Orch.works: Kunzel / Cincinnati Pops.o

This disc received the 1998 Grammy award for "Best Engineered Album, Classical."
Selections recorded September 11, 1989; September 9, 1991; November 1, 1993; June 6, 1994 and October 29, 1995.
COPLAND - THE MUSIC OF AMERICA is a virtual greatest hits CD, as it contains the composer's most memorable and popular works. And with Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra delivering the goods in this winsome collection of performances, this is a disc that is not to be missed. It opens with 'Fanfare for the Common Man,' a stirring work from its noble opening brass line to its final timpani strike.
In the late 1930s Copland wanted to write a ballet that would counteract the popular Russian idiom of the day. 'Billy the Kid' was the result, the first of three core ballets from Copland. Next came 'Rodeo,' a rollicking work that Copland was initially disinclined to write because he feared repeating himself with another work that utilized American folk idioms. After the success of 'Rodeo,' the composer accepted a commission for yet another distinctly American work, 'Appalachian Spring,' which earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1944. Amidst this feverish work schedule, Copland found time to write 'Quiet City,' a short and a beautifully subdued suite of incidental music for a play that never made it to Broadway.