"the rigor [of twelve-tone composition] seemed more to cramp [Copland's] natural spontaneity than to aid it." Composer Kyle Gann calls Connotations "big, unwieldy ... and [not] that good ... Copland's imagination seemed constrained by the technique. On a more positive note, Davis wrote after a performance of the work under Ehrling by The Juilliard Orchestra that while Connotations remains a "spiky" composition, Copland "adopts Schoenberg's serial procedures to produce a sequence of typically pungent and exhilarating Coplandesque sonorities." Desmond Shawe-Taylor called the work "beautifully put together: full of energy, variety, thought" after he had heard Boulez conduct the piece. Michael Andrews wrote of Copland's "mammoth, anxious and angry vision" and Barlett Naylor of "a majesty hidden in this dark piece" after both had heard de Waart's performance. Recordings Along with Bernstein's two performances, Copland recorded Connotations with the Orchestre National de France (no longer available). More recently, The Juilliard Orchestra recorded the work under the direction of Sixten Ehrling for New World Records. References Citations Bibliography * External links Essay by music critic Kyle Gann Brief Description of Connotations'' Video – Aaron Copland – Connotations (20:11). Compositions by Aaron Copland 1962 compositions Compositions for symphony orchestra Serial compositions Music commissioned by the New York Philharmonic