Ormandy's First Copland Recordings

Cover photo by Tom Yee

Aaron Copland is not a composer commonly associated with Eugene Ormandy, and in fact the two works on this LP, as well as a 1962 version of "A Lincoln Portrait" with Adlai Stevenson narrating, represent the only major Copland works in Ormandy's discography.  This recording of "Appalachian Spring" is the first of the entire ballet score, which was originally for a 13-piece chamber ensemble.  The orchestral Suite which Copland arranged from the ballet in 1945 cut about eight minutes from it, and it was apparently at Ormandy's instigation that the composer orchestrated those eight minutes in 1954 so that the score could be presented complete as an orchestral work.  That is what you hear on this recording:

Copland: Appalachian Spring - Ballet
Recorded March 28, 1955
and
Copland: Billy the Kid - Ballet Suite
Recorded December 18, 1955
Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy
Columbia Masterworks ML-5157, one LP record
Link (FLAC files, 128.28 MB)
Link (MP3 files, 82.43 MB)

Ormandy re-recorded both works for RCA in 1969, but "Appalachian Spring" was presented only in its form as a Suite.