Copland: Appalachian Spring; The Tender Land (Orchestral Suite); Billy the Kid (Ballet Suite)

Aaron Copland (Composer), Aaron Copland (Conductor), Eugene Ormandy (Conductor), Boston Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Philadelphia Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra
• Conductor: Aaron Copland, Eugene Ormandy
• Composer: Aaron Copland
• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000003EQB
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,885 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #34 in Music > World Music > North America > Appalachian

Track Listings

1. Appalachian Spring, concert suite for full orchestra

2. The Tender Land, suite from the opera: Introduction and Love Music

3. The Tender Land, suite from the opera: Party Scene

4. The Tender Land, suite from the opera: Finale: The Promise of Living

5. Billy the Kid, orchestral suite from the ballet

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Excellent CD, January 25, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Copland: Appalachian Spring; The Tender Land (Orchestral Suite); Billy the Kid (Ballet Suite) (Audio CD)

This CD gives you two of Aaron Copland's most popular ballets, with Appalachian Spring being a performance conducted by the composer himself. Both Copland and Ormandy give wonderful readings of both works and the Boston Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra are excellent. This CD also includes a wonderful performance of a work that I feel is often unfairly neglected, the Tenderland Suite. In my opinion, this is some of Copland's best and most beautiful music, and the conductor's excellent reading with the Boston Symphony deserves to be listened to.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Older Recording, Now a True Collector's item, August 2, 2009

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Copland: Appalachian Spring; The Tender Land (Orchestral Suite); Billy the Kid (Ballet Suite) (Audio CD)

Aaron Copland continues to be an American icon in music. His tunes are as 'of the people' as any composer's in this country. In this recording are some particular treasures - three suites for orchestra conducted with strength and well produced sound despite the older sonics used in the original recordings. The pleasure here is the opportunity to hear Copland conduct his own music with an outstanding orchestra (aided by another fine conductor in Eugene Ormandy and his Philadelphia Orchestra in the Billy the Kid suite). Both 'Appalachian Spring' and 'Billy the Kid' are staples of the repertoire of orchestras both in this country and abroad and here both suites are performed with a gentle clarity that captures the atmosphere of each.

But for this listener the genuine pleasure is the performance of 'The Tender Land' suite from the opera written for television but not performed as planned because of the dastardly period in our history when artists were interrogated by the Committee trying to prove the Communist affiliation of some of our finest thinkers and artists. That Copland could rise above this tragic error on the part of our government and return to conduct this performance with the sensitive support from the Boston Symphony Orchestra adds special luster to this recording. The work is far too infrequently performed, either as opera or as orchestral suite, for here is some of Copland's strongest orchestral writing - rich in melody and lush orchestration. Hopefully 'The Tender Land' will be heard more frequently in the future as people who love Copland's famous works seek the lesser known pieces and grow with the composer's output. This is a very valuable and affordable CD well worth adding to the library. Grady Harp, August 09

5.0 out of 5 stars Sir Aaron Copland!, November 16, 2009

By 

Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Copland: Appalachian Spring; The Tender Land (Orchestral Suite); Billy the Kid (Ballet Suite) (Audio CD)

Commissioned by Martha Graham in 1944, the "Appalachian Suite" represents by far the supreme artistic creation of Copland.

This score not only shines due its pristine musicality but its genuine hypnotic power making the listener to evoke and explore those never before visited territories of the collective unconscious that based on a fervent love for the country, trespass its own boundaries to become a legend.

Before Copland, North America had not been depicted with such distinguished refinement. This score is a genuine musical canvas (like Finlandia's Sibelius or Elgar his "Enigma variations" Respigjhi's Fountains of Rome or Kodaly's Dances of Galanta). Of course, Copland's fanfare is always a genuine pride's motive for all those who feel his heart to inflame to unsuspected heights. Perhaps the other North American composer who achieved a distinguished peak was Samuel Barber with his adagio for strings.

The tender land is another sample of his creative genius. But Billy the Kid represents the opther side of the coin: the embodiment of the most famous myth the West ever knew: the rivalry between the irreverent and inmature Billy and his relentless executor Pat Garret.

At last instance, this album is now part of the myth: the materialization of a legend, the construction of a mythical score: his supreme masterpiece.