Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Pasternack, Robert Hanson, Nathaniel Stampley, Jeffrey Hunt, St. Charles Singers - Copland: The Tender Land Suite, Piano Concerto, Old American Songs (2015)

Tracklist

01. The Tender Land Suite: I. Introduction and Love Music
02. The Tender Land Suite: II. Party Scene
03. The Tender Land Suite: III. Finale: The Promise of Living
04. Piano Concerto: I. Andante Sostenuto
05. Piano Concerto: II. Molto Moderato, Allegro Assai
06. Old American Songs I (arr. I. Fine for chorus): I. The Boatmen's Dance
07. Old American Songs I (arr. I. Fine for chorus): II. The Dodger
08. Old American Songs I (arr. I. Fine for chorus): III. Long Time Ago
09. Old American Songs I (arr. I. Fine for chorus): IV. Simple Gifts
10. Old American Songs I (arr. I. Fine for chorus): V. I Bought Me a Cat
11. Old American Songs II (arr. for chorus): I. The Little Horses (arr. R. Wilding-White)
12. Old American Songs II (arr. for chorus): II. Zion's Walls (arr. G. Koponen)
13. Old American Songs II (arr. for chorus): III. The Golden Willow Tree
14. Old American Songs II (arr. for chorus): IV. At the River (arr. R. Wilding-White)
15. Old American Songs II (arr. for chorus): V. Ching-a-ring Chaw (arr. I. Fine)

Aaron Copland’s little-known opera The Tender Land takes place on a farm in the American South during the Depression. The composer later wrote, “I was trying to give young American singers material that they do not often get in the opera house... The result was closer to musical comedy than grand opera.” The suite that Copland extracted from The Tender Land is in three movements, with the second and third linked without pause. The 1926 Piano Concerto, like Gershwin’s Concerto of the previous year, is a 1920s “New York” piece – brassy, exuberant, ever confident in its bluesy swagger. Copland composed two sets of Old American Songs, originally for voice and piano but heard here transcribed for chorus and orchestra.

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