# Aaron Copland - essential works and recordings?



## les24preludes (May 1, 2018)

Which works of Copland would you recommend to a listener unfamiliar with his output? Doesn't have to be the best known - can be any pieces you are particularly fond of and return to.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Are you interested in any category in particular or recommendations across the board?


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## les24preludes (May 1, 2018)

elgars ghost said:


> Are you interested in any category in particular or recommendations across the board?


Recommendations across the board, with some recommended recordings. I'm not a fan of Bernstein here - I value the contemplative approach more than the vigorous.

With my limited knowledge I'm enjoying Appalachian Spring, Quiet City and The Tender Land, both the Suite and the whole opera.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I like his clarinet concerto. I haven't found an ultimate recording yet, but Martin Frost's performance is fun to watch.


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## les24preludes (May 1, 2018)

Manxfeeder said:


> I like his clarinet concerto. I haven't found an ultimate recording yet, but Martin Frost's performance is fun to watch.


Thanks for that. I've been listening to the whole of The Tender Land on YT. It's a lovely work.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I am not that familiar with him myself, but I like Quiet City (which you know) and his symphony 3. And I am going to listen to his piano concerto now (for the first time), so I will let you know in 1/2 hour




edit: a very enjoyable piano concerto, well worth hearing


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Billy the Kid
Rodeo
El Salon Mexico - now this is a masterpiece!
Appalachian Spring

That's all of his output I enjoy to be honest. His first two symphonies are just awful. He found his voice in the 3rd, but I still don't care for it. I met him once; lovely man - but most of his music doesn't register with my brain.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

"Red Pony Suite" (excellent), "Old American Songs", "Four Motets"


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Everything mentioned here so far seem good recommendations for the newcomer to Copland. The emphasis is on his diatonic works, it seems. But Copland is more complicated than these tonal works.

Still, were I interested in starting someone off on Copland, I'd spring on them _Appalachian Spring_, which just about sums up the man's genius. And this work remains one of the treasures of American music. An unforgettable musical experience.


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## Guest (Jul 29, 2018)

I don't know what his best known works are, to tell you the truth, but I really love _Passacaglia_, _Grohg_, _Statements_, _Connotations_, _Inscape_ and _Night Thoughts_.

I realise I kinda missed stuff from his so-called populist period (my knowledge there is more lacking) but I do really love his Piano Quartet:


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## Guest (Jul 29, 2018)

The Piano Quartet, along with _Connotations_ if you are looking at larger forces, seems to present itself as an in-depth overview of what Copland was best at when it came to instrumental music. A lot of the hallmarks of his middle period style are there, especially the use of disjunct, pointillistic melodies in the fast sections, coloured by sparkling transitions across instruments as the highly gestural melodies and flung about. The slower, perhaps more mysterious movements and passages have an intense, flowing lyricism, interlocking lines of counterpoint form dissonant chords that open up into the refreshing clarity of quartal/quintal harmonies. The Piano Quartet, to my ears, seems to take these musical ideas that are found in much simpler forms in works like _Appalachian Spring_, his sextet, _Fanfare for a Common Man_ and brings them to even higher levels of contrast, evoking (to me at least) much stronger emotions and giving my ears a fair bit more to actually listen to.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

this is quite enjoyable too
Aaron Copland: Duo for Flute and Piano (1967/1971)


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I can't really recommend particular recordings as I don't duplicate all that often, but I think some listeners might agree with this one when it comes to the three 'Americana' ballets:



Other works I would suggest are:

*Orchestral* _Grohg_ - ballet (1922-25 - rev. 1932), Piano Concerto (1926), Clarinet Concerto (1948) and _Three Latin American Sketches_ (1972):

*Chamber* _Vitebsk: Study on a Jewish Theme_ for piano trio (1929) and Piano Quartet (1950):

*Piano* _Piano Variations_ (1930) and _Piano Fantasy_ (1955-57):

*Vocal/Choral* _Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson_ for voice and piano (1950) and _Canticle of Freedom_ for mixed choir and orchestra (1954-55):

Hope this helps.


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

El Salón México was my introduction to Copland when I was 17 and is still my favourite. 
After that I love Rodeo, Billy the Kid, The Red Pony, the Clarinet Concerto and Danzon Cubano. The Latin American Sketches (specially the 2nd one) are very attractive too. I’m also quite fond of the orchestrated Old American Songs.
I never listen to Appalachian Spring as I heartily dislike the ubiquitous Simple Gifts sequence.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

I suppose that it would be sophisticated to recommend his less well known works, but hey, Copland without the ballets and other popular stuff seems so beyond the point. Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, Billy The Kid, the 3rd Symphony. There is a lot of other great stuff—I particularly like The Old American Songs and Quiet City—but if you don’t like the really popular works, I’d turn my attention elsewhere. Ymmv


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

LezLee said:


> I never listen to Appalachian Spring as I heartily dislike the ubiquitous Simple Gifts sequence.


I remember when I was young that Simple Gifts popped up in a lot of high school band arrangements. Copland managed to take a Shaker Hymn and turn it into a hit song.


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

Manxfeeder said:


> I remember when I was young that Simple Gifts popped up in a lot of high school band arrangements. Copland managed to take a Shaker Hymn and turn it into a hit song.


I didn't like it to begin with, then there was Sidney Carter, the Dubliners and Riverdance. No escape! I think most people have something they can't get along with


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## BiscuityBoyle (Feb 5, 2018)

I strongly dislike his populist vein: with due respect to the level of craft involved, there's something very earnest and "worthy" about his Americana, which I cannot stomach. But the the Piano Variations (1930) is one of the greatest works written for the piano in the 20th century.






To quote Alex Ross, the "Piano Variations of 1930 is a monolithic masterpiece that threatens to surpass the ultra-modern school of Várese and Ruggles in the relentlessness of its attack. It is based on a broadly gesticulating four-note motif- E, C, D-sharp, C-sharp an octave above- that Copland probably extracted from the slow movement of Stravinsky's Octet. The theme is subjected to an astringent sequence of permutations that at times approaches twelve-tone writing. By the end, the music is heading in a tonal direction: grand triads of A major and E major ring out in the treble, though with sharp dissonances attached. A new American harmony, brash and bluesy, grows from primordial chaos."


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## david johnson (Jun 25, 2007)

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-IGdT1dNYU


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## endelbendel (Jul 7, 2018)

A lot of Copeland has long sounded alike to me. Then i heard Quiet City, essentially a trumpet concerto, and listened several times. Now i heard genius in most of the oeuvre with attention unstuck from the insistent rhythms.


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## les24preludes (May 1, 2018)

I really like Quiet City too. To be honest, I never listened much to Copland since I'm a European and he's not automatically part of our culture over here. I was completely unaware of him while growing up. I was attracted to him lately for the purely selfish reason of exploring chord progressions that I could use in songwriting. This is what probably goes under "sounding alike" because his tonal works do repeat some very recognisable chords and progressions, which I wanted to study and add to my harmonic language. You can hear his recognisable style in other songwriters in the shapes they use for piano chords, for example, so I'm not the only musician to borrow some stylistic ideas. 

Beyond studying him, I'm not sure how much I'll add to my usual playlists. I'm not very interested in the more energetic pieces like El Salon Mexico, however fun they are for the odd listen, and I'm not sure if I want to explore his later work that much either. But I am returning to The Tender Land, Quiet City and some of the more contemplative works, where I like what Copland is doing.


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