Orchestral Works 4 - Symphonies

BBC Philharmonic, John Wilson

‘I hope you will knuckle down to a good symphony’, wrote Samuel Barber in September 1944 to his fellow composer Aaron Copland: ‘We deserve it of you, and your career is all set for it.’ It was a strange thing to say given that Copland had already composed a variety of symphonies, albeit admittedly all more experimental than Barber might have preferred. The fourth volume in the highly acclaimed Copland series from John Wilson and the BBC Philharmonic opens with the resoundingly successful Symphony No. 3 (1944 – 46). The optimistic spirit of this work resonated perfectly with the euphoria of post-war America, resulting in its becoming an emblem of US nationalism. This lesser-recorded original version comes complete with the twelve bars which Bernstein later suggested cutting from the fourth movement.

Copland:
 Symphony No. 3
 Connotations
 Down a Country Lane
 Letter from Home

"A spectacular recording of the Third Symphony and other, less well-known works."
MusicWeb International - November 2018

"Sonically, the Chandos recording [of the Symphony] has enormous impact…But the interpretation itself is too soft-grained and often oddly tentative…Wilson and the orchestra are far more successful in Connotations…Here, there’s urgency and rhythmic vitality in abundance, yet the interpretation as a whole is more refined and varied than Bernstein’s…Wilson’s performance is the most compelling and imaginative we’ve had yet."
Gramophone Magazine - December 2018

"...voortreffelijke uitvoering en een fenomenale opnamekwaliteit."
LUISTER MAGAZINE 738 - Luister TIEN