This disc adroitly complements the Naxos CD of Creston's first
three symphonies (see review)
and then strikes out in new directions with world premiere recordings
of a concerto and what amounts to one of his tone poems.
Creston's Mediterranean
blood shows through in Janus which has the Aegean
warmth of Rorem and of Debussy's Faune. Remarkable is
the stinging whip-snapping vituperation of the central section
which is part-Walton and part-Piston (finale of Second Symphony).
For a work written the year after Vaughan Williams' death its
long melodies have a breath-taking breadth typical of the British
composer's lyrical best in the Sixth Symphony. While universities
and orchestras across the States were embracing the new sterility
Creston ploughed his own songful furrow with splendour, confidence
and spitfire energy.
Creston begins his
Second Violin Concerto in much the same sun-warmed way
as Janus written the year previously. The curvature and
fall of his melodies are redolent of those that aspire, sing
and smile their way through the Walton Violin Concerto. It reminded
me also a little of another British violin concerto, the 1938
work by Arnold Bax. In the otherwise ecstatically sun-warmed
central Andante there is a delicate little dance - again
à la Piston Second Symphony - and of course dance plays a major
part in Creston’s second and third symphonies. As the dance
fades so we return to the Waltonian heat in an accompanied cadenza
which must have delighted Michael Rabin who championed the concerto
in its earliest days. Surely it also pleased Gregory Fulkerson
who sounds completely convinced and absorbed by the piece. The
concerto was a Ford Foundation commission which was premiered
by Rabin on 17 November 1960
with the LAPO conducted by Solti. A private Rabin recording
survives but with the Little Orchestra of New York conducted
by Thomas Scherman. Let’s not forget the First Concerto either
which was given an airing by Boris Rabinoff with the Detroit orchestra
conducted by Paray.
The Fourth Symphony
was premiered by the National SO in Washington on 30
January 1952 although
enthusiasts will know the work from a later broadcast by Walter
Hendl and the Dallas Symphony. The conductor at the premiere
was Howard Mitchell who in 1953 was to record the Second and
Third Symphonies on Westminster LP W9708. Creston referred accurately
to the Fourth's gaiety and brilliance. From that point of view
this vivacious spring-heel piece can be compared with Randall
Thompson's Second, George Lloyd's Sixth and Prokofiev Seven.
It is not however all spring mornings: the nightingale sings
amid classical groves in the Andante Pastorale. After
a light-hearted Allegretto giocoso comes a boisterous
vivace saltellante.
The Albany Symphony
are captured with satisfying immediacy of sound and the notes
complement this attractive and well planned disc. I hope that
it is the harbinger for yet more Creston revivals.
Rob Barnett
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Gregory Fulkerson (violin)
