Customer Reviews

Copland: The Young Pioneers (The Complete Music for Solo Piano)

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These days Copland is mainly known for his pastorales (Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, Fanfare, Billy The Kid) but during his lifetime he was equally on the frontier of modernist non-programmatic composing. The Complete Music for Solo Piano reminds us of this forgotten coin, with uncompromising, even harsh-sounding keyboard excursions of Schoenbergian/Webernist ferocity. Leo Smit's interpretation is translucent and illuminative, with enough delicacy to bring out the inner lyricism in these troubled stormclouds.

Leo Smit has done more than just give us a complete collection of the piano music of Aaron Copland. In doing so, he has also given us a sizeable record of Copland's growth as a composer stretching from the angry tones of the Passacaglia and the Piano Variations, to the majestic and sometimes poetic Piano Fantasy, and beyond. The two CD's also showcase Copland in his many moods, sometimes light hearted and fun as in the Scherzo Humoristique and the second movement of the Piano Sonata, or sometimes nostalgic as in Down a Country Lane or the third movement of the Piano Sonata. This is a must-have for all Copland fans.

It was a pleasure to hear the complete piano music of Copland. Pianist Leo Smit brings pleasure and enlightment to the listeners ear. Who better than an American pianist to interpret the music of Copland.

Ellis L. Marsalis, Jr

A great buy for anyone who loves Copland or American contemporary music. Absolutely beautiful.