Even more Copland. This time from a New York group which has already recorded the Britten, Elgar and Vaughan Williams serenades for ASV with some success (reviewed 10/89). The trouble is that the competition between recordings of these Copland classics is now formidable. When I sifted through the available versions for my November Copland feature (page 963), I fastened on to the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (DG) with alacrity. Here were virtually ideal performances excellently recorded. Measured by that standard, the New York Virtuosi cannot compete in Appalachian Spring. The recorded sound doesn't help either. The dynamic range is not great and there is no real pianissimo until the end: more serious, the flute is rather distant throughout. Attacks, which need such unanimity in this piece, are only fair and the rhythmic impetus is at times weak.
Quiet City, also on the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra disc, lacks their magic. The usual problem about matching the cor anglais and trumpet solos—partly the composer's fault it must be admitted—has been ignored in the balancing calculations. (At track 6, 0'45'' you can't tell the cor anglais is there as the climax surges.) The Three Latin American Sketches lack bounce or, for the middle one, soulful lyricism. So, unfortunately, this adds up to a recommendation of the Orpheus offering, which every Copland enthusiast will want anyway.
The rash of recordings of Copland's Clarinet Concerto is a comparatively recent phenomenon. Benny Goodman made the first two recordings in 1950 and 1963 with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra under Copland himself (the latter is on the CBS disc listed above). The next recording was the one made by Gervase de Peyer for Unicorn-Kanchana in 1972 (nla) with no further competition until into the 1980s. Incidentally, that Unicorn LP with the London Mozart Players under Bernard Jacob is pretty impressive. The opening is rather too slow—well below Copland who himself is below his marked tempo—but the cadenza is lively and there's a real charge in the ending. De Peyer's final glissando is less pronounced than on his new recording.
So there's no doubt of de Peyer's credentials in this repertoire concerto, which he played under Copland's baton in 1964. This time, for the new recording made in 1989, he is backed by American musicians. In the end the result is slightly disappointing, but it's not his fault. There are times when the clarinet solo drops below clear audibility in the first movement and in this later performance, especially at the outset, his tone is not quite serenely controlled. The cadenza is fine but the last movement lacks the impetus of other performances, such as Shifrin's (EMI), or even de Peyer's earlier one. This overall structural command is a quality I found lacking in Klein's Appalachian Spring too. All the same, the concerto is the best performance on this all-Copland release—but only a runner up to Shifrin and Goodman himself.'