Copland: Lincoln Portrait - Phylicia Rashad and the National Symphony Orchestra

Acclaimed actress, educator, and director Phylicia Rashad joins the National Symphony Orchestra with Music Director Gianandrea Noseda for Copland's "Lincoln Portrait."
Part of Portraits of America
January 22, 2017
Subscribe to The Kennedy Center! bit.ly/2gNFrtb
#copland #phyliciarashad #classicalmusic #blackculturematters

[@davidabarnes1993]

I was at this concert. This and John Williams's "Lincoln" were the highlights! Thank you for posting

[@SabineHolterman]

I played this with the Wauwatosa Community Band/Wind Ensemble and thought it was cool but you don’t get how powerful the music and Lincoln’s words are together unless you listen. One of if not Aaron Copland’s best composition ever.

[@JeffinBville]

I wish there were a way to like this more than once and a way to send this to the current President who might learn some lessons from it.

[@jslasher1]

The current President, who is not only tone-deaf but also a moron, would learn nothing from the Copland music.

[@finchborat]

I agree. The old coot currently in charge needs to hear this.

[@JeffinBville]

@@finchborat I didn't think you could get youtube at Mar a lago.

[@finchborat]

@@JeffinBville I don't live in FL. So anyway, we need a new president.

[@JeffinBville]

@@finchborat You might not but that' "old coot" you were referring to, does.

[@Liz-y1d]

Outstanding!

[@jochanaan58]

Ms. Rashad does a fine job. There is something about an African American -- any African American -- speaking these words, and she gives them space and clarity.

[@bubby3190]

James Earl Jones’s narration is amazing!

[@jochanaan58]

@@bubby3190 Also check out William Warfield's reading with Leonard Bernstein. 👍

[@Liz-y1d]

Thanks Ms. Rashad!

[@Liz-y1d]

Amen!

[@VernonNickersonSCHOOLCOACH]

There is something powerful and true in the timbre and intonation of a voice with the lived experience of struggle to live in freedom versus the sound of a vocalist from privilege, power, and generational wealth seeking to mimic/duplicate President Lincoln's delivery in 1863. (C) VERNONNICKERSONSCHOOLCOACH 2024. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

[@charlesbarry6730]

Aaron Copland a true American composer.His sounds very American . This is the fist time that I am hearing this narration being done by a very good job.

[@welles2002]

Monumental on all levels !!!

[@richardwilliams473]

At 5:37 we see the timpanist playing his drums in the German configuration

[@jbbevan]

Love Phylicia. But nobody reads this as well as Charlton Heston.

[@Mike-dk7wj]

A remarkable union of music and text. It deserved far more than Rashad's listless, insipid, characterless delivery, which might have done justice to a reading of the telephone directory or a speaking clock but not this monumental work. For how it's supposed to be done hear William Warfield's masterful moving oration under the baton of Leonard Bernstein.

[@marvinwilkenfeld2982]

Yes, the Bernstein video from London may be musically better but I find your comment unkind and hurtful. The message is clear.

[@Mike-dk7wj]

@@marvinwilkenfeld2982 Musically worse, not necessarily I would say, different rather than inferior, but narrationwise, most definitely awful, whether you are personally offended or not. Another great oration was by Copeland, whose distinctive voice and delivery gave the work the authority and beauty it deserved.

[@FifthContinentMusic]

Sorry, but we don't care much for this particular performance. Just proves than anyone can be engaged to recite Lincoln's powerful words. We'd recommend Morgan Freeman if one is inclined to favour an African-American narrator.

[@Liz-y1d]

Who are you? To Fifth Continent Music? Or FifthContinentMisic without spaces… the “WE” in your post of this performance is.. WEAK.