Customer Reviews

Copland conducts Copland

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If I had to choose one Copland album over all others in my collection, this would be the one!
When I purchased this cd many years ago, I hadn't realized at the time that this was the original, longer version of "Appalachian Spring" for chamber orchestra until I first played it, and it totally took me by surprise - what a revelation! It's become both my favorite version and recording of this piece.

The orchestration in "A Lincoln Portrait" is superb, and although the late Henry Fonda's reading does have a certain, peculiar quality to it, it's a vast improvement over the sound of the vinyl.

The "Billy the Kid" suite is absolutely thunderous and intensely psychotic, the BEST version ever recorded, IMHO, with the opening tympani beats guaranteed to shake your speakers and sub-woofers and the house along with it.

This CD contains the intimate, beautiful and original version of Copland's classic Appalachian Spring. Copland first wrote the piece for a small ensemble and the delicate interplay of the piano and strings is wonderous. By contrast, the more commonly heard orchestral versions of Appalachian Spring drown out some of the true and simple pleasures of the music.

This was my first exposure to Copland. Copland is the quintessential American composer. His compositions are some of my favorites. As for this verson, Henry Fonda is by far the best orator for The Lincoln Portrait. James Earl Jones comes a close second. If you enjoy good music, you will enjoy this album.

This version of Appalachian Spring is truly the original version. If you are looking for the true American spirit in Copland's music, by all means, buy this cd. Appalachian Spring is already such a simply beautiful piece of music, but when Copland conducts, you can really hear how Copland feels about the piece. I find the simple elegance of this piece inspiring, and this cd has helped me form a good idea of the style Copland would want for when I perform this piece with an orchestra.

.....alone makes this cd worth the price. This may say more about me than I like, but I own several versions of Appalachian Spring. It was worth adding one more to the collection just so I could get my hands on Henry Fonda's reading of the Lincoln Portrait. I've listened to almost all of them but this one best captures Lincoln's decency and moral stature. Fonda reads it with great emotion and warmth. When you really want to understand the best of American values this is the place to start.

Aaron Copland
London Symphony Orchestra

-Appalachian Spring (original complete version)

-Lincoln Portrait (Henry Fonda - Narrator)

-Billy The Kid Suite

Copland conducts Copland (CBS - ADD analog)

Perfect performances with `Young Mr. Lincoln' (Henry Fonda) doing the narration for Lincoln Portrait is a treat. This is a Five Star CD.

CD arrived well within estimated time. CD in great shape, new as promised. Highly recommend the vendor and would use them again for future purchases.

I can appreciate the previous reviewer who felt that Henry Fonda's interpretation of the Lincoln Portrait was a bit bland. I respectfully disagree.

We know from research that Abraham Lincoln was a soft spoken man with a thin reedy voice. His delivery, it has been speculated, would have been firm but with a bit of a down home quality. I believe the late Henry Fonda has the best reading of this text. The versions by Charlton Heston, James Earl Jones and William Warfield are excellent but they all have a dramatic quality that is very unlike Lincoln the man.

I will agree that the mixing on the this recording could have been better, but I still prefer that restrained yet confident sound of Henry Fonda. To me it has the same quality as his "I'll be there" speech at the conclusion of The Grapes of Wrath.

Very moving.

The generally excellent quality of orchestral sound and performance should be considered if the quality of narration is secondary. I bought this recording specifically for the 'Lincoln Portrait' narration, expecting excellence. Not so. Mixing of voice and orchestra is unfortunate: volume must be pumped up to hear Fonda's voice, then cranked down to save eardrums from Copeland's orchestra. Even more serious, Fonda is not the narrator for these stirring lines. His voice isn't right, and he brings as much drama to these priceless words as a limp pancake.