Aaron Copland - Music for Films (Leonard Slatkin)

Information

Composer: Aaron Copland

• (01-07) The Red Pony
• (08)      Our Town
• (09)      The Heiress Suite (reconstructed by Arnold Freed)
• (10-14) Music for Movies
• (15)      Prairie Journal (Music for Radio)

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
Leonard Slatkin, conductor

Date: 1994
Label: RCA

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Review

An unmissable Copland collection. Though the front cover bears the title ''Music for Films'', the earliest offering here was written in 1936 following a commission from the CBS radio network. Music for Radio (also known as Saga of the Prairies or Prairie Journal) was one of Copland's first conscious efforts to attain a greater simplicity of utterance and stronger melodic appeal, and its clean-cut, out-of-doors demeanour is relished to the full by these performers. Copland wrote eight film scores in all, the first three of which—The City (1939), Of Mice and Men (1939) and Our Town (1940)—formed the basis for his 1943 concert suite, Music for Movies. Slatkin gauges the differing moods of each of the five tableaux with unerring perception and the playing of his St Louis group easily scores over Copland's New Philharmonia (on a three-disc set) in terms of infectious panache and memorable poise.

Perhaps Copland's most enduring achievement in this particular field remains his 1948 score for The Red Pony. Again, the new performance is all one could wish, possessing a homespun delicacy (''The Gift''), infinitely touching affection (''Walk to the Bunkhouse'') and poignant nostalgia (''Grandfather's Story'') that really capture the imagination. There's real swagger, too, in the joyous ''Happy Ending'' number (such deliciously pointed trombones at 0'32''!) as well as a truly exhilarating sense of wide-screen spectacle. Indeed, neither rival production can match the present display: the composer's own recording is, in all truth, not untainted by a certain stiffness and the hard-edged recording now sounds uncomfortably dated, whilst Sedares's Phoenix account of the film score is just a touch cautious (and his hard-working strings are rather lacking in body and muscle as recorded). In addition, Slatkin also gives us the heart-warmingly evocative concert suite Copland compiled from his score for Our Town (more easefully flowing than Copland's occasionally sticky LSO version), as well as a first commercial recording for Arnold Freed's idiomatic 1990 reconstruction of Copland's Academy Award-winning 1948 score for The Heiress, which happily restores the ''Prelude'' that director William Wyler rejected for the final print. With excitingly full-bodied Powell Hall sonics to match, this compilation is a winner all the way.

-- Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/r/rca61699a.php
https://www.allmusic.com/album/copland-music-for-films-mw0000933501
https://www.amazon.com/Copland-Music-Films-Aaron/dp/B000003FHI

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Aaron Copland (November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor. His works are consider by many to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. He is best known for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style, such as the ballets Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid and Rodeo, and his Third Symphony. In addition to his famous ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Copland

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Leonard Slatkin (born September 1, 1944 in Los Angeles) is an American conductor and composer. Slatkin attended the Juilliard School where he studied conducting under Jean Morel. He also studied with Walter Susskind at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Slatkin worked as principal conductor and music director of the St. Louis Symphony, National Symphony, BBC Symphony and Orchestre National de Lyon, as well as principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and Pittsburg Symphony. He has been the music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra since 2007.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Slatkin

http://www.leonardslatkin.com/

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