Customer Reviews

Peter Boyer: Ellis Island: The Dream of America

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is a pleasure to hear and to review the work of a young, rising American composer. Peter Boyer (b. 1970) has written many splashy, extoverted orchestral works. The large-scaled work on this CD, "Ellis Island: The Dream of America" is an immediately endearing work which captures much of the American immigrant experience. The work is ceremonial music, what some would call "political music", and effective. Since its first performance in 2002, it has been performed approximately forty times by twenty orchestras. It has also been broadcast on NPR. This performance, recorded in 2003, is conducted by Mr. Boyer leading the prestigious Philharmonia Orchestra and includes an impressive group of seven actors who masterfully perform the spoken dialogue.

"Ellis Island: The Dream of America" celebrates the immigrant experience. Musical selections alternate with spoken passages, with accompaniment, culled from the oral history project on Ellis Island. Immigrants gave interviews explaining their reasons for coming to America, their passage, experiences upon arriving at Ellis Island, and their initial response to being in the United States. Boyer includes excerpts from seven oral histories from immigrants, four women and three men, from as many different countries (Poland, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Belgium, Ireland, Russia.) Four of the immigrants are Jewish.

The texts are inspiring and beautifully read, and Boyer's music captures and enhances the excitement of coming to the United States. The work opens with a long orchestral introduction that sets the stage for what follows -- with a slow opening featuring the trumpet and a splashy transition to a lively theme featuring brass, percussion, and bells. Each of the speakers offer their story about coming to America in language that frequently is eloquent. The first speaker, an immigrant from Poland, concludes her history with the realization that in America "you are free!" and her understanding is captured in the musical interlude which follows. The young Greek fisherman who follows makes his own decison to leave his family for America, and his speech and the interlude which follows surges with hope and gratitude. The Italian immigrant rejoins her family and procaims "we are all together now!" to triumphant music. The Hungarian immigrant recognizes that "I became a man here" with the opportunity for a free life, and his realization is accompanied by a reflective meditative passage. The Jewish woman immigrant from Belgium tells her story to the accompaniment of a wailing solo violin. The liveliest passage belongs to the Irish immigrant, a raconteur and non-stop talker who tells his story to the accompaniment of a bouncy, popular theme in the piano and the orchestra. The final speaker is an immigrant from Russia who describes her first sight of the Statue of Liberty as "a vision from heaven". The work concludes with a recitation of Emma Lazarus's great sonnet "The New Colossus" which adorns the base of the statue.

This is open-hearted, patriotic and inspiring ceremonial music about what coming to the United States meant to generations of dispossessed people seeking a better and a free life. Many composers, including Handel, Haydn, Beethoven, and Brahms have written works directed to patriotic purposes. Boyer does well here, and I think his message allows the listener to reflect on our country as a source of hope, promise and freedom. This is a worthy addition to the ongoing Naxos series of American Classics.

This is a great adventure in time. Being able to experience what our grandparents might have been through. It brought back some fond memories of times gone by. BRAVO!

This moving and well-played music grabs your attention right away. It supports the powerful emotion of the outstanding actors reading poignant accounts of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island. This subject hasn't been highlighted very often in the musical arena that I know of, and Peter Boyer certainly has captured this moment in time with heart and excitement. As an American musician myself, this CD makes me proud on many levels....proud of the history it relates, and proud that an American composer did so well.

Extensive play of Peter Boyer's earlier recording "The Music of Peter Boyer" (which unfortunately is now out of print) by our local classical music station prompted my orginal and on going interest in this music from a gifted young composer. "Ellis Island" offers the listener a stunning and varied music mix and textures in various classical forms and formats to meet and enhance the context of the different narrations much in the way a musical score enhances and magnifies the story quality and emotion felt with the soundtrack of a movie or musical. While the use of accompanying narration or story telling is not new to the genre this particular piece has a truely American quality that those of us with any knowledge of our immigrant roots can relate. One can relate in one way or another to almost all the stories.
This recording fits nicely with other NAXOS recording in this series. Music that is sometimes not often heard or recorded or may be new, but is none the less worthy of our attention and that of others because it is that good.
Mr. Boyer falls into the catagory of other 21st century composers I find myself listening to-Joseph Curiale, Michael Torke, John Adams and others-who are carrying on the traditons of giants of the 20th century-Copeland, Elmer Bernstein, Leonard Bernstein and others-and taking this rich traditon of music to the next level and beyond. After "Ellis Island" I am anxiously looking forward to Mr. Boyer's next compositions and recording.

