A Panorama of American Orchestral Music was a series, and an interesting one. With impressive fidelity, even (for Allegro Elite, especially). Too bad Ferde Grofe is represented by the Huckleberry Finn movement from his Mississippi Suite. Not because I dislike the movement (in fact, I love the suite to death), but on its lonesome, it sounds like background for a Tom and Jerry cartoon. George Gershwin, meanwhile, is represented by an orchestration (by Gregory Stone) of his Prelude No. 2 for Piano, a dirge-like number in 12-bar blues form. It's addictive.
And the Overture to "As You Like It" is my introduction to John Knowles Paine (1839-1906), senior member of the Boston Six (along with Edward MacDowell and George Chadwick), and I couldn't be more impressed--it's gorgeous. One listen tells us that Paine was a major name in American music. Paine's piece is followed by Edward MacDowell's ingenious Lamia, based on a poem by John Keats, its subject being a serpent transformed into a gorgeous vamp, only to have her true nature/form exposed (no, seriously). Lamia exists in any number of folk variants. In Greek mythology, she was a beast who dined on children (isn't that charming?). Anyway, MacDowell's piece is masterfully written, like everything else he ever composed, and I've always thought of Edward as Debussy minus the modernity. He's what Claude would have sounded like had Claude taken a conventional path. Same level of genius, but minus a forward-looking quality. So, MacDowell was a genius who didn't transcend his time. So what? A master composer is a master composer (is a master composer). And you can quote me.
So, as we speak, my four favorite American composers are Grofe, Gershwin, MacDowell, and now John Knowles Paine. Oh, and the self-taught, mocked-for-decades-until-critics-wised-up 18th-century genius, William Billings. A not-favorite American composer is Aaron Copland, whose work, as a general rule, I can take or leave. But... I'm rather fond of Quiet City, the final track in this program. And I have to wonder if it inspired Leonard Bernstein's On the Waterfront (1954) score (which pales next to this fine composition). Any number of measures could be transplanted from Quiet City into that soundtrack, and with no one the wiser. I'm glad to encounter a Copland work that I actually like.
By the way, the musicians under Richard Korn's baton are terrific. And "The Philharmonia Orchestra" is a pseudonym, apparently. But for whom?
As for Roy Harris' First Interlude From "Folk-Song Symphony," I can't describe how little it does for me. Off-the-scale (no pun intended) modality and a certain degree of polytonality (I think--not sure), all I can say is that this sort of folk tune setting was accomplished with infinitely more skill and taste by Bela Bartok. I have no problem with harmonies that clash, except (I guess) in this case.
Thanks to the cover design, Grofe appears to be wearing the world's worst toupee. Or posing after a safety-scissors haircut. This is the result of a clash between Ferde's profile and the white U.S. map silhouette. A careless cover design from the Record Corp. of America, of all outfits? Shocking.
Enjoy!
DOWNLOAD: Panorama of American Orch. Music.zip
Lee
9 comments:
Thank you for music I wouldn't normally be exposed to.
Anon.,
Certainly!
Most interesing, Lee - a record I've never encountered with a piece by Paine I've not heard.
Richard Korn was a real person, and the Philharmonia a real orchestra, of course, but this was not by that ensemble. At least it does not show up in the Philharmonia Discography. Nor does the record appear in A Classical Discography.
Let me see if the LP elicited any reviews.
Thanks for this one!
There was a review in High Fidelity of the three-record set that may be of interest, although it does not provide any information about the orchestra:
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Audio/Archive-High-Fidelity-IDX/IDX/50s/High-Fidelity-1956-Jan-IDX-0116.pdf#search=%22richard%20korn%22
Buster,
Thanks for the link! I'm a little surprised by the price of the three-disc set: about 18 bucks, or $6 per LP. That seems high for any Record Corp. of American release, but that was the list price, and I suspect they sold for less. What a positive review--most of the pieces don't belong in such a series, a famous Gershwin number is too slight to merit a review (of course, the Gershwin is an orchestrated piano selection), no mention of Paine, etc. Sorry these works didn't live up to the reviewer's expectations, but I go with your assessment--the LP is interesting and since I don't share the standard prejudice against light concert fare that HF seemed afflicted with (its reviewers especially hated Grofe), I can't possibly share the same sniffy attitude. Allegro-Elite was going the way of NAXOS by keeping an open mind and finding value in music not especially "serious" but beautifully written and satisfying (Grofe's "Niagara Falls Suite," for instance). If Korn was ticking off such biased reviewers, he was doing something right. (But thanks again for the review, despite its tone of harsh dismissal. And that Gershwin number, in both its piano and orchestrated version, is brilliant any way we cut it: Gershwin's amazing way with the basic 12-bar blues scheme.) This reviewer needed to chill.
Buster,
nd I should have said, "The then-standard prejudice" against anything less than "serious." Nowadays, lighter Classical works have a much better chance of being appreciated and praised by critics, though some critics are still part of the "Why is such junk being bothered with?"--an attitude that, for years, functioned as the standard response to, for instance, the "Grand Canyon Suite." This series' mix of substantial and, in some instances, ultra-light selections was anathema to most "serious" reviewers. And the historical context, I suspect, was the general public's preference for mood/easy listening fare--light concert treatments of pop and middlebrow numbers, when everyone "should have been" listening to Charles Ives, Prokofiev, et al. Probably the reason Kostelanetz and other conductors in that vein were snottily labeled "semi-Class." Possibly, there's an error in reasoning behind this attitude: Namely, the fallacy that "If the public likes it, it must be junk." Apply that to "South Pacific" or the gorgeous parlor and "Ethiopian" songs of Foster. And my soapbox is giving way, to I'd better get off of it...
Lee - Well said. The reviewer was Alfred Frankenstein, the critic of the San Francisco Chronicle. I think he was reacting to title compared to the dearth of American music on record (although both the ARS and Hanson series were in process then), as if to say, "These trifles add up to 'A Panorama of American Orchestral Music'?"
Dave from Ardmore does not see any demarcation between symphonic music meant for the BSO or the Boston Pops. I live in Philly whose orchestra will never play Ketelbey or Ives, both of whom are beloved to me.
Dave from Ardmore,
Just now seeing your comment, since Blogger has ruined the comment notification process ("for security reasons"--the standard excuse for making a service worse). I totally agree with your point re Ives and Ketelbey. A true lover of music should be able to dig Leroy Anderson, Ketelbey, Grofe, and other worthy light composers, as well as Honegger, Mozart, Ravel, and Prokofiev. I think what's at play is the prejudice that any symphonic music liked by "the masses" is beneath consideration. No "Deep Purple," "Holiday for Strings," "Syncopated Clock" for the truly discerning. I.e., snobs.
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