Simple Gifts (live)

Speltz, Brook; Neubauer, Paul; Finckel, David; Boyd, Aaron; Zhang, DaXun; Barnett-Hart, Adam; Lapointe, Pierre; Kolkay, Peter; O'Connor, Tara Helen; Sussmann, Arnaud; Han, Wu; Vonsattel, Gilles; Shifrin, David; Lee, Kristin

Release of CD on CMS Live label coincides with history making broadcast of the program on Live From Lincoln Center on September 9, 2016, 9:00 PM.Program highlights the esteemed musicians from CMS performing Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, alongside works by American composers Samuel Barber, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Stephen Foster and Mark O’Connor.On September 9, 2016, CMS Live releases Simple Gifts: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Shaker Village. The recording captures a historic moment in American history: the first performance of Aaron Copland’s landmark ballet score Appalachian Spring in the heart of an authentic Shaker village, Kentucky’s historic Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. The album, which was recorded live in May 2015, is also being released on the same day as the program debuts as the season opening broadcast of Live From Lincoln Center on PBS (September 9, 2016, 9:00 pm on most stations).In addition to Appalachian Spring, the recording presents an all-American-inspired program and includes: Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s The Union, Concert Paraphrase on National Airs for Piano, Op. 48; Antonín Dvořák’s Sonatina in G major for Violin and Piano, Op. 100; Samuel Barber’s Souvenirs for Piano, Four Hands, Op. 28; Mark O’Connor’s F.C.’s Jig for Violin and Viola; and Stephen Foster’s Selections from The Social Orchestra for Ensemble (arr. Tara Helen O’Connor). Featured on the album are esteemed musicians from the CMS roster: pianists Gilles Vonsattel and Wu Han; violinists Aaron Boyd, Adam Barnett-Hart, Kristin Lee, and Arnaud Sussmann; violists Pierre Lapointe and Paul Neubauer; cellists David Finckel and Brook Speltz; double bassist DaXun Zhang; flutist Tara Helen O-Connor; clarinetist David Shifrin; and bassoonist Peter Kolkay. Recorded for the CMS Live label by Grammy-winning engineer and producer Da-Hong Seetoo, the CD is distributed internationally by Naxos. CMS Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han note in the album’s introduction, “Copland adapted the famous Shaker song ‘“Simple Gifts”’ as the centerpiece of his moving depiction of an Appalachian wedding, and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center proudly brought Copland’s masterful realization of the tune ‘“home”’ for the first time since its original composition by Elder Joseph Brackett in 1848.  When that tune—containing music and a message which have become universal—sounded in the hushed tobacco barn of the village, the communal emotional intensity hit a peak rarely experienced in a concert hall, a moment here captured for eternity, for all to share.”

Price: $20.98