[11/23/2011] Happy Thanksgiving! Don't eat too much, and if you're traveling, travel safely! (continued)

I was going to make audio files of Sam Ramey's rather gorgeous 1990 recordings of the piano-accompanied versions of the Copland arrangements of "At the River" and "Simple Gifts," but I couldn't find my copy of that Argo Copland-Ives CD, so we'll have to make do with this YouTube posting of all ten songs! Here's Set 1: the minstrel song "The Boatmen's Song," the campaign song "The Dodger" (3:07), the ballad "Long Time Ago" (5:10), the Shaker song "Simple Gifts" (8:14), and the children's song "I Bought Me a Cat" (10:07). (You'll find Set 2 below.) The pianist is Warren Jones.

CHARLES IVES (1874-1954)
Thanksgiving and Forefathers' Day (1904)

In the interest of sheer laziness, I'm recycling the two performances of Ives's Thanksgiving and Forefathers' Day that I have on CD, which we've already heard. Maybe next year I'll be feeling ambitious enough to dub the performances by Leonard Bernstein and Donald Johanos, which I only have on LP.

Forefathers' Day, by the way, according to Wikipedia,

is a holiday celebrated in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on December 22 . It is a commemoration of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on December 21, 1620. It was introduced in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1769. In adjusting the date to the Gregorian calendar, the anniversary was erroneously established on December 22 instead of December 21.

Forefathers' Day is a well known and well celebrated holiday in Plymouth.

IVES: Thanksgiving and Forefathers' Day
(No. 4 of A Symphony: New England Holidays)

O God, beneath thy guiding hand
our exiled fathers crossed the sea;
and when they trod the wintry strand,
with prayer and psalm they worshipped Thee.

Baltimore Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, David Zinman, cond. Decca, recorded September 1994 [audio link]
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas, cond. CBS/Sony, recorded 1986 [audio link]

AARON COPLAND (1900-1990), arranger
Old American Songs, Sets 1 (1950) and 2 (1952)

For a perhaps more conventionally euphonious Thanksgiving, here are the two Copland-arranged Copland's Old American Songs I intended to present originally, in Copland's orchestral-accompanied version (as we saw and heard Marilyn Horne and James Levine perform them at the start of this post).

I love the stereo recording of the orchestral version that Copland conducted with William Warfield in 1962. In 1951 and 1953, when Sets 1 and 2 of the Old American Songs were new, Warfield and Copland had recorded the original piano versions. (The photograph at left is from February 1951.) I know we've heard the 1953 piano-accompanied "At the River" (as well as "I Bought Me a Cat"), in November 2009), but I can't trace the "Simple Gifts," even though I made an audio file for it. We might as well throw it in here -- and, what the heck, the 1953 "At the River" as well.

COPLAND (arr.): "At the River"
(from Set 2 of Old American Songs)

Shall we gather by the river,
where bright angel's feet have trod,
with its crystal tide forever,
flowing by the throne of God?

Yes, we'll gather by the river,
the beautiful, the beautiful river,
gather with the saints by the river
that flows by the throne of God.

Soon we'll reach the shining river,
soon our pilgrimage will cease,
soon our happy hearts will quiver
with the melody of peace.

Yes, we'll gather by the river,
the beautiful, the beautiful river,
gather with the saints by the river
that flows by the throne of God.

piano version: William Warfield, bass-baritone; Aaron Copland, piano. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Aug. 18, 1953 [audio link]orchestral version: William Warfield, bass-baritone; Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Aaron Copland, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded May 3-4, 1962 [audio link]

COPLAND (arr.): "Simple Gifts"
(from Set 1 of Old American Songs)

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
and when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,
to bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed.
To turn, turn will be our delight,
till by turning, turning we come round right.

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
and when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'twill be in the valley of love and delight.

piano version: William Warfield, bass-baritone; Aaron Copland, piano. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Aug. 16, 1951 [audio link]orchestral version: William Warfield, bass-baritone; Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Aaron Copland, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded May 3-4, 1962 [audio link]



Here's Set 2 of the Copland-arranged Old American Songs, again with pianist Warren Jones: the lullaby "The Little Horses," the revivalist song "Zion's Walls" (3:24), the Anglo-American ballad "The Golden Willow Tree" (5:19), the hymn tune "At the River" (8:58), and the minstrel song "Ching-a-Ring Chaw" (11:56).


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!


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