Copland, Aaron: An Outdoor Overture (1938) 10'

for orchestra

Scoring
2.picc.2.2.2-4.2.3.0-timp.perc(3):xyl/cyms/tgl/BD/SD-cel(ad lib)-pft- strings

Programme Note  
Composing for young performers was always close to Copland's heart, so he accepted the commission for a large orchestra piece from the High School of Music and Art in New York City. Copland wanted to play a role in introducing good contemporary American music to young players. In a review, Elliott Carter wrote: "Its opening is as lofty and beautiful as any passage that has been written by a contemporary composer. It is Copland in his prophetic vein. . . never before has he expressed it so simply and directly."

-Vivian Perlis, 1998

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