This disc assembled
from two Delos discs is packed tight.
It could hardly be tighter. There are
two Delos CDs’ worth here (DE3127 and
DE3114). It is wonderful that these
recordings have been given a new lease
of life even if those who purchased
the original discs at full price (me
included) might be grinding their teeth
at the Naxos bargain price). Only one
work had to be left out and that was
the Choreographic Suite. There
is some logic in the choice for exclusion
as the orchestra in that case was the
New York Chamber Symphony). This way
you get a disc in which the only orchestral
representation is from the Seattle Symphony.
If you want the Choreographic Suite
you will have to track down a copy of
Delos DE 3127 - could be easier said
than done. Then again perhaps Naxos
will include it in a future disc in
their world-beating American Classics
series.
Creston was one of
the Italian romantics in American music
alongside Giannini, Flagello and Menotti.
He had no sympathy with the creations
of Webern, Berg or Schoenberg still
less with the music of his countrymen
Carter (excepting some works of the
1940s). Wuorinen, Davidovsky or Sessions.
His Toccata is
exuberant speaking of high optimism
and high sierras. The music links in
spirit with Ibert’s Bacchanale and
explosively joyous works of ….. The
strings of the Seattle Symphony sound
undernourished in this case but nothing
unduly untoward. The sound sheeny and
silky in the Fifth Symphony though
hardly opulent. The French Horn solo
at 4.45 (tr. 2) is lovingly done although
it could have been recorded with greater
intimacy. The music is triumphantly
lyrical and the tenderness of the closing
measures of that movement is extremely
affecting. The pounding rhythmic crest
at 4.23 in the middle movement looks
back to Howard Hanson. Creston’s generosity
of spirit and the velocity of music
contrasted with its capacity to sing
its lyrical heart out burns brightly
still in this work. This may not be
as fine a work as the Second and Third
Symphonies but its glories are not to
be missed. A shame about the too short
breathing space between the end of the
Fifth Symphony and the start of the
Walt Whitman tone poem Out of the
Cradle. Out of the Cradle
is based on the same poem of love
and loss and the sea as inspired Delius
to write his Sea Drift. Creston’s
adopts a quite different approach. The
music is illustrative of the sea (those
crashing impacts at 7.10 are typical
of Nystroem’s Sinfonia del Mare)
and touches on the emotions without
probing as deeply as Delius. Incidentally
there is also an early tone poem of
Creston’s which carries the title Walt
Whitman. David Amos recorded it
with the Cracow Phil on Koch 3-7036-2HH
and before that there was Nicola Rescigno’s
LP recording on RCA LM2426. The five
movement Partita with
prominent parts for solo violin and
flute with titles such as Sarabande
and Tarantella takes a leaf
or two out of Dumbarton Oaks.
In the Sarabande and the Air
Creston plumbs depths of emotion
beyond those encompassed by Stravinsky.
I thought occasionally of Moeran’s 1950
vintage Serenade (the full version)
as a parallel work. The fast movements
are rife with whip-crack energy and
a mite dry but those two slow movements
are a delight. The finale track is a
bipartite structure typical of Creston:
the Invocation and Dance.
The work was written between the Fourth
and Fifth Symphonies. Not for the first
time in Creston’s music there are some
ripe Stravinskian echoes in fact the
Invocation sometimes comes across
as a tribute to the Rite of Spring.
But the strong rhythmic signature that
so characterises Creston’s music is
always contrasted with the unleashing
of an airy, ecstatic and exuberant lyricism
also to be heard at 10.49 a little like
the ineffably relaxing melody that emerges
like a blessing out of the storm in
the first movement of Vaughan Williams
Fourth Symphony. I loved the nervy edge-of-seat
tension at 6.27 and the wonderful tuba
solo at 6.40 - fully worthy of Bax or
RVW.
This disc very successfully
joins a much earlier and again highly
recommendable release (Naxos American
Classics 8.559034) in which Creston’s
first three symphonies are played by
National Symphony Orchestra of the Ukraine
conducted by Theodore Kuchar.
Congratulations on
the use of Steven Lowe’s notes. They
cover all the bases and do so extremely
well.
If you would like to
discover more about Creston’s lost generation
then do seek out Walter Simmons’ newly
published book: Voices in the Wilderness
Scarecrow Press, 0-8108-4884-8 in
which he reassesses the musical legacy
of Ernest Bloch, Howard Hanson, Vittorio
Giannini, Paul Creston, Samuel Barber,
and Nicolas Flagello.
This is a cracking
disc. It combines the composer’s exuberant
high optimism with triumphantly lyrical
tenderness. Creston’s generosity of
spirit sings its lyrical heart out.
Rob Barnett
Scott Goff (flute)