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Copland: The Tender Land / Trevor, U. Of Kentucky Opera, Etc


Release Date: 01/29/2002 
Label:  Albany Records   Catalog #: 482/83   Spars Code: DDD 
Composer:  Aaron Copland
Performer:  Shederick Whipple,  Sherri K. Phelps,  Stacia Brock,  Judson Perry,   ... 
Conductor:  Kirk Trevor
Orchestra/Ensemble:  University of Kentucky Opera Theatre,  Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra
Number of Discs: 2 
Recorded in: Stereo 
Length: 1 Hours 44 Mins. 

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Notes and Editorial Reviews

By the early 1950s, Aaron Copland had become a skilled composer of dramatic music for the stage and screen, with five ballets and seven film scores to his credit. In fact, Copland judged his film work to have been "excellent preparation for operatic writing. At the time I was composing for films, I believed that it was a new form of dramatic music, related to opera, ballet and theatre music, and that it should be explored for its own unique possibilities". Thus, all the elements were in place for Copland's consideration of a commission offered him by the League of Composers in 1952. They were seeking to follow up the enormous success of Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors on NBC Television Theatre during the 1951 Christmas Read more holidays with another television opera, again to be produced and broadcast by NBC. When the opera was finished, NBC reneged on the production without offering any substantive reasons, and the completed opera, nearly two years in the making would have remained unperformed, had not the New York City Center Opera decided to present the premiere of this prominent composer's work. However, the cavernous space of City Center dwarfed the intimate television opera. The result was a lukewarm initial response from the critics and crowds. Basically the music was praised and the libretto was criticized. As the years passed, many realized that the scope of The Tender Land is perfect for smaller budgets and budding talents. Copland himself acknowledged that a college production is perhaps the most congenial atmosphere for this opera. How pleased we are to be able to present this wonderful recording by the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre. Accompanied by the full orchestra, conducted by the fine American conductor, Kirk Trevor, it is marvelous. Read less

Works on This Recording

1. The Tender Land by Aaron Copland
Performer:  Shederick Whipple (Tenor), Sherri K. Phelps (Mezzo Soprano), Stacia Brock (),
Judson Perry (Tenor), Charis Strange (), Eli Griggs (),
Julia Gilreath (), Lindsay Hathaway (), Margaret Anne Shelton (),
Benjamin Smolder (Bass), Mary Hawkins (), Tara Anderson (),
Michael Turay (Bass), Dawn Coon (Alto), Andrea Jones (Soprano)
Conductor:  Kirk Trevor
Orchestra/Ensemble:  University of Kentucky Opera Theatre,  Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic Orchestra
Period: 20th Century 
Written: 1954/1955; USA 
 Venue:  Martinu Philharmonic Hall, Zlin 
Length: 103 Minutes 42 Secs. 
Language: English 

Featured Sound Samples

The Tender Land: Act I: Prelude
Act I: "The promise of living"

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