Aaron Copland: Old American Songs

Aaron Copland: Old American Songs

Aaron Copland: Old American Songs
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CD Details

Performer: Thomas Hampson
Composer: Aaron Copland
Conductor: Hugh Wolff
Orchestra: Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Performer: Dawn Upshaw
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1994-05-31
Music Label: Teldec
Soundtracks:
  1. Old American Songs (Orchestral Version): The Boatmen's Dance
  2. Old American Songs (Orchestral Version): The Dodger
  3. Old American Songs (Orchestral Version): Long Time Ago
  4. Old American Songs (Orchestral Version): Simple Gifts
  5. Old American Songs (Orchestral Version): I Bought Me A Cat
  6. Old American Songs (Orchestral Version): The Little Horses
  7. Old American Songs (Orchestral Version): Zion's Walls
  8. Old American Songs (Orchestral Version): The Golden Willow Tree
  9. Old American Songs (Orchestral Version): At The River
  10. Old American Songs (Orchestral Version): Ching-A-Ring Chaw
  11. Down A Country Lane
  12. Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: Nature, The Gentlest Mother
  13. Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: There Came A Wind Like A Bugle
  14. Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: The World Feels Dusty
  15. Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: Heart, We Will Forget Him!
  16. Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: Dear March, Come In!
  17. Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: Sleep Is Supposed To Be
  18. Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: Going To Heaven!
  19. Eight Poems Of Emily Dickinson: The Chariot
  20. Billy The Kid: Waltz
  21. Billy The Kid (Selection): Prairie Night
  22. Billy The Kid (Seletion): Celebration Dance

Music reviews of Aaron Copland: Old American Songs

Music Review: Ambassadors of American Song
Rating: 5 Stars

Baritone Thomas Hampson, soprano Dawn Upshaw, and Hugh Wolff conducting the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra combine in this memorable CD to offer a program featuring songs of the American composer, Aaron Copland (1900 --1990). While American popular song has spread worldwide, too many listeners remain unaware of American achievement in the realm of the art song.

To remedy this situation, Thomas Hampson is currently on tour under the auspices of the Library of Congress in a project describing the history of creativity in the United States. He has been described as the "Ambassador of American Song", has founded the Hampsong Foundation to promote the American art song, and works tirelessly to bring American song to the attention of a wide audience. Dawn Upshaw has enjoyed wide renown as an opera singer as well as a singer of song. I became familiar with Hugh Wolff during his tenure as the associate conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra under Rostropovich. For many years, he has conducted the highly-regarded St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. The combination of Copland, Hampson, Upshaw and Wolff on this CD is irresistable.

The CD features two groups of orchestral songs. Hampson performs Copland's "Old American Songs," two sets of five songs each that Copland arranged for small orchestra in 1955. These songs consist of American tunes of various origins that Copland transformed and arranged peerlessly for orchestra. In their naivity and Americana, these songs capture something precious in the spirit of the United States. The songs include the famous "Simple Gifts" that became the centerpiece of Copland's "Appalachian Spring." The collection includes sentimental love songs, ("Long Time Ago"), a humorous and timely political campaign song ("The Dodger") that Hampson seems particularly to enjoy, spirituals ("At the River"), children's songs, and ministrel songs ( a lively "Boatman's Dance" initially composed by Daniel Emmett, the composer of "Dixie"). It is difficult to think of a more appealing and accessible introduction to American song than this collection. Hampson sings with gusto and enthusiasm. He is obviously enjoying himself and the music.

Copland's orchestral setting of eight poems by Emily Dickinson offers a different form of art song. Copland initially set 12 Dickinson poems for voice and piano and arranged 8 of these settings for orchestra. These songs are thorough-composed and follow closely Dickinson's shifting and unconventional poetic meter. Ms. Upshaw sings in a declamatory, intense way. In common with the setting of American songs, Copland's Dickinson songs show a transparent, light orchestration in which the wind instruments, in particular, are used to great effect to set the stage for the music. Copland's settings and Ms. Upshaw's singing capture the enigmatic character of this difficult but beloved American poet. Dickinson's poems are untitled, and Copland generally took the opening lines as the title of his settings. Of the eight songs, "Heart we will forget him", singing of a frustrated love, has deep poignancy. Dickinson's feelings and ambivalences towards religion are explored in "The World Feels Dusty", "Going to Heaven" and "The Chariot" which begins with the famous line, "Because I would not stop for Death, /He kindly stopped for me." Copland's setting of "Nature the Gentlest Mother" is for the most part in a pastoral mood with an opening solo for the flute. "There came a wind like a bugle" is dramatic and declamatory. Copland captures the angular, brisk character of a spring wind in "Dear March, Come In!" and the song "Sleep is supposed to be" features a moderatly paced melody with accompaniment in the winds. Copland's Dickinson settings are a high point in American art song.

The CD also includes two works for the St Chamber Orchestra alone. Copland's gentle "Down a Country Lane" is a work of under three minutes that has become one of the most famous of his compositions. The three selections from "Billy the Kid" with which the CD concludes show Copland integrating American folk tunes, in the manner of Charles Ives, with his own material and with masterful orchestration. Listen to the bassoon waltz theme in the opening "Waltz", the winds and brass exchanging themes in the plaintive "Prairie Night" and the big drum crashes and the use of the winds in the finale, "Celebration Dance".

The CD includes the texts of all the songs, together with French and German translations.

This CD will appeal to both new and experienced lovers of music. Hampson, together with Ms. Upshaw and Maestro Wolff, serve well as "Ambassadors of American Song" on this release.
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