Top 5 Favorite Copland Works

Started by Mirror Image, June 01, 2015, 06:56:04 PM

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some guy

#60
March 27, 2019, 03:18:38 AM
Grohg
Inscape
Connotations
Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
Short Symphony

vandermolen

#61
March 28, 2019, 12:45:16 PM
Quote from: some guy on March 27, 2019, 03:18:38 AM
Grohg
Inscape
Connotations
Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
Short Symphony

Very interesting list.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Peter Power Pop

#62
March 28, 2019, 04:56:06 PM Last Edit: August 01, 2022, 09:11:00 PM by Peter Power Pop

San Antone

#63
March 28, 2019, 06:16:39 PM Last Edit: March 28, 2019, 06:58:18 PM by San Antone
Copland is one of my favorite composers, so there are more than five works that "top" my list. 

In chronological order:

Music for the Theatre

Four Piano Blues

Vitebsk: Study on a Jewish Theme

Billy the Kid; ballet

Quiet City

Lincoln Portrait for narrator and orchestra (with Henry Fonda)

Rodeo; ballet

Music for Movies: Of Mice and Men; The City; Our Town

Appalachian Spring; ballet - 13 instruments

The Red Pony

Clarinet Concerto for clarinet and string orchestra with harp (esp. the Benny Goodman recording)

Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson

Old American Songs I & II

The Tender Land Suite

Dance Panels

Nonet for Strings

Night Thoughts: Homage to Ives for piano

Threnodies for Flute and String Trio

Daverz

#64
March 29, 2019, 01:39:10 AM
Looks like a good listening list, San Antone.

I really enjoyed Grohg on the new Slatkin CD.  Hadn't paid much attention to this oddly named piece before.

[asin]B07MX27KLG[/asin]

San Antone

#65
March 29, 2019, 01:55:59 AM Last Edit: March 29, 2019, 02:02:00 AM by San Antone
Quote from: Daverz on March 29, 2019, 01:39:10 AM
Looks like a good listening list, San Antone.

I really enjoyed Grohg on the new Slatkin CD.  Hadn't paid much attention to this oddly named piece before.

[asin]B07MX27KLG[/asin]

Those Slatkin/DSO recordings are really good, IMO.  I should pay more attention to Grohg, an early work and one I've not heard.

I found this description of the work:

QuoteGrohg, Ballet In One Act is a product of his early compositions in Paris and the first work that he orchestrated.  Boulanger suggested Copland write a ballet because of the popularity of Stravinsky's ballets commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev for his  Ballet Russe.  Copland took as his inspiration the German silent movie Nosferatu, a vampire film based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Copland asked the writer-director Harold Clurman to write a scenario for the ballet. Clurman's scenario deals with a sorcerer that brings corpses to life to dance for his pleasure.

[Listening to it right now; won't join my list of favorites, but a worthwhile experience.]

some guy

#66
March 29, 2019, 09:35:21 AM
You've all heard some of the music from Grohg, though, as Copland used it to make the Dance Symphony.

kyjo

#67
May 30, 2022, 09:52:08 AM
Symphony no. 3
Dance Symphony
Billy the Kid
Symphonic Ode
Sextet (its original orchestral incarnation, the Short Symphony, is great too)

A few years ago I would've doubtlessly included Appalachian Spring, but recently I've suffered from over-exposure to it. Regardless, it's a timelessly beautiful piece.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Christo

#68
May 30, 2022, 11:08:29 AM
Symphony no. 3
Dance Symphony
Appalachian Spring
Quiet City
El Salon Mexico
... music is not only an 'entertainment', nor a mere luxury, but a necessity of the spiritual if not of the physical life, an opening of those magic casements through which we can catch a glimpse of that country where ultimate reality will be found.    RVW, 1948

LKB

#69
May 30, 2022, 01:31:17 PM
Suite from The Red Pony
Quiet City
Rodeo
Billy the Kid
Fanfare for the Common Man
Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen...

vandermolen

#70
May 30, 2022, 01:41:36 PM
Quote from: Christo on May 30, 2022, 11:08:29 AM
Symphony no. 3
Dance Symphony
Appalachian Spring
Quiet City
El Salon Mexico
Nice list - for some reason I've never got on well with Appalachian Spring even when I first heard it. I ended up much preferring the Tender Land Suite which was on the B side of my LP.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

vandermolen

#71
May 30, 2022, 01:42:12 PM
Quote from: LKB on May 30, 2022, 01:31:17 PM
Suite from The Red Pony
Quiet City
Rodeo
Billy the Kid
Fanfare for the Common Man
I really like the Suite from the Red Pony as well.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Mirror Image

#72
May 30, 2022, 01:43:36 PM Last Edit: May 30, 2022, 01:47:04 PM by Mirror Image
Quote from: vandermolen on May 30, 2022, 01:41:36 PM
Nice list - for some reason I've never got on well with Appalachian Spring even when I first heard it. I ended up much preferring the Tender Land Suite which was on the B side of my LP.

Appalachian Spring is a masterpiece, Jeffrey. Keep trying with it. Copland's own performance of the original version for chamber ensemble is superb.

vandermolen

#73
May 30, 2022, 01:45:27 PM
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 30, 2022, 01:43:36 PM
Appalachian Spring is a masterpiece, Jeffrey. Keep trying with it. Copland's own performance of the original for chamber ensemble is superb.
I really do like it John - it's just never been a favourite.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Mirror Image

#74
May 30, 2022, 01:48:32 PM
Quote from: vandermolen on May 30, 2022, 01:45:27 PM
I really do like it John - it's just never been a favourite.

The thing that amazes me about the work is its inclusion of the Shaker tune Simple Gifts and the way Copland caps off the work with this melody is nothing short than brilliant. An American masterwork!

Lisztianwagner

#75
May 30, 2022, 01:58:34 PM
Let's see:

Appalachian Spring
Rodeo
Clarinet Concerto
Lincoln Portrait
Piano variations

But I must confess I should improve my knowledge of Copland's music, I see there are many compositions mentioned here which I don't know.....
"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire." - Gustav Mahler

Mirror Image

#76
May 30, 2022, 02:06:06 PM
Quote from: Lisztianwagner on May 30, 2022, 01:58:34 PM
Let's see:

Appalachian Spring
Rodeo
Clarinet Concerto
Lincoln Portrait
Piano variations

But I must confess I should improve my knowledge of Copland's music, I see there are many compositions mentioned here which I don't know.....

Nice list, Ilaria. Yes, please do explore more of Copland's music. Of his chamber works, the Violin Sonata and Sextet are great favorites. There are an inordinate amount of orchestral works from him that I love as my numerous posts in this thread reveal. ;)

Biffo

#77
May 31, 2022, 02:18:17 AM
Until I get to know Symphony No 3 better -

Appalachian Spring
Old American Songs
Rodeo
El Salon Mexico
Billy the Kid

Mirror Image

#78
May 31, 2022, 06:41:16 AM
Quote from: Biffo on May 31, 2022, 02:18:17 AM
Until I get to know Symphony No 3 better -

Appalachian Spring
Old American Songs
Rodeo
El Salon Mexico
Billy the Kid

All Populist period works, no love for the early or late Modernist works?

Biffo

#79
June 01, 2022, 01:24:40 AM
Quote from: Mirror Image on May 31, 2022, 06:41:16 AM
All Populist period works, no love for the early or late Modernist works?

I have a few other pieces but they are probably all from what you call the Populist period.
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