New York Philharmonic – Aaron Copland, guest Conductor – June 18, 1980 – Part 1
New York Philharmonic – Klaus Tennstedt, guest Conductor – June 18, 1980 – Part 2
Something historic this week. The New York Philharmonic in concert from 1980, featuring Aaron Copland and Klaus Tennstedt, guest conductors. Copland was made Honorary Conductor of the Philharmonic on his 70th birthday in 1970 and he frequently returned over the years to lead the orchestra in his own works. This week he’s leading the orchestra (during the first half) in his Symphonic Ode.
The second half is given over to guest Conductor Klaus Tennstedt, who leads the orchestra in Mahler‘s Symphony Number 5.
The concert is broken up into two parts – Part 1 (top player) features the Copland and Part 2 (bottom player) features the Mahler.
Historic concert and the orchestra is top-notch as always. Two major figures in music, sadly no longer with us.
From the 1960s, Copland turned increasingly to conducting. Though not enamored with the prospect, he found himself without new ideas for composition, saying, “It was exactly as if someone had simply turned off a faucet.” He became a frequent guest conductor in the United States and the United Kingdom and made a series of recordings of his music, primarily for Columbia Records. In 1960, RCA Victor released Copland’s recordings with the Boston Symphony Orchestra of the orchestral suites from Appalachian Spring and The Tender Land; these recordings were later reissued on CD, as were most of Copland’s Columbia recordings.
Klaus Tennstedt worked with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Symphony Orchestra, world-top ensembles such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and most notably the London Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he was closely associated and recorded many of his celebrated recordings under the EMI label, including a cycle of Mahler’s 10 Symphonies. Known for his interpretation of the Austro-German repertoire, especially his sympathetic approaches towards Gustav Mahler, Tennstedt is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential conductors of the late 20th century.
Enjoy.
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