Customer Reviews

American Orchestral Music

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent compilation of important American symphonic works at a nice price (it is a double CD from VOX recorded [analog] in 1971 and 1973). The program content far outweighs the intonation problems (mostly in the winds and brass), and usually from the Westphalian Symphony Orchestra. The standard of the Utah Symphony is quite high, making the Rorem and Schuman Symphonies very worthwhile! Bravo to VOX for this series-- if you enjoy Copland, Barber, and other perhaps more well-known American composers, you will get your money's worth here!!

The other reviewers have pretty much stated what I believe most intelligent listeners would say about this vox release: it is important for the Rorem and Schuman symphonies, both of which are played and recorded at a high level. The Schullur symphony, however, is also played and recorded well, but it is an atonal horror hardly worth a listen. The other items, from the infamous Westphalian Symphony Orchestra, are not bad performances, but the recordings are dry and a little bit harsh, and the orchestra is obviously not of the first rank. The Thomson and Hanson pieces are both superb works and hard to come by this cheaply. But there are performances in much better sound to be found elsewhere--the Hanson 6th with Schwartz and the Seattle S0 and the Thomson on a hyperion recording with an English orchestra. The Rorem, however, which may be the best work on the disc, can only be found on this release alone. And the Rorem piece is good enough to by itself to warrent purchase this item.

5 stars, though the Virgil Thompson piece is outright banal. But here's the payoff:

The higher points on this set are Schuman 7th, the Schuller Symphony 1965, and to a much lesser extent, the Hanson. These works alone make this a super buy, but then there's the Rorem 3rd. Zounds! Why this work has never gotten wider circulation is beyond me. It's thoroughly tonal, and far from being a challenging listen, but in every way satisfying in a modern sense. It turns out to be a pure delight, even for hardened listeners of 20th Century fair, while yet appealing to those whose 20th Century exposure is limited.

Were the Schuman and Schuller missing, this set would be worth having just for the Rorem. Were the Rorem missing, it would be worth having for the Schuman and Schuller. Altogether, then, this is one of the better buys in 20th Century American Classical Music. Don't put off buying this disc another second.

In the days of the LP, Vox/Turnabout did great service to the music lover by issuing a lot of rare material, both in the Romantic repertoire (numerous "complete" sets) and in the realm of modern and contemporary music, usually played by second-rate ensembles - but that was and still is infinitely better than nothing. In the early 90s they tapped into their inventory and reissued, among others, nicely conceived collections of American music, including this one. These CD reissues gave us the chance to hear these works and recordings anew, unblemished by the inferior and noisy pressings that more often than not marred the original LPs.

Perforce this cross-section of American orchestral compositions written between 1895 (MacDowell) and 1967 (Hanson) is entirely arbitrary, but let us welcome what we get, as it offers material rarely recorded otherwise. The recordings were originally released in 1971 (Schuller and Schuman) and '73 and four of them are actually first recordings (Rorem and Hanson in addition to the two above-mentioned). Since then Gerard Schwarz has done the modern recording of Hanson's symphonies on Delos, Maazel has recorded Schuman's 7th for New World and Hyperion has released a recording of Thomson's Louisiana Story-suite along with the second suite, "Acadian Dances", from the same film music; likewise Naxos has issued recordings of Rorem's first three symphonies and of MacDowell's Suites in their valuable American Classics Series, and this website in fact lists a number of other recordings of the MacDowell. So to the best of my knowledge only Schuller's symphony hasn't been recorded again.

MacDowell's Indian Suite is a not very interesting rehash of sub-par Liszt anyway (or rather sub-par Raff, to make matters worse). Whatever original Indian flavour there may have been in the original tunes is entirely lost in the process. The only incredible thing is how MacDowell could write that kind of bombastic film music before the invention of film.

Thomson's Louisiana Story-suite is indeed film music, written for a 1948 documentary by the great Robert Flaherty; the music is impressionistic and could have been written by Charles Loeffler. The best is the passacaglia and grandiose fugue that ends the suite.

Hanson's 6th Symphony was written in 1967. If you forget its date of composition it is very enjoyable. Indeed, though written three years after Schuller's, its language dates from twenty years earlier. It has the rhythmic vigor and dramatic sweep of the American symphonies composed in the 40s and the same kind of wistful slow movements. Its formal architecture is original, with a succession of slow-fast-slow-fast-slow-fast movements. It is not better but not worse than the best among similar works composed in those War and post-War years by Barber, Copland, Harris, Piston or Mennin.

Rorem's Third Symphony from 1959 is for me a slight disappointment. Rorem is an estimable composer and a not minor figure in the American musical life. But his symphony strives too much for the facile effect, with its grandiose and coplandesque opening peroration on a four-note motif followed by a slow, than pastoral unfolding of the same, its jazzy second movement (Copland had tried that in his 1922 piano concerto, and then dropped the notion; Bernstein picked it up, and wasn't very convincing at it), its alternately wistful and assertive slow movements (third and fourth) full again of coplandesque overtones, and its scurrying, triumphantly bombastic finale. I hear nothing new nor very personal here.

The Symphony 1965 of Gunther Schuller (it was actually completed in '64) provides a welcome contrast. Now be warned and be prepared: this is a serial (e.g. twelve-tone) symphony. It music language is post-late Schoenberg - the more radical Schoenberg of the Variations opus 31 and Violin Concerto. It is not easy listening, but its rewards are many, as it is full of musical "events" that constantly engage the listener's attention. Hearing Schuller's Symphony, I feel like reversing the cliché that anybody can write serial music, but that it takes a REAL composer to write a tune. Well, I've been hearing twenties of symphonies composed in the 40s by the Barbers, Pistons, Schumans, Harrises, Mennins and the likes and, whatever their merits, ultimately they all sound as much the same as Haydn sounds like Mozart. Based on them I'd say that anybody can write a tune, and has (that is the least a composer can do) - but devising a cogently argued serial symphony, now THAT takes a real composer.

