Composer: Aaron Copland, Morton Gould
Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra, Morton Gould and His Orchestra
Conductor: Aaron Copland, Morton Gould
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: RCA
Catalogue: G010001770056K
Release: 1993
Size: 335 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Copland: Appalachian Spring: Ballet for Martha
01. Introduction of characters
02. Display of Action
03. Pas de deux for the bride and groom
04. Revival meeting
05. Bride’s solo
06. Reprise of the introduction
07. Shaker theme, “The Gift to Be Simple,” and variations underscoring scenes of daily activity for the bride and groom
08. Coda
Copland: The Tender Land (Suite)
09. Introduction and Love Music
10. Party Scene
11. Finale: The Promise of Living
Gould: Fall River Legend (complete ballet)
12. Prologue and Waltzes
13. Elegy
14. Church Social
15. Hymnal Variations
16. Cotillion
17. Epilogue
Gould: Latin-American Symphonette
18. Tango
19. Guaracha
While there are plenty of other dandy recordings of Copland’s populist magnum opus Appalachian Spring, this 1959 recording may be the one to get if you’re getting only one. For one thing, it has Copland conducting, and while he was not the world’s greatest conductor, he was the world’s greatest authority on his own music and it shows in his conducting, which, for all its lack of experience and technique, is unsurpassed in insight and lucidity. More to the point, he was the world’s greatest admirer of his own music and it shows in his interpretation, which for all its tendency toward sentimentality, is unequaled in affection and sympathy.
Plus, Copland is immeasurably helped by the unrivaled playing of the Boston Symphony, which not only plays with more beauty of tone and strength of purpose than it had in the past 50 years, it plays with nearly as much affection and sympathy for the music as Copland himself. Furthermore, RCA’s “Living Stereo” sound is every bit as warm and rich and detailed as the best recordings made in the past 50 years. The other music on the disc — Copland’s dappled yellow and brown The Tender Land Suite, Morton Gould’s blood-red New England Elektra Fall River Legend, plus Gould’s two south of the border encores Tango and Guaracha — is dandy, but Copland’s own 1959 Appalachian Spring is the dandiest.