It seems only yesterday
that this disc appeared for the first
time. In fact it was five years ago
- but only five years ago! I
still remember the excitement with which
I read the original reviews and impatiently
ordered my first copy. I must say it's
extraordinarily generous of RCA to reissue
at bargain price discs of this quality
- such splendid music, performances
and recording! - when they're so 'young'
and so well-filled. How lucky
music-lovers are today! When I was in
my early teens, and an avid collector
of all the latest LPs, 37s 6d (or whatever
it was in those far-off days) was an
awful lot of money to part with for
a new disc - and far more than my weekly
pocket money. But you can't buy a decent
snack meal for the cost of this CD!
I've headed this review
exactly as RCA list the details on the
CD itself. What they don't tell you
is that, whereas Rodeo comprises
the normal four-movement suite - Buckaroo
Holiday, Corral Nocturne, Saturday Night
Waltz and Hoe-Down - the
Appalachian Spring we have here
is the complete ballet score, not the
oft-played and oft-recorded concert
suite. This makes the disc quite special.
In the shortened version, the variations
on the celebrated 'Simple Gifts' tune
are played in an uninterrupted sequence,
whereas in the ballet they are broken
by a disturbing episode (alluding to
the "strange and terrible aspects of
human fate" - Copland's words) which
elicited some of the composer's most
powerful and original music. And there
are other differences too.
I do admire Tilson
Thomas as a conductor of this repertory:
he's perfectly matched to it. Of course
there's been no shortage of expert and
sympathetic home-grown or local interpreters
of Copland over the 'stereo years' -
Abravanel, Bernstein, Schwarz, Slatkin,
or Copland himself - but none gives
you more than Tilson Thomas. Everything's
so fresh, spontaneous and alive, from
the boisterous helter-skelter of Hoe
Down to the whispering stillness
of Appalachian Spring's dawn.
This is a superb disc,
and - frankly - I can't think of a single
(even trivial) disappointment or imperfection
with which to detain you. Time to go
out and buy!
Peter J Lawson
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra/Michael Tilson
Thomas 
