There comes a time when you just have to grow up and face the fact that
Aaron Copland really was the great American composer of the twentieth century. Everyone knows his music and everyone loves his music. And the more
Copland you listen to, the better he gets. Even his film scores have great stuff in them. The big tunes, the populist rhetoric, the brilliant orchestral colors, and the sense of awe and transcendence that are the hallmarks of his best music can be heard in his film music. In this recording by
Leonard Slatkin and the
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra,
Copland's film music gets the full Technicolor treatment. Their music from The Red Pony has its humor, grandeur, and an aching lyricism. Their suite from Our Town has its stoicism and its romanticism. The suite from The Heiress has its pathos and irony. Their Music for Movies has its bathos and bombast. And their closing Prairie Journal has its epic scope and occasionally trivial tunes.
Slatkin leads with energy and conviction. The
St. Louis plays with subtleness and strength. RCA's early-'90s digital sound is warm and rich and full.