Customer Reviews

Grofé: Grand Canyon Suite; Gershwin: Porgy and Bess Suite

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
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If ever a recording was made that demonstrated the ability to reproduce a certain quality of sound this is one of them. I never fail to be impressed by the capture of the sound of the DSO in this "Grand Canyon". I think it way ahead of the competition in evoking the vastness of the scene. You need a good speaker system to do justice to it. The Porgy and Bess" is excellent; here is a big orchestra that knows how to count and so they sound perfectly at home with the music. I cringe when I hear an orchestra of hundreds playing something with a heavy handed drummer leading them on. All in all, a great recording!.

This version of 'The Grand Canyon Suite' seems to have attained a certain classic status by virtue of its distinctive approach. The weight of this reading (the end of 'Sunrise' and 'Cloudburst' are massively portentous) removes this work from its usual pop classic status, giving us something almost Mahlerian in its breadth and power and even finding suggestions of 20th-century avant garde! In all, a version to satisfy even serious collectors, recorded in stunning sound. The Gershwin-Bennett selection is no less revealing. This arrangement of selections from 'Porgy and Bess' is quite skillful and the performance is completely evocative and stylish.

Dorati squeezes every bit of orchestral color out of this performance of the Grand Canyon Suite, evoking vivid images of this national park. Sunrise and Cloudburst are particularlly compelling portraits. As always, the London recording engineers are able to produce concert hall sound quality. This is how Grofe's masterpiece should be played.

Under the direction of Antal Dorati in the late 1970s and 1980s, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra was very much involved with 20th century music, particularly that of American composers. This recording allows us a glimpse into our Amercian music spirit via works that are sometimes dismissed as pops concert items.

Dorati and his orchestra give us a great performance of the Gershwin "Porgy And Bess Symphonic Picture", as arranged by Robert Russell Bennett. It captures many of that great American opera's classic themes brilliantly. It is the most popular symphonic imagination of the opera, superceding even Gershwin's, and the Detroit Symphony's performance shows why.

But the orchestra really shines on Ferde Grofe's celebrated "Grand Canyon Suite." Grofe knew a lot about orchestration, having been a violist with the L.A. Philharmonic in the 1920's and being the one responsible for the orchestration of Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue." This suite, which premiered in 1931, captures America's greatest natural trench in all its splendid glory, and comes up with some spectacular moments, including "The Painted Desert" and the extremely vivid "Cloudburst" movement.

This recording of two of the greatest examples of musical Americana comes highly recommended, not just for the works themselves but for the way the Detroit Symphony performs them. Not to be missed!

At first I was not happy with this CD. I thought it lacked depth. Then I played it loud, something I seldom do. That was much better. Finally, on top of that I bought a pair of headphones and listened to the music. What a difference. The music came alive and it was easy to see why my first attemps at listening were disappointing.
Unlike many CDs, the music on this one has such a tremendous range in both volume and range that only a good sound reproduction system will let you appreciate it.
I will not comment on Porgy and Bess as I bought this disk for the Grand Canyon Suite except to say that I couldn't find anything wrong with it. The Grand Canyon Suite is a tone poem or as the accompanying literature states, a symphonic picture. It is one of the best I've ever listened to. When the orchestra plays, "On the Trail," I feel like I'm on the donkey's back. I also know of no other musical work that displays a thunderstorm this well with the exception of, "The Overture to William Tell," by Rossini. It makes you want to open an umbrella.

If ever a recording could so poigniantly express the abilities of two of the greatest American composers, it is this one. Under Dorati's direction, the DSO shines in this marvelous album. I was first introduced to both Gershwin and Grofe through this recording. I was so intrigued simply by its name that I felt I HAD to listen to the "Grand Canyon Suite." Little did I know, there was another jewel right before my eyes. Thus began my love for Gershwin's music, as he has ranked at the top of my list ever since. Both preformances are simply astounding, and to this day, this is still one of my favorite recordings to listen to.

Thank you Ferde Grofé. One has to have visited the Grand Canyon to capture the grandeur and power of this music. One has to have walked along the chasm and seen the sun rise from the deepest depth of the tortured cliffscape to feel the beauty of the music. Nature is so grand, so big, so powerful, so forbidding that we can only remain breathless in front of it, in front of its complex and yet simple mechanisms, its beautiful sunrise than brings the full strength of the millenium-old cliffs and of a aeon-old river at the very bottom of an abyss. One has to have seen the sun going down over the canyon, the darkness climbing from the river and yet falling from the sky, the chilly night suddenly surrounding us with its luminescent draperies little by little adorned with millions of starry gems and brilliant stars high above our heads, to feel the immensity of the world and our minute tininess. And the cowboys, or rather pioneers, on the trail going up the canyon to some promised and yet unknown land are so helpless and yet so thrilled by the amazing beauty they discover in front of their eyes that the braying of an ass is both ridiculous and revealing. We feel so small in front of this tortured reality that our dream is nearly nullified. But man is more than his fear of some shadow or his fright of some storm. He is able to conquer nature and the wilderness if he is able to step into it, to live with it, to climb up the ladder to the gigantic dream of getting accepted by nature itself. And this measureless nature keeps quite a few surprises in its vast pockets. The more or less innocent clouds can burst into some fiery and demential storm. But the smallest spark of humanity each one of us contains can grow into some vine that can conquer this demented nature and bring it to some useful application. There too one has to have been there to feel that strength that surges into us coming directly up and down from the immensity and unforgettable lack of proportions and humility that nature itself is wide and wild enough to contain. One is never crushed by any superior circumstances if one is able to inflate ones heart to the very limitlessness of those circumstances. And that is human ambition, that is human vision, that is what America stands for us, even if we call it at times with another name. Any man has this unconquerable frontier in the deepest depth of his dreamlike consciousness and most unconscious dreams.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Have mixed feelings over this one. Technically the recording is excellent (DDD) but I always wonder why mix a Grofe recording with Gershwin. Maybe it's because they start with "G". A much better redition is Angel's "Great American Grofe" with all Grofe cuts although recorded originally in the mid '50s.