"Listen well," Jeffrey Kahane advised the Herbst Theater audience tonight
before playing the Copland Piano Fantasy.  "You may never hear it again."
It's only 50 years old, Kahane said, so it may need another 50 years to
catch on.  He called this rarely-played 12-tone work (actually 10 plus
a triad) one of the greatest works in all piano literature -- and went
on to play it so powerfully that the statements seemed much more than
a performer's hyperbole for the next work on the program.

Dedicated to William Kapell, the Fantasy was called by Copland himself a
"monster," and technically, musically, this half-hour piece is truly not
for the faint of heart (and fingers).  It's a very BIG work, in every way,
and Kahane played it most impressively.

Question:  What is the Fantasy's performance history, recordings, current
circulation?

Janos Gereben/SF, CA
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