As our nation turns our minds and hearts to vote Exploring Music will celebrate America’s unique voice in music and poetry. Walt Whitman taught Americans how to hear their country sing in his 1860 poem “I Hear America Sing”. 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 American-ness 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 Charles Ives, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, and Mark O’Connor.
I Hear America Singing
American Flag being waved around
Playlist
Episode 1
Copland, Aaron: “Fanfare for the Common Man”
London Symphony Orchestra/Copland
Copland Conducts Copland
CBS 42430
3:12
Foster, Stephen: “Suwannee River”
Gregg Smith Singers
The Continental Harmony (Music of William Billings)
Columbia Masterworks MS 7277
1:28
Peter, Johann: Quintet No. 2 for Strings, I.
American Moravian Chamber Ensemble
Antes: String Trios/ Peter: String QuintetsNew World 80507
7:13
Billings, William: “Chester”
Gregg Smith Singers
The Continental Harmony (Music of William Billings)
Columbia Masterworks MS 7277
1:56
Schuman, William: New England Triptych
St. Louis Symphony/Leonard Slatkin
Symphony No. 10 – New England Triptych – American Festival Overture
RCA 09026-61282
15:16
Anonymous: “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”
Chestnut Brass Company and Friends
Tippecanoe And Tyler Too – A Collection Of American Political Marches, Songs, And Dirges
Newport 85548
1:40
Anonymous: President Harrison’s funeral march
Chestnut Brass Company and Friends
Tippecanoe And Tyler Too – A Collection Of American Political Marches, Songs, And Dirges
Newport 85548
1:29
Anonymous: “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too”
Chestnut Brass Company and Friends
Tippecanoe And Tyler Too – A Collection Of American Political Marches, Songs, And Dirges
Newport 85548
0:15; 0:43 (excerpts)
Traditional: “Shenandoah”
Nathan Gunn, baritone; Kevin Murphy, piano
Debut – American Anthem – From Ragtime To Art Song
EMI 73160
2:55
Offenbach, Jaques: “American Eagle Waltz”
Cincinnati Pops/Kunzel; Collins, cornet
Concerto Rondo; Four Orchestral Pieces
Vox 9058
6:05
Moore, Douglas: The Ballad of Baby Doe (excerpt)
New York City Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Bailey; Hecht, baritone
The Ballad of Baby Doe
DG 465148
6:07
Copland, Aaron: “The Dodger”
Columbia Symphony/Copland; Warfield, baritone
Copland Conducts Copland
CBS 42430
2:03
Traditional: “Early in the Morning”
Nathan Gunn, baritone; Kevin Murphy, piano
Debut – American Anthem – From Ragtime To Art Song
EMI 73160
0:41
Episode 2
Traditional, arr. Seeger: American folk tunes for piano
“Sweet Betsy from Pike”
Virginia Eskin, piano
Music of Marion Bauer and Ruth Crawford Seeger
Albany Troy 297
0:33
Traditional, arr. Seeger: American folk tunes for piano
“Froggy Went ‘Courting”
Virginia Eskin, piano
Music of Marion Bauer and Ruth Crawford Seeger
Albany Troy 297
0:57
Traditional, arr. Seeger: American folk tunes for piano
“I ride an Old Paint”
Virginia Eskin, piano
Music of Marion Bauer and Ruth Crawford Seeger
Albany Troy 297
0:57
Foster, Stephen: “Beautiful Dreamer”
Fiddle Fever/Ungar; Hampson, baritone
American Dreamer – Songs Of Stephen Foster
EMI 54621
3:52
Traditional, arr. Hayes: “Lit’l Boy”
Joubert, piano; Quivar, mezzo soprano
Ride on, King Jesus!
