The British conductor John Wilson is a specialist in light music known for his renditions of, among other music, American film scores. You might think he'd be a natural for Copland, and so he may well be for non-American listeners. In fact, what you get here is a set of readings of Copland standards that are shorn of quite a few accretions of American tradition. It's in the syncopations that you notice the differences most: their zip is tamped down, and in general the broad popular gestures of the music are deemphasized. ...
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The British conductor John Wilson is a specialist in light music known for his renditions of, among other music, American film scores. You might think he'd be a natural for Copland, and so he may well be for non-American listeners. In fact, what you get here is a set of readings of Copland standards that are shorn of quite a few accretions of American tradition. It's in the syncopations that you notice the differences most: their zip is tamped down, and in general the broad popular gestures of the music are deemphasized. The result is angular, rather Stravinskian Copland that has been thought out anew. More broadly, there is an effort made not to settle into and luxuriate in the big tunes that for many listeners define the Copland experience. It all makes sense on its own terms, and Copland himself saw a unity among the various phases of his career rather than dividing it into accessible and stylistically progressive aspects. Sample El Salón México (track two) for a fair representation of Wilson's...
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