The Red Pony Suite (for orchestra)

Copland wrote the music for the film The Red Pony in 1948, on the studio lot of Republic Pictures in the San Fernando Valley, California. The orchestral concert suite, completed during August of the same year, was prepared in response to a commission from Efrem Kurtz, who included it in his first program as conductor of the Houston Symphony Orchestra on October 30, 1948 (but according to Houston Symphony's own timeline, the world premiere was November 1, 1948). This was also the Houston Symphony's first commissioned work.