who Know, most non-ballet conductors tend to conduct ballet too fast, so we might just have here a more authentic rendition of these pieces. The London Symphony is superb, and the sound is lovely. Although the 35 MM film version of the 1961 session is presently "unavailable," they had a conventional high-end tape recorder running, luckily, and that is the original master used for this CD.

The final two selections, "Danzon Cubano" and "El Salon Mexico", are also taken at a leisurely pace. These two are played by the Minneapolis Symphony (recorded in 1957), and I'm sorry to say there are plenty of clams and a great deal of tentativeness, almost like the orchestra is playing at the limits of its collective competence - not like most of the Minneapolis recordings under Dorati by any means. There are better renditions of these two pieces out there.

This CD contains one of the best proofs that testifies by itself about the interpretative freshness and unequalled exacerbated mood of this outstanding Hungarian playing a national treasure as Copland was.

This is to my mind the only version that you might set joined with Bernstein' s New York Philharmonic in which musicality, nuance and effervescence concerns

Go for this treasure.

Five thousand stars rather than five.

Something happened to the copy of the previous I wrote a few weeks back, so I'll clarify here.

Gene who wrote the other review here is wide of the mark because I don't think he knows enough about the music to make his statements. To clarify: these are not original versions of the Kid and Spring, but later symphonic orchestrations that dispensed with gallop ons and offs. Therefore, they're not exactly complete either. In any event, they are sublimely performed and recorded, the best available by quite a bit.

The comments about Minneapolis Symphony clams, etc., is also off the mark because of the descriptive requirements of the scenarii for Rodeo, Cubano, Mexico. The orchestra for Rodeo is fairly small for Copland, the Cubano commission required the performance paradigm of a music hall orchestra, and El Salon Mexico takes place in a sleazy cantina. Super-refined Eugene Ormandy readings are not appropriate for any of these. Dorati knows it, and conducts accordingly. Gene doesn't know it, and writes/listens accordingly.

If you'd like precedent for Dorati's approach, I urge you to dig through old vinyl shops and find Koussevitsky where the super-refined Boston Symphony plays like lummoxes (sp?) in Mexico and Cubano or Mitchell where the National Symphony of DC makes you smell the tequila under the barely-turning fans in the 100 degree heat.

I don't want you to pass up Dorati's extraordinary disk because of misinformation in a customer review.

Aaron Copland's compositions are the epitome of American folklore as well as twentieth century American classical music that has reached a worldwide audience. Various conductors and symphonies/orchestras have given his compositions different interpretations. Hungarian conductor, Antal Dorati and the London Symphony Orchestra and Minneapolis Symphony offer their rendition of Copland's ballet masterpieces for this Mercury recording. If one was an aficionado of classical music, the difference is easily identified. However, if one simply listens to the music without prior influence of watching the ballet versions of the pieces that are presented on this CD, the music speaks to the listener and creates a vivid picture of imagination that lends itself to one's own interpretation without serious criticism.

When listening to "Appalachian Spring," a picturesque image comes to mind. The first movement comes in peacefully, which may resemble the sun rising amidst a barren plain or a mountainous terrain. "Billy The Kid" captures a gun slinging outlaw as he encounters his death that is finely represented with loud blows from resounding drumbeat. "Danzon Cubano" and "El Salon Mexico" are also notable pieces that present a Latin Sound with much emphasis from the percussions, strings, and the brass section in order to present a gentle Mexican landscape.

Overall, this interpretation of "Appalachian Spring" and the other pieces was a delight to listen to. The liner notes provided helpful background information about the pieces as well as how they were derived.