A belated thank you for your support, Antonio.

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Aaron Copland - Appalachian Spring; Hear Ye! Hear Ye! (Leonard Slatkin)


Information

Composer: Aaron Copland
  • (01) Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
  • (19) Appalachian Spring (Complete Ballet)

Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Leonard Slatkin, conductor

Date: 2017
Label: Naxos
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.559806

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

Leonard Slatkin has a long history of delivering excellent Copland performances, and this new release is no exception. Hear Ye! Hear Ye! is a 1934 ballet about a murder trial in Chicago; each of the witnesses gives contradictory testimony until the exasperated jury finds all three guilty. Copland withdrew the work, and no one would argue that it’s one of his best works, but it’s not a poor one either. It created controversy on account of its containing a parody of The Star-Spangled Banner, but hopefully that is not an issue now. The music, in fact, is quite witty, even elegant, and it’s good to have the complete piece available in this perfectly idiomatic performance. The complete Appalachian Spring ballet in its full orchestration is still a rarity on disc, making this version doubly valuable. Slatkin’s performance is relatively relaxed, but not droopy, and he doesn’t distend the slow bits unduly. I actually prefer the complete work: the music that comes between the initial presentation of “Simple Gifts” and its final apotheosis adds a welcome degree of tension (sound clip) and rounds the piece off very effectively with some additional thematic recall. It totals almost ten minutes of music, and some of it sounds a lot like Britten.

My only complaint about these well-engineered performances is that Hear Ye! Hear Ye! has eighteen tracks, while Appalachian Spring, which is actually longer, has only one. Does that make sense? Never mind. This is worth having.

-- David HurwitzClassicsToday

More reviews:
MusicWeb International  RECORDING OF THE MONTH
https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/copland-appalachian-spring-hear-ye-hear-ye
http://www.classical-music.com/review/leonard-slatkin-conducts-coplands-appalachian-spring
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/n/nxs59806a.php
https://www.allmusic.com/album/copland-appalachian-spring-hear-ye%21-hear-ye%21-mw0002970222
https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.559806&languageid=EN
https://www.amazon.com/Copland-Appalachian-Spring-Complete-Ballet/dp/B01IC1VVD8

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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 SpringBilly 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.

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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

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