The composer’s own (truncated?) recording of Appalachian Spring (transferred from a set of private acetates) dates from 1944, shortly after he had finished the full score. The sound is primitive to say the least, the pianism far from immaculate, yet the pacing is as intuitive as you would expect and there’s poetry in abundance. Apart from the Vocalise (which was set down some time in 1933) all the other Copland items date from March and April of 1935. The composer forms a fine partnership with Jacques Gordon in the Two Pieces of 1926 (the first of which, a lovely “Nocturne”, was so beautifully performed by Anne Akiko Myers and Andre-Michel Schub on a recent RCA recital, 8/96) and also lends highly persuasive advocacy to his lean and mean Piano Variations (1930); by contrast, the previous year’s similarly imposing Vitebsk for piano trio takes a little time to settle in the context of what is otherwise a fluent, committed rendering.
While Copland was a thoroughly competent pianist, Bernstein was rather more than that. His pairing with dedicatee David Oppenheim in the marvellous, slightly Hindemithian Clarinet Sonata (1941-2) must be rated an unqualified success. Recorded on that same November day in 1943, Bernstein’s heartfelt performances of three of his (then just-completed) Seven Anniversaries are also moving: sample, if you will, the luminous poignancy of No. 5, “In Memoriam Natalie Koussevitzky”.
Fascinating archival documents, in sum, which specialists of the genre should snap up. David Lennick’s transfers are predictably expert.'