Copland: Symphony No 3 / Billy the Kid (Suite)

"Two Copland masterpieces in superbly idiomatic performances - a must buy. The verdict on this efficient and sympathetic performance of the symphony will be a affected by its being the best buy around now."
- Peter Dickinson Gramophone June 2002

"It's the Billy the Kid Suite that makes the stronger impression. The pace is compelling through to the end, the flavouring is sharp and fresh, and it's hard to keep the feet from tapping spontaneously in the Mexican Dance."
- Stephen Johnson, BBC Music Magazine June 2002

"Judd and his New Zealand orchestra offer a pair of terrific Copland performances. Billy the Kid gets a shapely, dramatic interpretation: the initial and closing evocations of the West's wide open spaces offer grandeur without bombast, while the ensuing episodes follow seamlessly, including a very exciting gunfight. In the symphony, Judd is very much his own man. He catches the simple dignity of the first movement very well, then turns in the most dynamic scherzo since the composer's own Everest recording. The Andantino, taken at a daringly slow (but never slack) pace, sets up the blazing finale with particular effectiveness. Here, Judd and his players pull out all the stops, with nicely differentiated brass timbres in the opening fanfare, and some really tight, rhythmic playing in the buildup to the central development's crunching climax. The closing pages, once again, provide the right feeling of triumph without the excess pomposity that has bothered so many critics and performers (even Bernstein) over the years. Naxos gets good, natural sound, though some of the percussion (snare drum rim shots, woodblock, and bass drum) seems a bit too backwardly placed--not a major point. This is a very fine release indeed."
- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com, February 14, 2002

Aaron Copland's 1938 ballet 'Billy the Kid' is one of three such works that are characteristically American in subject and in music.
His Symphony No 3 of 1946 has no narrative programme, but is also essentially American in its thematic suggestion of folk-song.