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Naxos Special Projects

The American Spirit: Roots and Transformations (4 CDs)

The American Spirit: Roots and Transformations (4 CDs)

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“For over a decade now, Naxos American Classics has released a treasure trove of music from the United States; it’s a collection of repertoire which both reaches back to the dawn of our nation and embraces brand new works, and much of it is unavailable anywhere else. Listening to these recordings is a way to sonically experience the history of our country and its landscape. The four Naxos American Classics releases selected for this Americana collection (which include a total of five CDs) focus on some of the defining moments of that history. First, there is a panorama of works inspired by Abraham Lincoln in definitive performances conducted by American music champion Leonard Slatkin (including Aaron Copland’s celebrated Lincoln Portrait as well as a little-known work by Vincent Persichetti commissioned for the second inauguration of Richard Nixon!). Then Hannibal Lokumbe’s rousing tribute to Rosa Parks, one of the icons of the Civil Rights Movement, features the Detroit Symphony and the combined singers of two of Michigan’s most venerable choruses. Next, Peter Boyer’s dramatic account of the arrival of immigrants to Ellis Island in the early 20th century is narrated by an all-star cast including Eli Wallach and Olympia Dukakis. Finally, the recording I personally find most fascinating, the first-ever complete recordings of two film scores by Virgil Thomson for 1930s documentaries detailing the plight of rural Americans prior to the New Deal. FDR attempted to screen one of these films, The Plow that Broke the Plains, before a joint session of congress, but the capitol chambers were not properly equipped to do so; it did, however, become the first film to be placed in the US congressional archives.” – Frank Oteri, NewMusicBox
Peter Boyer: Ellis Island: The Dream Of America 
1-1 Prologue 6:09
1-2 Words Of Helen Cohen, Emigrated From Poland In 1920 2:37
1-3 Interlude 1 1:24
1-4 Words Of James Apanomith, Emigrated From Greece In 1911 2:43
1-5 Interlude 2 2:07
1-6 Words Of Lillian Galleta, Emigrated From Italy In 1928 3:32
1-7 Interlude 3 1:33
1-8 Words Of Lazarus Salamon, Emigrated From Hungary In 1920 4:16
1-9 Interlude 4 1:56
1-10 Words Of Helen Rosenthal, Emigrated From Belgium In 1940 4:27
1-11 Interlude 5 1:01
1-12 Words Of Manny Steen, Emigrated From Ireland In 1925 4:42
1-13 Interlude 6 2:24
1-14 Words Of Katherine Beychook, Emigrated From Russia In 1910 2:53
1-15 Epilogue "The New Colossus" (Emma Lazarus, 1883) 1:50
Abraham Lincoln Portraits
2-1 Lincoln, The Great Commoner
Composed By – Charles Ives
3:39
2-2 A Lincoln Address
Composed By – Vincent Persichetti
13:22
2-3 Abraham Lincoln Walks At Midnight (For Mezzo-Soprano And Piano Trio)
Composed By – Roy Harris
14:10
A Few Glimpses Of Easter Week, 1865
Composed By – Ernst Bacon
(29:43)
2-4 Preamble 1:43
2-5 Walt Whitman And The Dying Soldier 2:42
2-6 Passing Troops 2:42
2-7 The Telegraph Fugue (An Etude For Strings - With Timpani) 5:07
2-8 Moonlight On The Savannah 2:03
2-9 The Theatre 1:26
2-10 The River Queen 2:26
2-11 Premonitions (A Duet With A Hall Clock) 1:51
2-12 Pennsylvania Avenue, April 9, 1865 3:35
2-13 Good Friday, 1865 3:15
2-14 The Long Rain 1:17
2-15 Conclusion 1:35
3-1 Lincoln Legend
Composed By – Morton Gould
16:36
To A Liberator (A Lincoln Tribute)
Composed By – George Frederick McKay
(11:18)
3-2 Evocation 3:10
3-3 Choral Scene 2:49
3-4 March 2:06
3-5 Declaration 0:43
3-6 Epilogue 2:30
3-7 Variations On An American Song: Aspects Of Lincoln And Liberty
Composed By – Paul Turok
9:18
3-8 Lincoln Portrait
Composed By – Aaron Copland
14:31
Thomson: The Plow That Broke The Plains
The Plow That Broke The Plains (1936)
4-1 Prelude 4:04
4-2 Pastorale (Grass) 1:20
4-3 Cattle 2:07
4-4 The Homesteader 2:48
4-5 Warning 1:30
4-6 War And The Tractor 3:55
4-7 Speculation (Blues) 2:55
4-8 Drought 1:46
4-9 Wind And Dust 2:04
4-10 Devastation 4:23
The River (1937)
4-11 Prelude 0:40
4-12 First Forest 1:01
4-13 A Big River 2:46
4-14 Cotton Pickers 2:43
4-15 Ruins 1:19
4-16 Logging 2:00
4-17 Coral 2:37
4-18 Floods 7:39
4-19 Reqiuem 1:14
4-20 Tenancy 3:21
4-21 Finale 3:23
Lokumbe: Dear Mrs. Parks
5-1 A Prayer For The World; The Over Soul Sends To Us 2:06
5-2 A Prayer For The World 4:34
5-3 For We Have Walked The Streets Of Babylon, Forty Thousand Strong 8:31
5-4 In Sacrifice 6:43
5-5 For The Future 1:06
5-6 Seeds Of The World 5:52
5-7 Songs From Heaven Falling 9:26
5-8 Like Luminous Rain Upon The Daughters Of Isis 13:08
5-9 Giving Their Children The Will To Continue 2:52
5-10 Singing A Prayer For The Souls Of The World 4:45
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