[craig in SD]

Don't own any recordings of his music, wish I did, seeking recommendations.  Good performances and good recording quality take equal footing.

[dougme57]

When I want some Copland I listen to: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Louis Lane / Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, Fanfare for the Common Man

I also lie ELP's rendition.

[S Clark]

When I want some Copland I listen to: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Louis Lane / Aaron Copland: Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, Fanfare for the Common Man

That's a good one to start with.  Are you looking for cd, hi rez, lp???

[barrows]

I am no classical expert, but I do enjoy Keith Johnson's Copeland recording: Fanfare, Appalacian Spring, and The Third Symphony from Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra, on Reference Recordings.
Would love to hear from some classical experts on "best" performances/recordings of the Third Symphony (and high res PCM or DSD would be nice).   I know, I know, the best performances are often the worst recordings...

[richidoo]

I have always enjoyed the Bernstein/NYP. It is nice on vinyl.

[Alan]

Here's something a little bit out of the ordinary from Aaron. (Don't miss the last verse)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ms2Dr7Fw6qQ

[acresm22]

This one is a must-have:

http://www.amazon.com/Copland-The-Music-America-Aaron/dp/B000003CZE

Great performance, great sound quality. Highly recommended.

[Ern Dog]

I am no classical expert, but I do enjoy Keith Johnson's Copeland recording: Fanfare, Appalacian Spring, and The Third Symphony from Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra, on Reference Recordings.
Would love to hear from some classical experts on "best" performances/recordings of the Third Symphony (and high res PCM or DSD would be nice).   I know, I know, the best performances are often the worst recordings...

I have this and it is a top notch HDCD recording.  Sounds excellent even if you don't have a HDCD player.

[ruben090962]

[I love the one from Reference Recordings that was recommended earlier. The sound despite the fact that is just a HDCD is excellent. It has become my standard for appalachian spring.

[craig in SD]

Wow, thanks for the excellent recommendations, and apologies for the long delay in my response.  (After some work drama, I actually forgot I posted this.)

I actually prefer to download my music these days, so looking for downloadable formats.  I don't care to pay a premium for hi-rez, necessarily, but do want high quality recording.

The Reference Recordings recommendation looks really good, and is available at HD Tracks for a reasonable price.  I'm trying to download it right now, but they don't have a Linux-compatible downloader!   Grrrr...

The same album is available from Amazon as an .mp3 download (bit rate = ?  256 kbps - 312 kbps seems to be common from Amazon these days) for < $6, so I will give that a try.  If nothing else I'll have something I can listen to in the car.  If I can ever get HD Tracks to play nice with my free, open-source operating system it would actually be interesting to compare a FLAC version to an mp3 version of a high-quality Redbook recording.  Never done that.

[craig in SD]

Oh man, that Johnson Reference Recording of Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra is exactly what I was looking for.  Spectacular!  Thanks again, all.

[MoPac]

 I enjoy this SACD of Billy the Kid & Rodeo.

[firedog]

Good performance; GREAT recording

[nexer]

I have two copies of this:

http://www.discogs.com/Aaron-Copland-Columbia-Chamber-Orchestra-Copland-Conducts-Copland-First-Recording-Of-The-Original-Ve/release/1998331