There are about a dozen collections like this available on CD, and most of them are even similarly titled. But this one truly lives up to its name, not only because of its range -- reaching out not only to the most familiar of Copland's popular compositions, but also to his lesser known (but equally worthy) concert pieces, such as Quiet City -- but also for going into oft-neglected corners of the Sony Classical library, as well as into the newly linked BMG Classical (formerly RCA Victor) library. Even the moments that might ...
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There are about a dozen collections like this available on CD, and most of them are even similarly titled. But this one truly lives up to its name, not only because of its range -- reaching out not only to the most familiar of Copland's popular compositions, but also to his lesser known (but equally worthy) concert pieces, such as Quiet City -- but also for going into oft-neglected corners of the Sony Classical library, as well as into the newly linked BMG Classical (formerly RCA Victor) library. Even the moments that might well be weak, involving the composer's own recordings of his work -- Copland was never noted as a terribly skilled conductor, and lacked an assistant/associate of the caliber of Robert Craft (who performed that function for Igor Stravinsky on the latter's post-1950 recordings of his own work) -- have been carefully selected for their quality. And the result is not only Copland's greatest hits, but also, arguably, within the context of a two-label anthology, the best of Aaron...
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