I Hear America Singing

January 1, 2019, 7:00 pm

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Walt Whitman taught Americans how to hear their country sing in his 1860 poem. Composer Aaron Copland took up Whitman’s call and fashioned his Lincoln Portrait as part of an expressive musical landscape of the country in the early 20th century. Bill reveals the extraordinary Americanness captured in this music — and in election speeches incorporated into operas such as Douglas Moore’s Ballad of Baby Doe — then through the music of Ives, Barber, Ellington, Gershwin, and Mark O’Connor.

Playlist

Episode 1

Aaron Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man
LSO/Copland
Copland Conducts Copland
CBS 42430; 3:14

Johann Friedrich Peter: Quintet No. 2 for Strings, I
American Moravian Chamber Ensemble
Antes: String Trios/ Peter: String Quintets
New World 80507; 7:13

William Billings: “Chester”
Gregg Smith Singers
The Continental Harmony (Music of William Billings)
Columbia Masterworks MS 7277; 1:56

William Schuman: New England Triptych
St. Louis Symphony/Slatkin
Symphony No. 10 / New England Triptych / American Festival Overture
RCA 09026-61282; 15:16

Anonymous: “Tippecanoe & Tyler Too” + excerpts
Chester Brass Company and Friends
Tippecanoe And Tyler Too – A Collection Of American Political Marches, Songs, And Dirges
Newport 85548; 1:40, 1:29, :15, :43

Traditional: “Shenendoah”
Gunn, baritone; Murphy, piano
Debut – American Anthem – From Ragtime To Art Song
EMI 73160; 2:55

Jacques Offenbach: American Eagle Waltz
Cincinnati Pops/Kunzel; Collins, trumpet
Concerto Rondo; Four Orchestral Pieces
Vox 9011; 6:05

Douglas Moore: “The Ballad of Baby Doe” (excerpt)
New York City Opera Chorus & Orchestra/Bailey; Hecht, baritone
The Ballad of Baby Doe
DG 465148; 6:07

Aaron Copland: “The Dodger”
Columbia Symphony/Copland; Warfield, baritone
Copland Conducts Copland
CBS 42430; 2:03

Episode 2

Trad., arr. Seeger: American folk tunes for piano (excerpts)
Virginia Eskin, piano
Music of Marion Bauer and Ruth Crawford Seeger
Albany Troy 297; :33

Stephen Foster: “Beautiful Dreamer”
Fiddle Fever/Ungar; Hampson, baritone
American Dreamer – Songs Of Stephen Foster
EMI 54621; 3:52

Trad., arr. Hayes: “Lit’l Boy” & “Honor, Honor”
Joubert, piano; Quivar, mezzo-soprano
Ride on, King Jesus!
EMI 49885; 2:50, 1:57

Roy Harris: Symphony No. 6, I
Pacific Symphony/Clark
Harris: Symphony No. 6 “Gettysburg;” Copland: Songs On Poems Of Emily Dickinson
Varèse Sarabande 47245; 7:00

Aaron Copland: Lincoln Portrait
Seattle Symphony/Schwarz; Jones, narrator
Portraits Of Freedom – Copland, Harris
Delos 3140; 14:26

Charles Ives: Symphony No. 3, The Camp Meeting, finale
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra/Davies
Appalachian Spring; Short Symphony; Symphony No. 3
Pro Arte 140; 7:01

Charles Ives: Symphony No. 2, finale
New York Phil/ Bernstein
Symphony No. 2 • Central Park In The Dark • The Unanswered Question • Tone Roads No. 1 • Hymn For Strings • Hallowe’en • The Gong On The Hook And Ladder
DG 474944; 10:03

Episode 3

Stuart Balcomb: Ellis Island
Quintet of the Americas
Never sing before Breakfast
Newport 85512; 2:38

Antonín Dvorák: Quartet for Strings no 12 in F major, Op. 96/B 179, American, I
Guarneri Quartet
String Quartets – Streichquartette: ‘From My Life’ / “American”
Philips 420803; 9:15

Frederick Delius: Florida Suite, I
English Symphony/Boughton
Vaughan Williams: The Wasps, Etc; Delius / Boughton
Nimbus 5208; 11:55

Virgil Thomson: Prologue from The Plow that Broke the Plains
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra/Marriner
Music for the Films “The River” & “The Plow That Broke the Plains”
EMI 47715; 12:37

George Gershwin: Concerto in F for Piano, finale
San Francisco Symphony/Thomas; Ohlsson, piano
The Wind Beneath my wings
RCA 60862; 6:48

George Gershwin: “Rialto Ripples”
Pennario, piano
Gottschalk, Joplin, Gershwin / Joshua Rifkin, Leonard Pennario
Angel 64668; 2:06

George Gershwin: Great American Songbook (excerpts)
Watts, piano
Great Pianists of the 20th Century
Philips 456985; 5:19

Episode 4

Aaron Copland: Symphony No. 3, I
LSO/Copland
Billy the Kid
Everest 9040; 9:29

Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings
Philadelphia Orchestra/Ormandy
In Memoriam
Angel Records DS 538270; 6:21

Duke Ellington: “Come Sunday”
Flanagan, piano
The Tommy Flanagan Trio
Original Jazz Classics 182; 3:35

Leonard Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
NY Phil/ Bernstein
Bernstein Century – Bernstein: Candide Overture
Sony 63085; 20:52

Henry Cowell: Aeolian Harp & The Banshee
Cowell, piano
Gay American Composers Vol. 2
CRI 750; 1:35, 1:45

Mark O’Connor: Spring from American Seasons
Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra/Yoo; O’Connor, violin
Mark O’Connor: The American Seasons
Sony 89660; 7:44

Episode 5

John Knowles Payne: Symphony No. 1, I
NY Phil/Mehta
Symphony No. 1/Overture to As You Like It
New World 374; 11:04

Charles Griffes: The White Peacock
Dallas Symphony Orchestra/Litton
Dorian Recordings 90224; 5:05

Edward MacDowell: Piano Concerto No. 2, I
CSO/Hendl; Van Cliburn, piano
Concerto No. 2
RCA 68480; 13:18

Lukas Foss: Early Song
BSO/Ozawa; Perlman, violin
The American Album
Angel 55360; 4:56

Morton Gould: Amber Waves
London Phil/Klein
A Tribute
Albany 202; 7:04

Trad., arr. Charles: “America the Beautiful”
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Sings for America
Rhino Records 76098; 3:34

Mark O’Connor: Appalachia Waltz
Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra/Yoo; O’Connor, violin
The American Seasons
Sony 89660; 5:44