Telarc LP Fanfare For The Common Man - Sealed

$

40

This LP contains three of Aaron Copland's more popular works: "Fanfare for the Common Man"; "Rodeo," and "Appalachian Spring." Louis Lane conducts the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and they play Copland's works well.

A few brief comments about each. "Fanfare for the Common Man" is one of my favorite fanfares. The name alone biases me in its favor. But the cadence is wonderful, beginning with percussion. Then, the soaring horn. Then percussion again. 3:14 of wondrous, powerful music. I often get goose bumps listening to this short piece. The liner notes comment that the key to this work's continuing popularity is ". . .the soaring, heroic character of its opening trumpet line. . . ."

"Rodeo" is another enjoyable work. Its four movements go from "Buckaroo Holiday" to the well known "Hoe Down.""Buckaroo Holiday" is a lively piece and will be familiar to many. It begins with a toe-tapping introduction, The final movement, "Hoe Down," has been used as a theme in advertisements put out by beef growers in the U. S, (as I recall, Robert Mitchum was one of the early pitchmen in this ad, with Copland's work backing him up). This is another fast-paced, lively piece. Its energy is maintained throughout. The title, "Hoe Down," is lived up to by the music (and by this performance) and if I could dance I'd probably get up and dance!

The final piece is the 22 minute "Appalachian Spring." The song "Simple Gifts" serves as a theme interspersed here and there. This work starts out at a slow, contemplative pace. This is a good version of Copland's composition.

All in all, this is a good version of these three works. If you like Copland, I would suspect that you would like this LP.

Track Listing:
  
Fanfare for the Common Man
Rodeo Suite
(Buckaroo Holiday)
(Corral Nocturne)
(Saturday Night Waltz)
(Hoe-Down)
Appalachian Spring
 

Recorded on the Telarc Label May 24,1982 and released in 1982 and is catalog number DG 10078
 
Appalachian Spring won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1945 and is widely regarded as a masterpiece. These recordings by Louis Lane are everything one could want in terms of brilliant sound and energetic, yet thoughtful performance. The intriguing cross-rhythms of Rodeo are especially well delineated, as are the moments of atmospheric repose and nostalgia in both works. I confess I actually enjoyed them.

Copland, Aaron: Third Symphony, Appalachian Spring, Fanfare For the Common Man Fanfare for the Common Man is one of the most recognizable pieces of 20th Century American classical music.

One of composer Aaron Copland's most popular works, the fanfare is a short piece scored for brass and percussion written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra . Minnesota Orchestra, conduced by Eiji Oue. Recorded in 2000, at Orchestral Hall, Minneapolis. Engineer: Keith Johnson. 72+ minutes. Reference Recordings RR-93. This is a sensational recording, even without HDCD (High Definition Compatible Digital) A digital processing technique that increases fidelity on audio CDs, developed by Keith Johnson and Michael "Pflash" Pflaumer.  decoding. The detail, spread, and depth are all one could ask for with two-channel reproduction, and the spatiality approaches what you would get with a surround-sound transcription and extra channels.

Interestingly, I compared it directly to Telarc's championship-grade recording of the Fanfare and Appalachian Spring, done in 1982 (DG10078), and the two releases were roughly equal in sonic quality.

Indeed, the Telarc Fanfare actually has a bit more snap and bass-drum impact, although a lengthy comparison of the two The Appalachian Spring works showed the Reference Recordings version to have a more surround-like feel, with better hall ambiance. Telarc also did the Third Symphony in 1989, again with the Atlanta Symphony (80201), and in this case the results were a near-tie, with the RR version perhaps having a bit better sense of hall spaciousness.

Twenty-five years ago, founders Jack Renner and Robert Woods—two former musicians and music teachers—set out to raise the standard of excellence for recording classical music. Operating on instincts and shoestring budgets, their fledgling company, Telarc Records, tapped into the budding revolutionary recording system from Soundstream Inc. Developed by former MIT guru Dr. Thomas Stockham, the Soundstream system digitally captured a substantially cleaner and broader sonic picture than traditional analog recording techniques.

Telarc’s maiden voyage on the Soundstream system was a recording of the Cleveland Symphonic Winds led by Frederick Fennell. With its ‘bass drum heard round the world,’ this collction of works by Holst, Handel and Bach was the first commercially released digital recording of classical music in he United States.

Two and a half decades later, Telarc reamains a leader in digitally recorded music—not just in its flagship genre of classical music, but now in jazz and blues as well—with a catalog of more than 600 recordings. Since 1980, the label has been honored with thirty-six Grammy Awards for performance, production and engineering. Other significant awards over the years have included the French Grande Prix du Disque and Diapason d’Or, Japan’s Record of the Year, and Germany’s Audiophile CD of the Year.

This is a factory sealed, never open edition of this LP from Telarc. The winning bidder will be the first to have that honor.

Being a factory sealed in a loose shrink wrap, I can not attest to its playback quality. However being a Telarc that pretty much says it all. Factory sealed LPs are not returnable or exchangeable for obvious reasons. LP will be packed securely in a USPS approved cardboard LP mailer and insured for the winning bid amount. I can say it has been many years since I have found a factory fresh edition of this work.

Check out my other items for deals on vinyl albums on the classified site of Audiogon.

Shipping is $4.00 in the Continental U.S. via USPS Media Mail or $8.95 via USPS Priority Mail. I only ship to addresses serviced by USPS ONLY!!

Ships in USPS approved cardboard LP mailer.