Perhaps I am a sucker for anything about Ellis Island since both my parents came to this country through Ellis Island. Be that as it may, I thorougly enjoyed the spoken stories of immigrants and the musical interludes (which reminded me of Aaron Copland). The music moved me and I thought the mix of music and spoken sections was very effective. I recommend it.

I really enjoyed the music and readings. Bought extra so I could use them as gifts.

Finding the balance between art and its initial accessibility to an intended audience can be one of the greatest challenges facing the contemporary composer. Too much art, and new music loses the competition for the listener's ear to the great composers of history. Too little art, and new music begins to sound shallow after a few listenings. Peter Boyer's "Ellis Island" is both accessible and deep, deep enough to listen to again and again. For we who are Americans, "Ellis Island" even carries us beyond the art of music and inspires us to remember what has historically made America great.

"Ellis Island" creatively uses the narratives of seven people who came to America through the immigration station at Ellis Island as a general structure for its large form and its initial accessibility. Distinguished actors such as Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis, and Tony Award winner Barry Bostwick capably personify the narratives. Combined with multi-media pictures when performed live, "Ellis Island" is gaining momentum and popularity by being programmed by increasing numbers of orchestras across America.

Boyer's themes are memorable, even singable. Because the subject of this work is part of American history, the orchestral colors are appropriately reminiscent of Aaron Copland's "American" works. Like a great film score, "Ellis Island" gives a theme to each of its colorful, narrated characters and then combines them all into one highly enjoyable, even inspiring symphonic work.

My husband and I heard our local symphony orchestra and local actors & actresses perform Boyer's "Ellis Island" and were so moved -- to tears, actually -- that we decided we must have a recording of it, which is why we purchased this CD. The words spoken by the actors and actresses are actual words written by immigrants to the U.S. who were processed at Ellis Island. We wish there were some way to make listening to this work a requirement for every school child in this country. Listening to the CD hasn't been quite as moving as the live performance was (that is usually the case with any live vs. recorded performance), but we still get a profound sense of what America means to us and our forbears by listening to this recording. We highly recommend it.

This is an incredible piece of music with actors speaking the writings of people who went through Ellis Island. The music is rich, exciting, terrifying, beautiful and very powerful. It brought tears to my eyes many times. And if you are ever wondering why America has been important to people from around the world, listen to this work and know that these ideals remain true today.

I would really give this 3 1/2 stars. This is a good idea and the stories are varied and moving. The musical realization is well orchestrated but not very original. Boyer is an innovative orchestrator and has a formidable bag of tricks. Being familiar with some of his other music such as Ghosts of Troy, I would say that this music is a step down. He seems to be trying too hard to create something important. The opening theme is rather generic and seems to be channeling a combination of Aaron Copland and Jerry Goldsmith. In one of the interludes, there is a very "Twilight Zone" flavor created with marimba and piano (I could be wrong about the instruments here). He has used some of the same orchestral effects here that he used in Titanic to create the feeling of oceanic distress.

I would have thought Boyer would use this opportunity to create some interesting orchestral music combined with traditional ethnic elements native to the various cultures represented, and also to reflect distinctly American music that was present at the turn of the 20th century. He did this somewhat with the "Tin Pan Alley" interlude, but this was rather cliche.

For what I believe is a more successful and moving realization of somewhat the same time period and subject matter, check out Charles Strouse's score to the musical "Rags".