Aaron Copland’s rousing Lincoln Portrait is on several orchestras’ programs for the weeks surrounding the inauguration.The piece, scored for symphonic orchestra and narrator, integrates text from Lincoln’s speeches and writing with musical material that celebrates the American folk tradition, quoting tunes like “Camptown Races.”
Here’s a short clip from the Chicago Symphony’s September 11, 2005, performance, with Barack Obama as narrator.
(Thanks, Opera Chic.)
