David Witten, piano
Aaron Copland's piano sonata is an example of his not very popular music. It is certainly not folkloric or popular or nostalgic in conception and, though often played because so many pianists know and love it is a masterpiece, it isn't one of his over-played works.
The third movement, for once, doesn't compromise the overall serious and uncompromising tone of the beginning of piece but maintains it, throughout. Even the second movement that uses some of Copland's more popular techniques is more sober in its ecstatic exuberance. These more serious, "challenging" pieces, many of them for piano solo, extend the range of Copland's work and stand beside any of the serious music written anywhere.
David Witten's performance was very good, I agree with his choice to use the music instead of relying on memory. I stopped playing from memory as soon as I wasn't required to because I would rather have the instructions the composer left in front of me than relying on my memory of them and over reliance on my conception of the piece. If you're going to play Copland's Sonata, you should do it Copland's way. This makes me want to take out my score and learn it, again.
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