Copland for Children

Young People's Records (YPR) was a prolific and innovative postwar enterprise that lasted until it was dissolved during the 1952 Red Scare - only to have virtually its entire catalogue quickly resurface under the Children's Record Guild imprint.

YPR had the misfortune of being branded as a Communist-influenced organization during those tortured days, and many of its artists were likewise identified as sympathizers, such as folk singers Pete Seeger, Tom Glazer and Oscar Brand, as was YPR founder Horace Grenell.

The composer Aaron Copland also was in that category, although that is immaterial to his presence as the subject of this 78-rpm single, "The Music of Aaron Copland for Young People." This takes the form of a mother (radio-television actor Adelaide Klein) playing excerpts from the composer's music for her daughter (Madeline Lee), to a script by Raymond Abrashkin, YPR's staff writer.

Adelaide Klein

There isn't much you can say about a composer in the space of six minutes while playing his music, so the narrative confines itself to such passages as the daughter exclaiming that the excerpt from A Lincoln Portrait "feels like" Lincoln. (At this remove, it's probably more appropriate to say that our impression of the assassinated President "feels like" A Lincoln Portrait.)

The musical excerpts also include Appalachian Spring, El Salón México and Billy the Kid. All are well played by members of the New York Philharmonic led by Walter Hendl.

The dating of this record is uncertain, although I believe it comes from the late 1940s. YPR was founded in 1947, and Hendl was associate conductor of the New York band until 1949.

Walter Hendl

The sound from this early vinyl pressing is excellent. I mentioned YPR's record of innovation; the early use of vinyl was one facet, but more important was its mail-order subscription approach to marketing. It's said that YPR had a million subscribers at one time. I think this is wildly unlikely - I have encountered relatively few YPR records over a lifetime of collecting. Also, apparently one reason YPR went under is that libraries and other institutions cancelled their subscriptions during the Red Scare. These cancellations would not themselves have been a significant issue if the company truly had a huge subscription base.

YPR intended to produce a series of recordings about composers, but as far as I can tell, only this record and one devoted to Igor Stravinsky were ever completed.

I don't collect children's records (and didn't even when I was a tot), but I do have one other interesting item from the YPR/Children's Record Guild catalog - "By Rocket to the Moon" accompanied by the music of Raymond Scott, which I will share sometime in the future.