MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW
BARGAIN OF THE MONTH


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: Crotchet

 

Aaron COPLAND (1900-1990)
Fanfare for the Common Man (1942) [3:38)
Clarinet Concerto (1948) [15:44]
Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo (1942) [22:47]
Appalachian Spring (1944) [36:41]
David Shifrin (clarinet); New York Chamber Symphony Orchestra/Gerard Schwarz (Concerto); Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra/Enrique Bátiz (Fanfare); Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra/Leonard Slatkin (Spring; Rodeo)
rec. details not given
CLASSICS FOR PLEASURE 2282762 [79:13]
Experience Classicsonline

This issue represents fantastic value for Copland lovers, or indeed those who simply want to explore his music.  Starting from his most familiar work - and incidentally one of the best-known pieces of 20th century music - the Fanfare for the Common Man, we move, via the delightful Clarinet Concerto, to two of the famous ballet scores, Rodeo and Appalachian Spring. The ‘added value’ is that these last two are given complete, rather than in the slightly shorter concert versions we usually hear.  So we get the cheeky Piano Interlude in Rodeo (track 7), while in Appalachian Spring there is, for example, a magical passage where the ‘Simple Gifts’ melody is suggested in slow tempo by the strings before its full presentation in the clarinet (track 14, 2:45).
 
To get over the only disappointment right away, it has to be said that the Mexico City Philharmonic brass and percussion turn in a tentative, pallid performance of the famous fanfare under Bátiz.  I just hope that potential buyers will not be put off, because the Clarinet Concerto performance that comes next, with David Shifrin, ably supported by Schwarz and his New York forces, sets a very high standard indeed, which is maintained throughout the remaining tracks.
 
Shifrin is an exceptionally fine player who captures the varying moods of the concerto perfectly.  He has the necessary control for the gentle melancholy of the first movement – marked Slowly and Expressively – and the sheer technical bravado for the jazzy finale.  Perhaps his finest achievement, though, is the cadenza which joins the two movements.  Here, the clarinettist has to negotiate a gradual change of mood from melancholy to wild physical exuberance.  Shifrin does this as successfully as any player I’ve heard, a tribute to his perceptive musicianship. The balance between soloist and orchestra is perfect - no mean task as Copland often takes the clarinet to its extreme high register, where it can sound unpleasantly shrill.  The otherwise excellent account on Naxos by Laura Ardan is compromised by this very problem.
 
The first of the two ballets, Rodeo, is given a rollicking account by Slatkin and his St. Louis players.  They convey brilliantly the sheer fun of this music, its bright primary colours, its restless rhythmic vitality.  Gloriously corny trombone and trumpet solos in the opening movement, Buckaroo Holiday, and, after a very slightly untidy opening, the tightest possible ensemble allied to a sense of spontaneity.  The quieter music is beautifully played, too, for example an expressively phrased oboe solo in Saturday Night Waltz.  The famous and irresistible Hoe-Down brings the piece to a close in a manic whirl.
 
These complementary qualities of fizzing energy and gentle lyricism are carried through into a superb account of Appalachian Spring, felt by many, and with some justification, to be Copland’s finest masterpiece.  The sense of space that Slatkin achieves in the quiet opening music, and whenever it recurs, is breathtaking.  It enabled me to make a link that had never occurred to me before; Copland was the child of Russian immigrants, and if this music recalls anything, it is the opening of Borodin’s tone-poem In the Steppes of Central Asia.  You can take the boy out of Russia, but…..! 
 
I just wish Classics for Pleasure would ‘package’ these discs a bit more generously; a little information about conductors and soloist wouldn’t take up much room, and neither would full details of recording dates and venues. A small carp (as the fisherman complained). This is a truly outstanding issue packed with great things.
 
Gwyn Parry-Jones
 
 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.