EMI 49885
2:50
Harris, Roy: Symphony No. 6
I. Awakening
Pacific Symphony/Clark
Harris: Symphony No. 6 “Gettysburg;” Copland:
Songs On Poems of Emily Dickinson
Varese Sarabande 47245
7:00
Copland, Aaron: Lincoln Portrait
Seattle Symphony/Schwarz; James Earl Jones, narrator
Portraits Of Freedom – Copland, Harris
Delos 3140
14:26
Ives, Charles: Symphony No. 3, “The Camp Meeting”
Finale “Communion”
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra/Davies
Appalachian Spring; Short Symphony; Symphony No. 3
Pro Arte 140
7:01
Ives, Charles: Symphony No. 2
Finale
New York Philharmonic/Bernstein
Symphony No. 2 • Central Park In The Dark • The Unanswered Question
Tone Roads No. 1 • Hymn For Strings
DG 474944
10:03
Traditional, arr. Hayes: “Honor, Honor”
Joubert, piano; Quivar, mezzo soprano
Ride on, King Jesus!
EMI 49885
1:57
Episode 3
Balcomb, Stuart: “Ellis Island”
Quintet of the Americas
Never sing before Breakfast
Newport 85512
2:38
Dvorák, Antonin: Quartet for Strings no 12 in F Major, Op. 96, “American”
I. Allegro ma non troppo
Guarneri Quartet
String Quartets – Streichquartette: ‘From My Life,” “American”
Phil 420803
9:15
Delius, Frederick: Florida Suite
I. “Daybreak”
English Symphony/Boughton
Vaughan Williams: The Wasps – Delius
Nimbus 5208
11:55
Thomson, Virgil: The Plow that Broke the Plains
Prologue
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra/Marriner
Music for the Films “The River” & “The Plow That Broke the Plains”
EMI 47715
12:37
Gershwin, George: Concerto in F for Piano
Finale
San Francisco Symphony/Thomas; Ohlsson, piano
The Wind Beneath my wings
RCA 60862
6:48
Gershwin, George: “Rialto Ripples”
Leonard Pennario, piano
Gottschalk, Joplin, Gershwin / Joshua Rifkin, Leonard Pennario
EMI Classics
2:06
Gershwin, George: Great American Songbook (excerpts)
Andre Watts, piano
Great Pianists of the 20th Century
Phil 456985
5:19
Episode 4
Copland, Aaron: Symphony No. 3
I. Molto moderato – with simple expression
London Symphony Orchestra/Copland
Copland conducts Himself Symphony No. 3
Everest 9040
9:29
Barber, Samuel: Adagio for Strings
Philadelphia Orchestra/Ormandy
In Memoriam
Angel Records DS 538270
6:21
Ellington, Duke: “Come Sunday”
Flanagan, piano
The Tommy Flanagan Trio
Original Jazz Classics 182
3:35
Bernstein, Leonard: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
New York Philharmonic/Bernstein
Bernstein Century – Bernstein: Candide Overture
Sony 63085
20:52
Cowell, Henry: “Aeolian Harp”
Henry Cowell, piano
Gay American Composers Vol 2
CRI 750
1:35
Cowell, Henry: “The Banshee”
Henry Cowell, piano
Gay American Composers Vol 2
CRI 750
1:45
O’Connor, Mark: American Seasons: “Spring”
Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra/Yoo; O’Connor, violin
Mark O’Connor: The American Seasons
Sony 89660
7:44
Episode 5
Payne, John Knowles: Symphony No. 1
I. Allegro con brio
New York Philharmonic/Mehta
Symphony No. 1 – Overture to As You Like It
New World 374
11:04
Griffes, Charles: “The White Peacock”
Dallas Symphony Orchestra/Litton
An American Tapestry
Dorian Recordings 90224
5:05
MacDowell, Edward: Piano Concerto No. 2
I. Pesto giocoso
Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Hendl; Van Cliburn, piano
Concerto No. 2
RCA 68480
13:18
Foss, Lukas: “Early Song”
Boston Symphony Orchestra/Ozawa; Perlman, violin
The American Album
Angel 55360
4:56
Gould, Morton: “Amber Waves”
London Philharmonic/Klein
A Tribute
Albany 202
7:04
Trad., arr. Ray Charles: “America the Beautiful”
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Sings for America
Rhino Records 76098
3:34
O’Connor, Mark: “Appalachia Waltz”
Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra/Yoo; O’Connor, violin
The American Seasons
Sony 89660
5:44