Schuman's 7th (written in 1960) is very typical of its composer, if not the most original of his symphonic utterances (the 3rd and 8th are more unpredictable and thus more interesting). I have reviewed Maazel's recording on New World (William Schuman: Symphony No. 7; Leonardo Balada: Steel Symphony) but haven't done a close comparison of his and Abravanel's readings. Maazel has Leonardo Balada's exciting "Steel Symphony" as a complement, but a skimpy timing.

The very informative notes (including Schuller's own very thorough presentation notes for the Symphony's premiere) are part of this set's value.

I agree wholeheartedly with the previous reviewer, but I'm going to give it another star since some of the less than first-rate execution doesn't obscure any of the musical content in the least.

The Rorem and Schuman conducted by Abravanel are superlative, and tell us as much about how good it used to be in Utah as much as it does about the composers and works themselves.

Snap this one up.

I'm probably not alone in knowing less about American Classical music than I should. Compared to English music for instance, American music seems to get far fewer recordings and performances. I won't speculate as to why this is, but just point to this double-CD as a great way to hear something American besides Gershwin for the n-th time (though I think Gershwin is great), and at an amazing bargain price.

I bought this disc specifically for Hanson's 6th symphony. I bought Schwarz's set of the complete symphonies, and found it well played but heavy and lifeless in interpretation (I've since revised my opinion somewhat upward, particularly in the 4th symphony). My favourite recording of Hanson's famous "Romantic" 2nd symphony is the one on Arte Nova, conducted by Montgomery. Technically his orchestra is less precise (particularly in the accompanying 4th symphony), but that performance has the vigour and passion I find lacking in Schwarz (I also enjoy the "old world" sound of the orchestra). After the 2nd symphony, the 6th struck me as the most individual, but I felt there was more to be brought out of the music. I took a gamble, and lucked out, as the performance here, conducted by Landau, is terrific. The music itself was "old fashioned" even when it was written, but such is its integrity and commitment that it can stand without apology.

My second discovery here was a surprise: the Lousiana Story suite of Virgil Thomson. The conductor here is Landau, who did so well in the Hanson work. Though derived from a film score, the music is arranged as a tightly constructed symphony; I'm surprised more people haven't pointed this out. For style, I think the nearest comparison might be the symphonies of Vaughan Williams, both early and late. To be honest, I prefer it to Thomson's symphonies proper.

The third discovery on the disc was Schuman's 7th symphony. Again, I first encountered Schuman in his 3rd and 5th conducted by Schwarz, and dismissed him as an "academic composer". On second listen, the thought nagged that there was more to the music than I was hearing, if only it would be performed instead of merely played. (Again, this opinion has been revised; I find Schwarz well-suited to this composer, and superior to Bernstein.) I seem to have lucked out with this performance conducted by Abravanel. Just as with Hindemith, whom Schuman in some ways resembles, the thoughts BEHIND the music, however Modernistic, must be expressed. (I am aware that Hindemith condemned conductors who "interpret", but believe he was thinking of those maestros who really mangle the score to aggrandise themselves, not those musicians who honestly give themselves over to the composer's muse.) This late symphony of Schuman is masterful, but exceedingly melancholy.

After these three, in my opinion, we see something of a decline. Rorem's symphony is well-made, and enjoyed by many, but for me it seems like it would have made too easy a target for the serialist ideologues of its time. It is just somehow too ingratiating in tone, too cossetting in its diversity of rich orchestral flavours and optimistic cadences. But, as they say on the internet, your mileage may vary, and I wouldn't want to deny the joy this work gives many others.

Next comes Schuller's "Symphony 1965". In the liner notes, Vox include a lengthy essay, by the composer, which is quite funny when you understand the musical politics of the time: it is essentially an extended apologia addressed to his fellow serialists, arguing that history has finally advanced to the point where it is again valid to employ symphonic form, which, purely by coincidence, should make it easier for listeners to understand the music. Schuller covers himself by reciting the standard creed of his sect: tonality has been superceded by atonality, rendering the old ways not just "obsolete" but "invalid"; the listeners are "spoon-fed" idiots; neo-classical music is analogous to the Swingle Singers (they were an acapella choir who did "scat" versions of baroque and classical music); music somehow advances in the same way that scientific knowledge and theory advances, with each new development rendering the old approach into so much trash. I was amused when, shortly after reading this, I read a quote from Schuman on the subject of musical program notes (as quoted in the Bernstein CD of symphonies 3, 5 and 8):
"Preoccupation with descriptions of techniques bears a direct relationship to the rather absurd length we go to in placing composers in categories and often pre-judging their work accordingly, as though musical vocabulary itself had something to do with excellence. ... no propaganda, however skillfully contrived, can, in the final analysis, substitute for genuine criteria, any more than prose explanations can substitute for musical clarity."

As for the music itself, I can appreciate the effort Schuller has gone to, to communicate via a symphonic rhetoric that can be understood without the listener having to examine the score. However, as usual with serialist music, I can't find much interest it, because all the note relationships sound quite arbitrary, and there is not sufficient rhythmic interest to compensate. However, the performance led by Johanos is well played and very committed, so I will be listening to this again, in the hope that I finally "get" it.

Last, and perhaps least, is MacDowell's Indian Suite. This was written in the 19th century, and sounds very much of its time. It starts well, but the development doesn't seem sufficiently strong to sustain interest. In this case, the old, restricted sound does seem to be an impairment, and possibly this music will come off better in a sonically modern recording. (There is a modern recording available on Naxos.)