Aaron Copland - Appalachian Spring Suite (original version for 13 instruments) 1970

Dennis Russell Davies, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble
Introduction of Characters - 00:16
Display of Action - 3:34
Pas de Deux for the Bridge and Groom - 6:12
Revival Meeting - 9:43
Bride's Solo - 13:10
Reprise of the Introduction - 17:17
Shaker theme, "The Gift to Be Simple" and variations - 18:39
Coda - 21:32
"Collaboration with Martha Graham brought Copland’s name to a larger public. Originally titled Ballet for Martha and commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, this ballet won the Music Critics Circle Award. The orchestral suite garnered a Pulitzer Prize and soon became a beloved staple of orchestras worldwide. After Bernstein conducted the Suite in 1946, he wrote to his friend: “I manage somehow to borrow some of that fantastic stability of yours, that deep serenity. It is really amazing how the clouds lift with that last page.” It was not until Copland's seventieth birthday that he revived the original thirteen instrument version of Appalachian Spring. Such is the demand for this piece that the full ballet score has also been made available. In whatever format, this music, with its sensitive use of the Shaker tune, "The Gift To Be Simple," has an intimacy and beauty that the public has taken directly to its heart."
-Vivian Perlis, 1998

[@MegaFount]

Beautiful! Evocative and touching.

[@papir4745]

This is pure love ❤️✨

[@michelprezman51]

This is not corny, it is poetry.

[@user-sc2vk1dv8q]

Straight up lovely!

[@AndewMole]

thank you!

[@mikebee6786]

Fantastic ...Reminds of Watching Whitewater Sam

[@TomasGonzalez0617]

anyone has the score for this? can't seem to find it on IMSLP

[@jack50806]

20:22

[@hyocho8639]

3:33
6:12

[@gordon9232]

always found american style classical corny sounding, except Dvoraks 9th

[@sandrobirnbaumer5444]

And Dvorak was czech

[@gordon9232]

@@sandrobirnbaumer5444 yea its funny that a European composer wrote a better American piece than any American ever did (at least to me)

[@waltergold3457]

@@gordon9232 Agreed, Gordon - as I've commented here, America has plenty of great folk music, but its formal composition is a national disgrace. I'm looking at you, Charles Ives. 🙂

[@TheAluvisify]

@@gordon9232 Nothing about Dvorak's music is American. It was "inspired" by the scenery and his experiences in America, but none of the actual music is American. Saying that his 9th symphony is an "American piece" is a high degree of ignorance.

[@neclark08]

...then By ALL Means, STOP Listening to American Concert music...

[@waltergold3457]

How would you like to be a mediocre composer remembered primarily for "adapting" - plagiarizing - a folk song? 🤔

[@allenhubbard7090]

If the Shakers don't mind, why should you? "Simple Gifts" is in the public domain. Mendelssohn used Luther's "Ein Feste Burg" in his Fifth "Reformation" Symphony and Dvorak Put "Goin' Home" in his 9th (New World) Symphony. --Happy listening!

[@Ronritdds]

Since the beginnings of Western music, composers have borrowed. Go look up how many medieval and Renaissance pieces are based on the Folk Song called (in English) The Armed Man. See what folk tunes are in Mahler's Symphony #1. Look at all the old Hymn tunes Bach borrowed, or Vaughan Williams' beautiful Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis.

[@waltergold3457]

@@Ronritdds So it's adaptation when Aaron Copland wittingly steals an anonymous song like "Simple Gifts" but it's plagiarism when Richard Strauss unwittingly steals, and is sued for stealing, a composed song like "Funiculi, Funicula"? OK. (Naturally, the issue is more complex - one must always take into account how the composer improved on his ore (the basis of "fair use" copyright leeway) - but we seem to agree that Copland, whose most famous piece is indeed this bit from "Appalachian Spring", was a mediocre scribbler who couldn't write memorable tunes of his own. Even he, by his own attestation, shrank from, as a bridge too far, filching "Home on the Range" for "Rodeo" (but not, by the way, "Bonaparte's Retreat", which is doubtless why the hoedown is the best of that otherwise forgettable effusion). Lenny had a spotty record when it comes to the composers whom he chose to champion. 🙂

[@waltergold3457]

@@allenhubbard7090 Dvorak did a lot more with "Goin' Home" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" than merely quote them. Please see my reply to Ron - thanks! 🙂

[@Ronritdds]

@@waltergold3457 yes regarding Strauss, that's the law. He used a composed copyrighted piece. Folk tunes have been used in classical music for 1000 years.

[@Dylonely42]

18:38

[@Dylonely42]

20:57

[@niceclaup1]

😂i came for the hits