This superficially attractive coupling of these four popular Copland works, remastered in BMG’s latest 24/96 technology, seems to promise the kind of sound that, if not state-of-the-art, will at least justify the High Performance label. Before we get to the sound, though, let’s try the music. Ormandy’s old Columbia recording of Billy the Kid, coupled with a practically complete Appalachian Spring, the first to include the fully-orchestrated ballet material the composer left out of the Suite, has long been one of my nostalgic favorites. This newer recording, made in the Academy of Music in 1969, isn’t quite as good as the old one; while the orchestra itself sounds just fine–maybe too fine, in fact, for these scores–Ormandy’s conducting is fatter and less sensitive. Eduardo Mata’s Rodeo is nothing special, but the El Salón has nice local touches and some fine playing by the Dallas principal trumpet. I only wish he and his section didn’t play quite so brazenly in the tuttis.
Now for the sound: the Ormandy tracks are warm and cuddly clean, with no trace of tape hiss, but too recessed for this open-air music, and aided by some obvious electronic reverberant enhancement. Mata’s brighter and brasher sound also has its share of electronic assistance. My recommendations: try Slatkin, Bernstein (even with his excessive goosing of the music), or Copland himself, who really did know how these scores should go.
