Search - Aaron Copland, Leo Smit (piano) :: Copland: The Young Pioneers (The Complete Music for Solo Piano)

Aaron Copland, Leo Smit (piano)
Copland: The Young Pioneers (The Complete Music for Solo Piano)
Genres: Soundtracks, Classical

Track Listings (12) - Disc #1
1. The Cat and the Mouse, scherzo humoristique for piano
2. Piano Variations
3. In Evening Air, for piano (arr. from film 'The Cummington Story)
4. Passacaglia, for piano
5. Piano Sonata: Molto moderato
6. Piano Sonata: Vivace
7. Piano Sonata: Andante sostenuto
8. Midday Thoughts, for piano (completed by Peekskill, 1962)
9. Proclamation, for piano (completed by Peerskill 1982; also arr. for orch. by Ramey)
10. Moods (3), for piano: 1. Embittered
11. Moods (3), for piano: 2. Wistful
12. Moods (3), for piano: 3. Jazzy
Track Listings (12) - Disc #2
1. Petit Portrait (ABE), for piano
2. Sentimental Melody (Slow Dance), for piano
3. Piano Fantasy
4. Piano Blues (4): 1. Freely Poetic (for Leo Smit)
5. Piano Blues (4): 2. Soft and Languid (for Andor Foldes)
6. Piano Blues (4): 3. Muted and Sensuous (for William Kapell)
7. Piano Blues (4): 4. With Bounce (for John Kirkpatrick)
8. Midsummer Nocturne, for piano
9. Children's Pieces (2), for piano: The Young Pioneers
10. Children's Pieces (2), for piano: Sunday Afternoon Music
11. Down a Country Lane, for piano (or school orchestra)
12. Night Thoughts--Hommage to Ives. for piano

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CD Details

All Artists: Aaron Copland, Leo Smit (piano)
Title: Copland: The Young Pioneers (The Complete Music for Solo Piano)
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Sony
Original Release Date: 1/1/1994
Re-Release Date: 8/23/1994
Genres: Soundtracks, Classical
Styles: Ballets & Dances, Dances, Forms & Genres, Fantasies, Short Forms, Sonatas, Variations, Historical Periods, Modern, 20th, & 21st Century
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaCD Credits: 2
UPC: 074646634523

Synopsis

Amazon.com

Most of this set was recorded for LP in 1978, but Leo Smit returned to the studios in 1993 to add some recently discovered short pieces. Smit, a friend of Copland and a composer himself, plays all of Copland's piano music with great comprehension. He sustains the flow throughout the difficult half-hour Piano Fantasy, though he doesn't create as much excitement in the Piano Variations as the composer did in 1935 on 78s (now on Pearl GEMM CD 9279). Much of Copland's piano music is occasional works or pieces for students, but the major works in the set make it well worth hearing. --Leslie Gerber

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CD Reviews

Copland's Growing Musical Style

Robert W. Allen | Northfield Falls, Vermont United States | 11/06/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Leo Smit has done more than just give us a complete collection of the piano music of Aaron Copland. In doing so, he has also given us a sizeable record of Copland's growth as a composer stretching from the angry tones of the Passacaglia and the Piano Variations, to the majestic and sometimes poetic Piano Fantasy, and beyond. The two CD's also showcase Copland in his many moods, sometimes light hearted and fun as in the Scherzo Humoristique and the second movement of the Piano Sonata, or sometimes nostalgic as in Down a Country Lane or the third movement of the Piano Sonata. This is a must-have for all Copland fans."

Stringent and Acerbic

Robert Carlberg | Seattle | 04/15/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"These days Copland is mainly known for his pastorales (Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, Fanfare, Billy The Kid) but during his lifetime he was equally on the frontier of modernist non-programmatic composing. The Complete Music for Solo Piano reminds us of this forgotten coin, with uncompromising, even harsh-sounding keyboard excursions of Schoenbergian/Webernist ferocity. Leo Smit's interpretation is translucent and illuminative, with enough delicacy to bring out the inner lyricism in these troubled stormclouds."

American Piano Music

Ellis Louis Marsalis, Jr. | New Orleans, LA USA | 02/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It was a pleasure to hear the complete piano music of Copland. Pianist Leo Smit brings pleasure and enlightment to the listeners ear. Who better than an American pianist to interpret the music of Copland.

Ellis L. Marsalis, Jr"