Piano Concerto

Copland (Artist), Hollander (Artist), Schwarz (Artist), Seattle Symphony (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 19, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Delos Records
• ASIN: B0000006ZA
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #452,976 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Concerto For Piano And Orchestra--I.Andante

2. Concerto For Piano And Orchestra--I.Andante: II. Molto moderato (molto rubato)

3. Appalachian Spring (Suite)

4. Symphonic Ode

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 3 masterpieces from Aaron Copland, September 14, 2010

By 

Gert Henriksen (Denmark) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Piano Concerto (Audio CD)

Please, buy and listen to this CD - and you won't believe you have ever listened to these works before - especially in the case of the Piano concerto and the Symphonic Ode. The concerto becomes pure magic in the hands of Mr. Hollander, and the Ode is pure genius from a 26-year-old Copland. Mr. Schwarz easily surpasses Leonard Bernstein, in his incredible care for detail and overall orchestral transparency. And sheer power!

No doubt the best interpretations I have ever heard of the two 1920's works. The Appalachian Spring Suite is very good too. I do wish, though, that Mr. Schwarz had chosen to record the FULL ballet for full orchestra.

Maybe next time? - (together with STATEMENTS, MUSIC FOR A GREAT CITY, CONNOTATIONS OR ORCHESTRAL VARIATIONS!)

One can only hope!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three by Copland--an Interesting Mix, July 27, 2005

By 

M. C. Passarella "lpassarella" (Lawrenceville, GA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Piano Concerto (Audio CD)

Here are two of Copland's early and to some extent experimental works together with a certified classic, maybe his finest piece. The Piano Concerto, premiered in 1928, is the last of Copland's purely jazz-influenced works. Like the earlier Organ Symphony, it created quite a stink when it was premiered in Boston. To a critic--let alone a mere music lover--of the 1920s, it must have seemed outrageously forward-looking with its polyrhythms and dissonances, its brash orchestration and pop-musical roots. In fact, the critic Philip Hale wrote that the concerto "shows a shocking lack of taste, proportion." Actually, it's hard to argue with Hale on this score: the concerto isn't a very good work, and as far as the use of jazz is concerned, it's far less attractively done than in Gershwin's popular Piano Concerto in F of a couple years earlier. Ditto if you're looking for a truly sophisticated integration of jazz and classical music: Ravel's two concertos, written just a year or two later, make Copland's sound absolutely scrappy if not downright trashy. Sorry, that's just the case. Hollander and Schwarz do their level best by the concerto, but they can't redeem it from mediocrity.

On the other hand, Copland himself thought highly of his little-known Symphonic Ode, written for the Boston Symphony and premiered in 1932, and he's right in his appreciation that this work represented a breakthrough for him. True, there is a lot of empty passagework here, a lot of places where the orchestra just skitters up and down the scale, but there is also that same wide-open-spaces sound that would establish itself as typically American in the wake of pieces like "Billy the Kid" and "Rodeo." Here, too, is what Copland himself identified as a certain "spirit." This spirit would later translate into the little-man-as-hero populism of works such as the Third Symphony, "John Henry," and "A Lincoln Portrait." And the ending of the piece is pretty exciting in the frenzied manner of "El Salon Mexico." The Symphonic Ode is not great Copland, but it's pretty good Copland.

Then of course there is "Appalachian Spring," maybe the greatest of great Copland. Schwarz and his orchestra give a fine performance with good basic tempos and careful regard for Copland's lovely, subtle sense of orchestral color. No use comparing this performance to classics from the likes of Bernstein, Thomas, or Copland himself; if it isn't quite a classic, it's a very, very decent job nonetheless. Throw in a highly effective performance of the Ode, and you have a recording that should satisfy Copland fans who want to hear their composer at his best, as well as explore a bit. Big, bright, impactive sound seals the deal for me.

3 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Hollender Is A Great Guy, September 29, 2000

By 

Jonathon Rose (Stockton Springs, ME) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Piano Concerto (Audio CD)

As a freind of Mr. Hollender I just want to say that this is a great CD and he is amazing live.