I'm new to this list and this is my first post.  I'm from the Philippines
and my knowledge of classical music is derived mostly from recordings,
books and publications, recitals and concerts.  Like most people, I
came to it via the German core repertory works, specifically Beethoven.
Exploration led me further to like Elgar and some American (or shall I say
Americanized works): Dvorak's New World Symphony, American String Quartet,
and his Cello Concerto are up there on my list of favorites.

I came to Copland via his recording of Appalachian Spring for chamber
orchestra and Morton Gould's classic Billy the Kid/Rodeo on RCA.  I
liked these Copland compositions for the sheer melody and brilliant
orchestration.  I can detect their folk qualities (not by any means to
be considered an inferiority) which are endearing and yes, evocative of
earlier, more innocent era and I liked them, too.  Who can shake off one's
head the Shaker melody once it is cranked up there?

In similar vein, there are a number of Filipino composers who also try
to incorporate so-called folk elements but through more obvious means:
borrowing a folk melody or using an indigenous instrument, say.  They are
accessible as some of Copland's works largely for the same reasons.

For me, national boundaries and ethnic background take a peripheral
importance when classical music is involved, the term loosely used here, of
course.  My being a Filipino does not prevent me at all from appreciating
works by different composers, classical music being an alien element here
in the first place.  Also, my taste is quite catholic and it is an exciting
experience for me to discover works in the fringes, old and new.

Copland's music may evoke the Americana but they do not detract from my
enjoyment of his music.  I have reservations, however, about including
spoken/declaimed narrations such as in his Lincoln Portrait which do not at
all evoke patriotic fervor in me for many reasons, not least of which my
not being an American.  But I like it in Hindemith's Horn Concerto which is
introduced via an orchestral crescendo.  Maybe it works better here than in
Copland's.  Maybe it would work better had Lincoln lived when his voice
could be recorded, just like in Scott Johnson's "How it Happens- the Voice
of I. F. Stone" with the Kronos Quartet.  The message is also in a
political vein but more provocative.  Just MHO.

alf