There’s something very
fresh and innocent about the original
score for Copland’s ballet Appalachian
Spring. The background to the composition
of the work is now well known – especially
how, as Copland has said, the composer
wasn’t informed of the title of the
work until after he had completed the
score! Yet how well the music fits its
title! This is the well known orchestral
suite played by the thirteen instruments
for which it was conceived. Much as
I love the full orchestral version it
can, at times, seem overblown for such
simple, straightforward, homely, music
– ’tis the gift to be simple,
as they say – and in this performance
simplicity is to the fore.
When I first heard
the original scoring, in Copland’s own
1973 recording of the complete (32 minute)
score, with the Columbia Chamber Ensemble,
I was struck by how much Stravinsky
there was in the music; rhythmically,
this is a very strong work. In that
performance, Copland is at pains to
point each movement, make it tell in
its own way, as if he were conducting
for the dance. It made Appalachian
Spring a stronger work for this
approach. I have never heard it performed
that way since. I should point out that
with all the colours available, this
approach isn’t necessary in the orchestral
version. Having heard the Copland version,
and lived with it for over twenty years,
this performance seems a little bland.
It is beautiful, to be sure, every note
is well placed, the ensemble plays beautifully,
the balance is superb, it is, as I wrote
earlier, simplicity itself, but there’s
no elevation; the music never really
takes flight. A real sense of real action
is missing. Interestingly, at the climax
at 11:57 something happens and we seem
to be in a different performance. There
is a much better sense of the music,
more involvement and to the end there’s
a sense of purpose which I felt missing
from the earlier music.
A mere seven seconds
separate this from the thornier Nonet
for strings. During the 1950s Copland
took an interest in serialism and wrote
several works with his own distinctive
use of the technique – the Piano
Fantasy (1955), and the orchestral
works Connotations (1962) and
Inscape (1967). Written in this,
new style, Nonet was not favourably
received at its première but
these days it poses no problems, indeed,
it is a most lyrical work. The scoring,
for three each of violins, violas and
cellos, is clear and clean, with no
heaviness in the bass, which could so
easily happen. This is a lovely performance,
warm and friendly.
A too short nine second
pause separates mature Copland from
early Copland – the Two Pieces for
string quartet. The second piece
was written first as the second part
of an Hommage à Fauré
and it’s based on the letters of his
name, married to a bit of jazz and bi-tonality.
The first piece is an intense Lento
molto which is eloquent in its straightforward
way. It’s not to be confused with a
Lento espressivo for quartet
from 1923, which stands as a separate
work. Here the Lento is very
good, but the Rondino lacks bounce.
These are serviceable
performances and, in the main, quite
enjoyable, but there are better interpretations
available. Copland’s own recordings
of Appalachian Spring alone (Sony
MT 30649 – coupled with A Lincoln
Portrait (with Henry Fonda) and
the Suite from Billy the Kid)
or with the Nonet (made in 1962).
This is on Sony 89323 (2 CDs) – A Copland
Celebration Volume 1, coupled with composer-led
performances of lots of popular Copland
and a 17 minute rehearsal for the ensemble
version of Appalachian Spring.
The Two Pieces are better served
by the Ciompi Quartet (Albany TROY 073,
coupled with the Lento espressivo
and the First Quartets of Robert Ward
and Stephen Jaffe).
Bob Briggs
St Luke’s Chamber Ensemble/Dennis Russell
Davies 
[50:06]
