JAMES SEDARES & PHOENIX SYMPHONY: THE TENDER LAND, THE RED PONY, THREE LATIN AMERCAN SKETCHES

I want to thank my friend Wimpel for permitting me to post his rip of this nice CD.

Aaron Copland's The Tender Land was to be the first opera written for television, but NBC rejected it. Copland revised it, but later performances weren't well received. Hard to believe, from just the suite. This is vintage--if unfamiliar--Copland. The Red Pony comes from the film of the same name and is quite understated, something that was intentional on Copland's part: he didn't want the music to obtrude on the film's story. The real surprise here is how well the Phoenix Symphony comports itself under Sedares's baton. Nicely balanced, excellent sound. Highly recommended. Paul Cook

Aaron Copland was the composer who best personified the American style of classical music, having composed works that reflected all aspects of America: its big cities ("Music For A Great City"); its small towns ("Our Town") and its wide open spaces ("Rodeo"; "Billy The Kid"). But there is even more to this greatest of composers that our nation has ever produced, as personified on this 1991 recording by the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra and its music director James Sedares.

The recording contains a three-part orchestral suite from the composer's surprisingly unsuccessful 1954 opera "The Tender Land"; a suite from his score for the 1948 film version of John Steinbeck's novel "The Red Pony"; and a true rarity among rarities, the "Three Latin American Sketches" (Estribillo; Paisaje Mexicano; Danza De Jalisco), which were premiered in 1972. This suite, sandwiched between "The Tender Land" and "The Red Pony", makes for a thoroughly interesting comparison with Copland's two earlier Latin-oriented sojourns, "El Salon Mexico" and "Danzon Cubano."

Under Sedares' crisp direction, the Phoenix Symphony shows itself to be very much at home in this great American composer's works. They are almost certainly one of the great regional orchestras in the U.S., capable of standing tall with their bigger bretheren in cities like Los Angeles, Dallas, and New York. This is a wonderful recording for anyone with a taste for Americana and the occasional Latin spicing. E. North

Tender Land (Orchestral Suite from the Opera) (1956)
1. Intro and Love Music
2. Party Scene
3. Finale: The Promise of Living

Three Latin American Sketches (1959,1971)
4. Estibrillo
5. Paisaje Mexicano
6. Danza de Jalisco

Red Pony (Film Suite) (1948)
7. Morning on the Ranch
8. The Gift
9. Dream March
10. Circus Music
11. Walk to the Bunkhouse
12. Grandfather's Story
13. Happy Ending

The Phoenix Symphony
James Sedares (conductor)
Recorded May, 1991 at Symphony Hall, Phoenix, AZ USA