Carl RUGGLES (1876-1971)
Sun-Treader
(1926-1931) [15:25]
Steven STUCKY (1949-2016)
Concerto for Orchestra No. 2 (2004) [14:44]
John HARBISON (b. 1938)
Symphony No. 4 (2004) [24:22]
National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic/David Alan Miller
rec. 2017, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Elsie & Marvin
Dekelboum Concert Hall, University of Maryland, USA
Reviewed as a 16-bit press download
Pdf booklet included
NAXOS AMERICAN CLASSICS 8.559836
[65:00]
Naxos have come a long way in three decades. Their product is no longer as
cheap as chips, but they have few rivals when it comes to yearly volumes or
breadth of repertoire. I’m particularly grateful for some of their
long-running series, especially those devoted to Americana and music for
wind band. I’ve reviewed a fair few albums from both strands, a number of
which contain world premieres or works otherwise unknown to me. At the same
time, I’ve noticed a general improvement in recording quality, with some
newer releases sounding as good as those offered by premium-price labels.
The American Classics project is probably the one I value most,
not least for its ability to surprise and stimulate. And just as Naxos’s technical
standards have risen, so too has the quality of ensembles and conductors
featured. This pleasing state of play is epitomised by a very recent
Michael Daugherty album,
Trail of Tears:
three brand-new concertos, one with the peerless percussionist Dame
Evelyn Glennie, music and musicians well served by fine sonics. As it
happens, that release introduced me to the conductor David Alan Miller, who
also directs this mixed programme of 20th- and 21st-century works by Carl
Ruggles, Steven Stucky and John Harbison.
Of these composers, Harbison has the largest discography, with Stucky and
Ruggles lagging far behind. Then again, Ruggles’ output was very small, of which Sun-Treader is probably the best
known. Michael Tilson Thomas’s Boston account, recorded for Deutsche
Grammophon in 1970, is the obvious comparison here; reissued on DG
Originals, it’s also available as a special-order CD from
Presto.
Moving on to the Stucky, I’ve chosen a performance by Lan Shui and the
Singapore SO (BIS); as for Harbison’s Fourth Symphony, I’ve lined up the
only other commercial recording, with Ludovic Morlot and the Boston SO (BSO
Classics).
Ruggles’ Sun-Treader, which takes its title from Robert Browning’s
poem, Pauline, is a technically rigorous construct that’s also very
accessible. Although the piece was premiered in Paris in 1932, it had to
wait another 34 years for its first US performance, with Jean Martinon and
the Boston Symphony. And while the National Orchestral Institute
Philharmonic isn’t exactly a household name – it’s an ad hoc band,
drawn from members of the National Orchestral Institute each June – they
are highly accomplished players, for whom this music holds no terrors.
Full, firm and remarkably forensic, Miller’s Sun-Treader is more
detailed and, yes, more colourful than Tilson Thomas’s.
Producer-engineer Phil Rowlands’ spacious, recording certainly helps to
‘open up’ a work that can seem impenetrable at times. All of which adds up
to a thoughtful, exploratory performance that’s very different from MTT’s
more urgent, intensely dramatic one. The latter still sounds pretty
impressive – the visceral timps a special treat – but I daresay an
up-to-date remaster, similar to that provided for the recent BD-A of
William Steinberg’s Planets and Zarathustra, would improve
things even more. Top-notch accounts of Charles Ives’s Three Places in New England and Walter Piston’s Symphony No. 2
complete this bona-fide classic.
Steven Stucky’s second Concerto for Orchestra, premiered by the LA
Philharmonic in 2004, received the Pulitzer Prize for music a year later.
In his liner-notes, Robert Lintott says the piece is ‘rife with musical
puzzles’, although I doubt most listeners will be aware of the composer’s
compositional tricks and tributes. More apparent is Stucky’s homage to the
genre – Bartók’s seminal concerto springs to mind – with soloists and
various instrumental groups (‘combos’) allowed to strut their stuff. I can
well imagine performers relishing both the good writing and the composer’s
seemingly boundless good nature.
That’s certainly the case here, with Miller a sure and steady guide;
indeed, he takes us on a fascinating trip, pointing out so much of interest
along the way. What a tumble of tantalising ideas and sonorities, and how
superbly rendered they are in this fine recording. Also, singly and
severally, the players respond to this clever and compelling score with a
zeal that most composers can only dream of. And as much as I admire Lan
Shui, his performance lacks the chutzpah that makes Miller’s seem so
rum and rakish. That said, the sound is refined, the playing light and
luminous. The all-Stucky programme, which includes Dame Evelyn in Spirit
Voices, is attractive, too.
The headline act is the Harbison symphony, commissioned by the Seattle SO
for their centennial celebrations in 2004. In five movements – but not
composed in that order – the work’s opening Fanfare reminds me of
Leonard Bernstein in St Vitus mode. What exhilarating music this is, and
how joyfully executed. The gnarly Intermezzo, with its gently
shimmering gong in the background, is similarly engaging. The central Scherzo is catchy – goodness, there’s a lot going on here – and the Threnody has something of late Mahler about it. That said,
Harbison’s ‘voice’ is very much his own, the Finale gaunt but not
emaciated. Pinpoint playing and a strong pulse predominate.
This is a riveting work, delivered with deftness and dynamism, and I commend it
to those looking for a way into the composer’s symphonic output. And given
the impassioned authority of this performance, I’m tempted to forgo the
usual comparisons. Well, if you insist, the Morlot – heard via 24/88.2
flacs from
Presto
– offers very good playing and sound. However, his is a cool, suave
approach, devoid of the gleeful earthiness that makes Miller’s version so
memorable. Even so, the coupling, James Levine conducting Harbison’s Third
Symphony, might just swing it for some buyers. Alas, there’s no booklet
with the download. (Don’t get me started on that topic.)
So often in comparative reviews I sign off with comments like: ‘This
newcomer is pretty good, but…’. I’m happy to report that, with the possible
exception of Miller’s still excellent Sun-Treader, there’s nothing
to criticise here. Yes, Naxos really have come a long way since
1987. And that goes for this series, too; it just gets better – and becomes
more valuable – with each new instalment.
Thoroughly modern Miller; plenty more, please.
Dan Morgan
