Defining Dahl

Dahl (Artist), Harle (Artist), Thomas (Artist), New World Symphony (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 11, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B000004271
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #461,244 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Concerto for Alto Saxophone: I: Recitative

2. Concerto for Alto Saxophone: II: Adagio (Paddacaglia)

3. Concerto for Alto Saxophone: III: Rondo Alla Marcia: Allegro Brioso

4. Hymn

5. Music for Brass Instruments*: I: Chorale Fantasy ('Christ Lay in the Bonds of Death')

6. Music for Brass Instruments*: II: Intermezzo

7. Music for Brass Instruments*: III: Fugue

8. The Tower of Saint Barbara : Synphonic Legend: I: Barbara

9. The Tower of Saint Barbara : Synphonic Legend: II: The King

10. The Tower of Saint Barbara : Synphonic Legend: III: The Tower

11. The Tower of Saint Barbara : Synphonic Legend: IV: The Martydom

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GOODLY DOSE OF DAHL, March 18, 2003

By 

Melvyn M. Sobel "Melvyn M. Sobel" (Freeport, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Defining Dahl (Audio CD)

Dahl's music offers a curiously eclectic blend of dissonance, jazz and romanticism, not unlike Copland, Stravinsky and Milhaud. His striking Concerto for Alto Saxophone [1949/rev. 1954], with its formidable, yet lyrical work for the soloist, offers the widest range of expressive drive, emotional breadth and inescapable wit throughout its three movements. The Music for Brass Instruments [1944] invokes a distinctly "American feel" and is beautifully crafted; likewise, Dahl's Hymn, originally a piano work from 1947, later orchestrated after the composer's death, is an intoxicatingly moody, nostalgic pseudo-tone poem that pays homage to Bernstein and Copland alike. The Tower of Saint Barbara, conceived in 1954 as a ballet, but never choreographed, was revised in 1960 with the appended subscript, "Symphonic Legend in Four Parts." Reminiscent of Finzi's Love's Labors Lost Suite, with a hint of Stravinsky's Petrouchka, Dahl's Saint Barbara evokes a medieval world of saints and heathens, faith and death, in music that is both memorable and attractive. Like many of his contemporaries, Dahl [1912-1970] was both a teacher [University of Southern California] and composer; Tilson Thomas, the eager conductor here, numbers amongst his most prescient apostles. Who better than he to reverently conduct the New World Symphony, and the New World Brass, in a collection of Dahl's most immediately appealing works, and to make this an imminently satisfying introduction to the composer?

[Running time: 71:56]

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Dahl recording out there, February 16, 2002

By 

Daniel Graser "saxgod685" (Wappingers Falls, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Defining Dahl (Audio CD)

I bought this cd simply because it has John Harle, one of the best saxophonists in the world, playing the greatest saxopone concerto. I was not dissapointed. Harle displays his incredible technical ability throughout the entire 20 minutes of the solo. His altissimo in the second movement is the best heard from any saxophonist. His sense of pitch and tone is among the best in the saxophone world. His saxophone tone pierces right through the orchestra and delivers a vey gripping and engaging performance. Tilson Thomas shows unequaled control and magnificent grasp of Dahl's music. If you like saxophone, buy this cd. If you like Dahl's music for brass, get this cd. If you like both then you should've bought this cd before you read this line in my review.