Customer Reviews

Rouse: Symphony No. 2; Flute Concerto; Phaethon

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

 

 

Listening to this disk today made me wonder how many other truly remarkable works of contemporary classical music I may have overlooked. The short version of this review is BUY THIS CD. It is remarkable in all regards.

Now for the long version. First, overall impressions:

Recording quality: A+, as good as it gets on standard CD

Performing quality: A, the orchestra seems to be very well rehearsed. The musicians for the most part seem to be totally confident in handling this at times technically challenging music.

Conducting: A+, Eschenbach seems to be totally committed to this music, the ensemble playing is tight, balanced, with glorious tone.

Composition Quality: A+, IMHO, the 2nd Symphony and the Flute Concerto are destined to eventually become staples for symphonic orchestras. Their time will come, hopefully much more quickly than it took audiences to appreciate works of some like Mahler and Bruckner.

Rhythmic Interest: A+

Orchestration: A+

Emotional Content: A+

I consider these performances inspired. At the end of the Flute Concerto I pictured myself hearing this live, jumping up, and repeatedly shouting BRAVO at the top of my lungs. I don't recall reacting this way in a home listening experience before.

I intentionally did not read the program notes prior to listening to this music. The first of movement of the 2nd Symphony is completely engaging with wonderful rhythmic drive. It is interrupted by the 2nd movement where it immediately becomes clear the composer has been inspired by something that has given him great pain and a sense of deep loss. I learned later it was the death of a fellow composer and friend.

I tend to become most attached to works where composers have attempted to deal with their deepest, most profound, and sometimes most painful emotions. It's perhaps why I have been so attracted to Mahler, among others. The 2nd Symphony makes my "A" team in this regard.

I may have to create a new category for the Flute Concerto though. Can a work be TOO BEAUTIFUL to listen to? I have never thought of such a concept before. I recently listened to the Mahler 10th which has one of the most beautiful, moving flute passages I can think of. This work completely trumps Mahler in that regard and has what is without a doubt the most beautiful, emotionally moving set of flute melodies I have ever heard.

But not all is beauty. These two works seem to deal with profound tragedy, pain, and loss, too. The Flute Concerto is a truly remarkable work, and is easily my favorite all-time "concerto".

The Phaethon, while no doubt a fine work, was anti-climatic after having heard the 2nd Symphony and Flute Concerto. In fairness to it, anything would have been anti-climatic after what I experienced listening to the Flute Concerto. Do you ever get the sense that time has stopped while listening to a work of music? I have only had that happen once or twice before. It happened while listening to final two or so minutes of the Flute Concerto.

In summary, this is a truly remarkable release. I hope everyone will take the time to listened to it in a totally quiet (it has very wide dynamic range) environment, on a good sound system (audiophiles will rejoice. This will make a great test CD to take to the store when auditioning new equipment), and with no distractions.

Enjoy. Keep a box of tissue handy just in case.

I've heard all these works live in three venues, and believe me, they are audience-pleasers! Standing ovations for contemporary music?? You bet! And these aren't Boston Pops-type bon bons, but serious, even profound works.

While the Symphony No. 2 and Phaethon have elements of Rouse in his dashing-crashing "Gorgon" mode--superb orchestration with rock-em-sock-em percussion--the Flute Concerto is a journey to the days of pure melody. I just melted in the "Elegy" movement when the strings come in with a melody worthy of the great English masters Elgar and Vaughan Williams.

Keep your chocolates in the refrigerator when you listen to this one!

I had the chance to hear the Rouse Flute Concerto performed live last fall by the Philharmonic at Indiana University. The pure beauty of this work was astounding. It is quite rare to see a standing ovation for music of this type, but this piece was quite deserving of the applause it recieved. I'd reccomend it to anyone.

Christopher Rouse is truly a special composer of today. His music has a very distinct flavor that is unique and always interesting.

The gem of this CD is definately the Flute Concerto. It is a beautifully written work that utilizes the expressive qualities of the flute. The Flute Concerto is steeped in nostalgia and manages to probe the heart.

