# Aaron Copland (1900 – 1990)



## Sina

No Copland thread till now?! I just came here to read the thread never expecting that might not find it!

Anyway, he could be described as the founder of "the American Sound". So how about starting this thread with discussing your favorite recordings of _Rodeo_, _Billy the Kid_, and the _Third Symphony_?


----------



## elgar's ghost

I've only got one version of the above works but as they are all conducted by Bernstein with the NYPO I've never felt the urge to supplement them with any others. There are any number of Copland works I enjoy from the beginning of his career to the end but I would venture to suggest that he really 'found himself' in the mid-1920s, especially with Music for the Theater and the Piano Concerto (a work he wasn't totally happy with, I gather). This was slap-bang in the middle of his 'jazz' period, but, as with his contemporary George Antheil, he realised that he could only go so far with it. 

I wish there would have been a few more chamber works from him as most of the ones he did compose (Vitebsk for Piano Trio, Sextet, Clarinet Sonata, Piano Quartet, Nonet) add up to a fine body of work but that's a minor quibble.


----------



## hpowders

Bernstein. Bernstein. Bernstein.

There! That was easy!


----------



## christomacin

Copland's own recording of "El Salon Mexico" is one of the best:


----------

