Search - Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Christopher Hogwood :: Music for the Theatre Vol. 2

"Christopher Hogwood leads near ideal performances?and they respond well to his crisp, period-instrument-influenced approach?wholly recommendable." - CLASSICSTODAY [on Vol. 1] In June 1942, Erick Hawkins, the first man to join Martha Graham?s dance company, approached Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, the great Maecenas of contemporary chamber music, with the idea of commissioning a score from Aaron Copland for Graham. More than two years later, after many postponements, Appalachian Spring was first performed at the Library of Congress on October 30, 1944. Copland was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his score the following year, and the Orchestral Suite from the Ballet has become one of the most popular classics of American music. Listeners familiar with the Suite will be surprised to hear the sonorities and additional music from the original 13-instrument version. Copland originally entitled his work Ballet for Martha. Graham found her title Appalachian Spring in a poem by Hart Crane. Copland wrote Music for the Theatre during the summer of 1925, the very first work commissioned by the newly founded League of Composers. Its score is permeated with the spirit of jazz. Samuel Barber?s Capricorn Concerto was premiered in New York on October 8, 1944. It is designed like a Baroque Concerto Grosso, with the same instrumentation as Bach?s second Brandenburg Concerto. The Kammerorchester Basel (KOB) is one of the leading chamber orchestras of Europe in international demand. The KOB is an orchestra without a permanent conductor. The musicians themselves create the unique artistic profile of the orchestra by participating in the selection of conductors, soloists and repertoire. Christopher Hogwood, pioneer of historical performance practice, is the KOB?s Principal Guest Conductor, and it was he who started this acclaimed recording project on Arte Nova a few years ago. Since founding The Academy of Ancient Music in 1973, Hogwood has gained international recognition for his performances of baroque and early classical repertoire with period instruments. For more than 40 years, he has also been performing music of the twentieth century, with a particular affinity for the neobaroque and neoclassical schools including many works by Stravinsky, Martinù and others.