I take it you mean "Jerry's Billy the Kid" generically? Any specific scores you would cite? (My own favorite among many great Goldsmith westerns is WILD ROVERS. But I wouldn't say I like it better than Copland, comparisons being odious and love being love.)
Well of course WILD ROVERS ! His theme for the WILD ROVERS is almost one on one with the tone sequence of BILLY THE KID..just more "fluid " ( I´m not a musician ...so excuse me)
The theme moolik is taking about is an old folk song, Old Paint, that both Copland and Goldsmith used, quite distinctively I think, though sharing the same vernacular.
Here's a great old recording of Carl Sandburg singing a version of it:
I'm a late (partial) convert to his music though have always respected his name/talent owing to Elmer Bernstein's many citations. I bought a collection of Copland's works some years ago but it was an effort to choose it to play ...
... and yet, having bought various CD box sets these last two years which include recordings of some of his works I find I'm enjoying pieces more and more. I now have several recordings of his most famous pieces but I'm really pleased to own his own 1959 recording (Boston SO) of The Tender Land.
I've just made a DVD recording of the BBC Proms performance (Eric Whitacre/RPO) of his piece Quiet City but have yet to hear it through with full concentration.
When I was first getting into soundtracks in the late 70's/early 80's, I remember a mate asking me if I'd heard Appalachian Spring by Copland cos he'd studied it in school and it 'sounded like the shit I listened to' (he said). So based on his back-handed compliment, I promptly sought out a copy and subsequently fell in love with it. I can't claim that was my first exposure to him though, cos Emerson Lake & Palmer had pumped my adrenaline years previously...I just didn't know it was him then. I picked up more LP's along the way, thrilling to stuff like Rodeo, Our Town, Billy the Kid and Tender Land, plus the Varese LP of Red Pony. Along with Prokofiev, he's one of the few classical composers I listen to outside of my film world.
I want to call attention to a couple of his early works which might not be known to some who open this thread. I love these early pieces.
Dance Symphony Finale
Piano Concerto (the recording with Bernstein conducting and Copland at the piano is must have! But this isn't it.)
Organ Symphony Finale - this builds slowly but it is as powerful a conclusion as anything written in the 20th century or since.
If you all haven't clicked these yet, and you don't know them, give them a try. They're quite a different flavor from the more mainstream Americana, but to my ears every bit Copland.
I think an even better first-recording is this terrific summation of his most popular music. (Though nothing against the film music collection, that's a good choice too. But this is I think definitive for the neophyte.)
Cincinnati Pops and Erich Kunzel - Copland - the Music of America.
1. Fanfare For The Common Man 2. Rodeo 3. Quiet City 4. Billy The Kid 5. Appalachian Spring
The theme moolik is taking about is an old folk song, Old Paint, that both Copland and Goldsmith used, quite distinctively I think, though sharing the same vernacular.
Here's a great old recording of Carl Sandburg singing a version of it: ....
Yes, they both used the song, but be careful!
There are several songs built roughly on that template, and the precise one Copland and Goldsmith used is 'Goodbye Old Paint: I'm Leaving Cheyenne':
The Sandburg still features the key elements of the song Copland and Goldsmith used. Very common indeed for a single folk source to have numerous iterations and variations. No argument that yours is closer to their use.
Certainly agree with you, Sean, about the Kunzel/Cincinnati because of its superb line-up. (I haven't heard the album, but Kunzel & co. were almost always superb, IMHO.) I didn't go in that direction in my recommendation because the gentleman asked for an "entry gate," and I figured for a film music fan this would be a very good entry gate. The Kunzel, of course, represents the best of what the film CD is an entry gate TO.
