Copland - The Young Pioneers - The Complete Music for Solo Piano

Aaron COPLAND (1900-1990)

The Young Pioneers:

The Complete Music For Solo Piano

Leo Smit (Piano)

Most of this set was recorded for LP in 1978, but Leo Smit returned to the studios in 1993 to add some recently discovered short pieces. Smit, a friend of Copland and a composer himself, plays all of Copland's piano music with great comprehension. He sustains the flow throughout the difficult half-hour Piano Fantasy, though he doesn't create as much excitement in the Piano Variations as the composer did in 1935 on 78s (now on Pearl GEMM CD 9279). Much of Copland's piano music is occasional works or pieces for students, but the major works in the set make it well worth hearing. 

Leslie Gerber

Leo Smit has done more than just give us a complete collection of the piano music of Aaron Copland. In doing so, he has also given us a sizeable record of Copland's growth as a composer stretching from the angry tones of the Passacaglia and the Piano Variations, to the majestic and sometimes poetic Piano Fantasy, and beyond. The two CD's also showcase Copland in his many moods, sometimes light hearted and fun as in the Scherzo Humoristique and the second movement of the Piano Sonata, or sometimes nostalgic as in Down a Country Lane or the third movement of the Piano Sonata. This is a must-have for all Copland fans.