Michael Tilson Thomas brings his expected energy and enthusiasm to these favorite Copland works, conducting with a discernible belief in the music’s greatness. To accomplish this he draws beautiful playing from the San Francisco musicians, who provide a level of refinement and polish not normally associated with these works. Billy the Kid has the requisite harmonic and dramatic tension in the opening and closing passages, Rodeo is swift and rhythmically vital, while Appalachian Spring (including the oddly Stravinskian Revivalist Episode, excised by Copland) abounds in lush sonorities and sharply delineated colors. In all, it’s a pleasing and comfortable presentation that positions Copland as one of the “nice guys” of 20th century classical music. But if you want the unbridled excitement of listening to this audacious composer, then you need to get Bernstein’s similarly coupled disc–with its bold swagger and stunning playing by the New York Philharmonic. Otherwise, for Rodeo there’s Dorati’s spur-kicking rendition with the Minneapolis Symphony on Mercury, while Copland himself leads a still-unsurpassed version of Appalachian Spring on RCA. However, Thomas enjoys RCA’s vivid, high-impact remastered sound, making his disc worthy of consideration among modern versions–after Slatkin and Kunzel, of course.
