So few weeks left in the year, and I felt like doing something tailored to the week. This is Thanksgiving week here in the United States, so I opted for this piece which has become the standard-bearer for American classical music of the 20th century. I have chosen to listen to the original suite, scored for thirteen instruments. Today I’ve heard it many times and as expected, although every moment effuses Copland, only a few minutes (Simple Gifts) are immediately identifiable as being from Appalachian Spring.
Such wonderful music, and everyone has stolen from it at one point or another. I’m taken by the degree to which Randy Newman’s score to The Natural, for example, borrows from the slow sections.