This work's very slow opening chords are, according to Robert Kapilow, "centered in the earth" and should be accompanied by a suffused light on stage.  
This work's very slow opening chords are, according to Robert Kapilow, "centered in the earth" and should be accompanied by a suffused light on stage.  Unison strings burst in A-major arpeggios to begin the action of such characters as a revivalist and his flock, and two newlyweds.  The work's most memorable tune is first played on the clarinet and then arranged for other parts of the orchestra in the work's seventh section which features five variations on a (*) Shaker theme.  That theme is "Simple Gifts". FTP, name this 1944 work which takes its title from a Hart Crane poem, a ballet by Aaron Copland.
This work's very slow opening chords are, according to Robert Kapilow, "centered in the earth" and should be accompanied by a suffused light on stage.  
{Appalachian Spring}