# Appalachian Spring



## Chris (Jun 1, 2010)

This was the subject of this morning's Building a Library on BBC Radio 3. It was an interesting program. I'd only ever heard the orchestral suite but I learned the original ballet was written for a chamber orchestra of 13 players. Having listened to the clips I could definitely live with the chamber version; and the overall winner was Aaron Copland's 1973 recording with the Columbia Chamber Ensemble (only available as a download).

Another advantage of having the whole ballet is you get a startling piece of extra music occurring inside the Simple Gifts theme. It's a very dark section. The presenter thought it represented the Revivalist putting a damper on the newly married couple's joyful celebrations. He speculated that Copland left it out of the Suite because it wouldn't fit well with the public euphoria at the end of the War.

All the serious contenders were American musicians, but Leonard Bernstein didn't get a look-in.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

It's one of my favorites. I used to have that LP, and liked that version. I especially like the polychord he uses: a first inversion major (3-5-1) juxtaposed with its dominant (5-1-3) on top. In C this would be spelled E-G-C-D-G-B. Beautiful.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

!! Blast it, every time I see that name (Appalachian Spring) I think it refers to the Delius piece - which is dreck. Must fix that.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Nobody conducted the Appalachian Spring Suite like Leonard Bernstein leading the NY Philharmonic.
A complete labor of love and devotion for his dear friend and if any performance of it deserves to be labeled "definitive", this is it.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Chris said:


> I'd only ever heard the orchestral suite but I learned the original ballet was written for a chamber orchestra of 13 players. Having listened to the clips I could definitely live with the chamber version; and the overall winner was Aaron Copland's 1973 recording with the Columbia Chamber Ensemble (only available as a download).
> 
> Another advantage of having the whole ballet is you get a startling piece of extra music occurring inside the Simple Gifts theme. It's a very dark section. The presenter thought it represented the Revivalist putting a damper on the newly married couple's joyful celebrations. He speculated that Copland left it out of the Suite because it wouldn't fit well with the public euphoria at the end of the War.


I particularly like that dark section, which startled me too when I first heard the Copland recording of the complete chamber version. I own that and Bernstein doing the Suite; both are great I but tend to go for the complete ballet which, unlike some ballets (_Firebird_, maybe) doesn't have any padding and doesn't benefit from condensation.


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## GGluek (Dec 11, 2011)

I'm In a minority when I say I find the dark section fairly static and uninteresting -- but I do like the chamber version (there exists on film, done by I think a public television station, a performance of the entire dance done by the Martja Graham company, which is a classic, and a must-see for people who both like the music and are aficionados of American modern dance). Although I like the Bernstein version, Copland himself conducted a performance of the orchestral suite with the LSO which is quite good.


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