Customer Reviews

Copland Conducts Copland

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There are few composers who capture the American spirit as much as Aaron Copland; Jewish; born in Brooklyn; educated to some extent in Paris; and gay-nobody brings alive the colors and sounds of the Old West and American country life quite like him. Indeed almost every soundtrack to an old Western movie is a re-write of "Rodeo" or "Billy the Kid" Suite.

Copland's "Appalacian Spring" is an American "Pastorale", painting the deep green hills of America's heartland. But the real gems here are the "Old American Songs" which Copland arranges in a way that maintain the integrity and simplicity of each miniature while making them undoubtedly "Coplanesque". The delicate handling of these tunes by the expressive bass-baritone William Warfield makes for perfection, especially on the hymns "Simple Gifts" and "At the River".

Comparisons for instrumental pieces: Bernstein/NYPO (also outstanding)

There is no opportunity to hear Beethoven or Mozart conducting their own works, so one must hear modern interpretations of the music, and no-one can say which performance most closely matches what was imagined by the composer. We are fortunate, however, to have surviving recordings of Stravinsky and Copland conducting their own works, and we can listen to those works purely and directly from the mind of the composer through the orchestra under his control. Of course, we often fall in love with the first performance we hear of a favorite piece, so perhaps Copland's interpretation isn't how you remember it. But it is the standard by which all other performances should be judged. These are wonderful recordings of groundbreaking music, and you would be remiss to pass up this opportunity to hear exactly what Copland meant.

For once Sony did a spectacular job at remastering this historical performance. The opening percussions of Fanfare for the Common Man are just explosive but the whole disc is full of colors and a tribute to Copland's masterpieces.
Don't be afraid to listen to this disc at concert levels, that's how it is best enjoyed and the best way to discover one of the most impressive American contemporary composers.
I am less enamored with Warfield's performance of the Old American songs but in all fairness they've never been my cup of tea to start with.

Before purchasing this CD recently, I had the old vinyl album. Very nice recording. Don't let it's age, or it's being an analog recording, turn you off. Copeland conducts the music the way he wanted in played, which is something we rarely get to hear in this day and age. (When's the last time you heard an CD of Beethoven conducting his 9th Symphony? I rest my case.)

His choice of orchestration as well as the selections are a good cross-selection of Copeland, of whom I had the pleasure of hearing perform some of these selections live back in the 70's.

This is a very nice addition to your library, and if you're like me, I suspect you will find yourself playing many of the selections again and again.

Item was recommended by a radio announcer. I think is okay. I thought that if Copland conducted his own works would be exciting but it was not. It is very boring.