ProStudioMasters.com

Grammy Award nomination - Producer of the Year, Classical, 2016 "Leonard Slatkin has a long history of delivering excellent Copland performances and this new release is no exception." - ClassicsToday.com "Recording of the Month ... the orchestral blend is impressive and the level of detail, especially in the score’s quiet stretches, is quite exceptional ... I was also struck by the spontaneity of Slatkin’s reading and the way he makes the music sound newly minted ... this performance, bright and sunny, really is rooted in the great outdoors ... as for the DSO, they respond to Copland’s gentle interludes with hushed intensity ... Slatkin’s Appalachian Spring is one of the most illuminating performances of this American classic that I’ve ever heard. Bravo, bravo and thrice bravo!" - MusicWeb International This is the second volume in the Complete Ballet series devoted to Aaron Copland from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and multiple Grammy-winning conductor Leonard Slatkin. The programme includes the rarely heard Hear Ye! Hear Ye!, a ballet Copland wrote for dancer and choreographer Ruth Page. He infused the score with the spirit of his jazz-influenced pieces, controversially distorting part of The Star-Spangled Banner and infiltrating music from some of his earlier works. In complete contrast, Appalachian Spring is his most famous composition, a true American masterpiece founded on transfigured dance tunes and song melodies.