Carol Wincenc performance of the Flute Concerto is amazing. She performs the concerto with a voice that is quite magical. She really draws the listener in with her expressiveness and alluring tone. It is hard to imagine any other flutist being able to perform this concerto and achieving the same amount of heighten emotion as Wincenc has done. Bravo to Carol Wincenc!!!

I hope that this Concerto will climb it's way up to becoming a standard flute concerti of the flute repertoire.

This is one amazing composer! And maybe this is the best of all his CDs. Phaethon is a short but shocking chariot ride in sound. His first symphony is one of the greatest of our time, and this second one is a worthy companion: deeply felt, searing, sometimes almost unbearably violent. But maybe the flute concerto is the most special. I have seen this piece performed live, and not only were many in the audience in tears but also I noted that a number of the orchestra members were crying as well. I know that this makes the music sound like a downer, but it is so sensitive and so consoling that it just has to be heard.

An erstwhile bad boy of music Rouse has in later years moved to become an outspoken defender of the establishment. His music is eclectic in style - there is a dizzying range of influences here - but the influences are consistently, sometimes almost stubbornly, forced into what are clearly classical forms. There are games with sonorities in here, almost operatic drama, and touches of avant-garde and serialism, but the main focus seems to be on developing coherent musical arguments and retaining a strong thematic profile - there is a good share of hummable tunes for instance - the overall immediate impression of the music puts it in a typically American post-romantic tradition derived from Barber and William Schuman (and as Schuman, Rouse likes noise); it is sometimes heart-on-sleeve, often brilliant, intermittently clever and often painted with broad brushes on large canvasses.

The second symphony opens with a neo-classical, rhapsodic movement; rhythmically persistent, it gradually builds up tension and angs) to an almost hysterical close. The ending gives way to a calmly bleak and grief-laden slow movement that also builds up (by hinting at material from the first movement) to massive outbursts of pain before fading out to silence. The third movement is savage and fierce, bursting along to hammer its point home fortissimo. So ok - Rouse likes to overpower his listener by sheer physical force and volume, but overall the symphony is pretty successful and compelling and not merely hollow gesturing.

The flute concerto is pretty noisy as well. Inspired by the James Bulger murder case, of all things, it starts with a stirringly melodic opening movement, with the flute singing a peaceful but pained song against the orchestra. The second movement is aggressive and hot-blooded, but the third is a long, gradually swelling, elegiac and almost insistently modal chorale (yes, there is a touch of film music about it, but it works). The fourth movement is dance-like, but in a martial, belligerent manner (excellently scored), and the finale brings back the atmosphere of the first movement.

The final work, Phaéthon is a straight symphonic poem (whether Rouse agrees to the labelling or not). Inspired by the Challenger disaster, it is another dramatic, high-volume work. A relatively early piece it is rather effective, if slightly over-orchestrated and with ideas that are not fully developed. The performances are absolutely magnificent, however. The rhythms are incisive and clear, despite the colorful spectacle of the music, the textures clean, and the arguments very compellingly presented. Carol Wincenc is a very fine soloist in the concerto. The sound is usual Telarc top-notch and brilliant. An easily recommendable release.

Rouse's Symphony No. 2 is an agitated, bombastic storm of ideas - it jackhammers from start to finish. And, although it is executed like a fireworks display, the Houston Symphony captures very little beauty or wonder, and even less heart. The Symphony gives off the impression of a shimmery layer of noise, but it lacks an inner monologue and leaves one feeling hollow. In contrast, Rouse's Flute Concerto, which is lighter than air and occasionally even feels new age, occasionally borders on the saccharine. It allows some breating space mid-disc and makes for an interesting juxtaposition with the rowdy Symphony and the epic Phaeton. Rouse's Phaeton is probably the best piece on the disc. Phaeton is a small tone poem that conveys the listener along a mythical and violent journey. It is percussive in the same manner as the Symphony No. 2 and will hold your interest throughout.