Copland: The Tender Land Suite / Piano Concerto / Old American Songs

"This is another collection of American classics that deserves the highest praise. With exemplary playing, singing and an acoustic to match this is plainly indispensable. And the song texts are included as well, which is a welcome bonus. Buy it and enjoy."
(MusicWeb Bargain of the Month July 2008)

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 Landis 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.