Converse: The Mystic Trumpeter; Flivver Ten Million; Endymion's Narrative

Frederick Shepherd Converse (Composer), JoAnn Falletta (Conductor), Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: JoAnn Falletta
• Composer: Frederick Shepherd Converse
• Audio CD (August 20, 2002)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos American
• ASIN: B00006FIA9
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #147,418 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sensational orchestral feast, November 20, 2002

By 

Martin B. Haub "mbhaub2" (Gilbert, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Converse: The Mystic Trumpeter; Flivver Ten Million; Endymion's Narrative (Audio CD)

When I bought this I had no idea what to expect. Happily, this has become one of my favorite disks in a 5000+ cd collection. This is powerful, heady stuff. The Mystic Trumpeter is superb -- why don't orchestras play this? It holds its own against R. Strauss, Liszt, and any other tone poem writer you can think of. It is played to the hilt by the Buffalo orchestra and its fine conductor. The recorded sound is sensational. The other two works are almost as entertaining. Buy this! Maybe that will encourage Naxos to record more scintillating music from this composer.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting music, very well-played, May 5, 2007

By 

Classic Music Lover (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Converse: The Mystic Trumpeter; Flivver Ten Million; Endymion's Narrative (Audio CD)

This recording is a joy from beginning to end. Not only are all three compositions highly effective and interesting, the interpretations by Maestra Falletta and the Buffalo forces are spectacular. The only question I have is why a few measures of music were cut from the final pages of the Endymion's Narrative? They are there on my recording by the Louisville Orchestra. But that's the only minor quibble with this otherwise exemplary program, and it thoroughly outclasses all previous recordings of these scores. Let's have more music by Converse and his contemporaries!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Music, But Some Technical Difficulties, January 11, 2003

By 

Timothy Dougal (Madison, Wi United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Converse: The Mystic Trumpeter; Flivver Ten Million; Endymion's Narrative (Audio CD)

After hearing an interview with JoAnne Falletta with brief exerpts from this CD on NPR last Sunday, I ran right out and bought it. Converse composed lush, romantic, Wagnerian/Straussian music in the early 20th Century U.S., and if you like that type of music, (and I do!), this is a real feast. Although the music is thoroughly grounded in Europe, it also clearly breathes American air. And the homages to Strauss, and more strikingly, Wagner, are often quite surprizing, even revelatory. Perhaps more importantly, unlike say, Szymanowski or Scriabin, Converse avoided slavish imitation. At a slight distance, the sound is gorgeous, but close up on the headphones there are frequent, irritating noises. Perhaps the recording was miked very closely and picked up a lot of the page-turning, or maybe my disc has a manufacturing defect. In any case though, this music is well worth hearing and having.