Track Listing

1. Fanfare for the Common Man, for brass & percussion (from Symphony No. 3)
2. Overture to Candide, for orchestra
3. Adagio for strings (or string quartet; arr. from 2nd mvt. of String Quartet), Op. 11
4. Symphonic Dances (9) from 'West Side Story', for orchestra (orchestrated with Ramin & Kostal): Prologue
5. Symphonic Dances (9) from 'West Side Story', for orchestra (orchestrated with Ramin & Kostal): Somewhere
6. Symphonic Dances (9) from 'West Side Story', for orchestra (orchestrated with Ramin & Kostal): Scherzo
7. Symphonic Dances (9) from 'West Side Story', for orchestra (orchestrated with Ramin & Kostal): Mambo
8. Symphonic Dances (9) from 'West Side Story', for orchestra (orchestrated with Ramin & Kostal): Cha-Cha
9. Symphonic Dances (9) from 'West Side Story', for orchestra (orchestrated with Ramin & Kostal): Meeting Scene
10. Symphonic Dances (9) from 'West Side Story', for orchestra (orchestrated with Ramin & Kostal): 'Cool' Fugue
11. Symphonic Dances (9) from 'West Side Story', for orchestra (orchestrated with Ramin & Kostal): Rumble
12. Symphonic Dances (9) from 'West Side Story', for orchestra (orchestrated with Ramin & Kostal): Finale
13. Appalachian Spring, concert suite for full orchestra: Very Slowly
14. Appalachian Spring, concert suite for full orchestra: Allegro
15. Appalachian Spring, concert suite for full orchestra: Moderato: The Bride And Her Intended
16. Appalachian Spring, concert suite for full orchestra: Fast: The Revivalist And His Flock
17. Appalachian Spring, concert suite for full orchestra: Allegro: Solo Dance Of The Bride
18. Appalachian Spring, concert suite for full orchestra: Meno Mosso
19. Appalachian Spring, concert suite for full orchestra: Doppio Movimento: Variations On A Shaker Hymn
20. Appalachian Spring, concert suite for full orchestra: Moderato: Coda

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #495599 in Music
• Released on: 1999-10-26
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Here's a fine introduction to some best-loved American classical works, captured in some of their best performances ever. David Zinman leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra through a solid reading of Bernstein's Symphonic Dances that really comes alive with the "Mambo" section. Antal Dorati's take on Appalachian Spring from 1984 is the disc's real highlight--delicate, innocent, and gorgeous. The inclusion of Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, Barber's Adagio for Strings, and the Overture to Candide make this set hard to resist, and Dorati and Zinman provide nice alternatives to Leonard Bernstein's popular interpretations of these works. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews

Wonderful, Wonderful music
This compilation CD has some of the best recordings of these pieces on the market today.
David Zinman and the BSO do a remarkable job with the Symphonic Dances; compared to the Berstein and NYP recording it's played cleaner and better, the recording quality is much higher, although I think the interpretation award will have to go to Lenny on this one.
This is the best recording of the Barber Adagio, hands down. I own 5, and have heard many more, but Dorati and Detroit just play it more colorfully and beautifully than anyone else. The ensemble is perfect, and the recording quality is stunning.
My one complaint is the Fanfare for the Common Man. It's just not clean; I've frequently wondered why the Detroit Brass just didn't do another take.
All in all, this is a wonderful disc for a wonderful price.

Great Performances of Adagio, Candide
A time of tragic separation or deep healing; a solitary figure in his twilight years contemplating human existence. Read into it what you will, Barber's "Adagio for Strings" shimmers with poignancy in this richly textured, resonant reading by Dorati and company. Detroit's strings reach for the heavens when called for, and their pacing throughout is flawless.

At the other extreme, Zimmerman and Baltimore romp through Bernstein's delicious "Overture to Candide", extracting all its juiciness and doing justice to the characters in Voltaire's farcical satire. Lenny couldn't have done much better.

My only qualm about this CD is that no one at Penguin thought about placing time codes within the packaging, leaving mobile listeners to figure out whether they have enough time to enjoy a given track before they confront the tollbooth or grocery store. Otherwise, consider this a wonderful assortment of fine American performances.