Reflections
Västerås Sinfonietta/Simon Crawford-Phillips
rec. 2021, Västerås Konserthus, Sweden
Reviewed as downloaded from press preview
dB PRODUCTIONS DBCD203 [79]
The title of the disc, “Reflections”, indicates that the composers here have been inspired to think a bit further about musical themes they have come across. A commoner title, but too hackneyed, could be “Variations”, because that is what it is. Aaron Copland chose the Shaker hymn Simple gifts from 1848 as the Leitmotif for his 1944 ballet, Gershwin wrote variations on his own I Got Rhythm and Simon Crawford-Phillips commissioned six contemporary composers from different genres to reflect over Visa från Utanmyra, a traditional folk tune from Dalecarlia in Sweden, that was made popular by Jan Johansson and Georg Riedel in the 1960s. Incidentally the tune was attributed to Reser Anna Larsson, who was born in Utanmyra in 1848, the same year Simple gifts was penned.
The boldest, most avant garde music on this disc is, surprisingly, the oldest: Gershwin’s Variations on I Got Rhythm. The song was written for the Broadway musical Girl Crazy in 1930, and the variations were composed in 1933-34 for his concert tour with the Leo Reisman Orchestra, as an alternative to Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F. As a matter of curiosity it can be mentioned that the conductor of the orchestra was a Charles Previn, cousin of André Previn’s father. The calm intro soon gives way to bustling pianistic fireworks, generously spiced with dissonances that must have chocked the audiences who had expected something more in line with the traditional Broadway musical idiom. Of course the music is partly a child of its time, the big band music of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and others, who were to be trend-leaders in the near future, peep out but there is a rhythmic thrust and complexity that clearly stands out from the simple 4/4 foxtrot that the dance bands indulged in. It should be said that Iain Farrington has rearranged the orchestral score to suit the complement of instruments in the sinfonietta, and that Simon Crawford-Phillips is a riveting piano soloist.
Copland’s ballet, Appalachian Spring, was premiered ten years later, in 1944. It was a commission from Martha Graham, who also danced the lead role at the premiere at the Library of Congress. It was scored for an ensemble of 13 instruments, which Copland many years later published in an eight-movement suite. This is the version recorded here, with an alternative ending as a bonus. The complete original score was recorded in 1989 by Richard Hickox on Virgin Classics but is still available on Warner. It is an excellent recording, but the suite contains all the best music anyway, so nobody investing in the present disc should feel short-changed. And compared to the later version for full orchestra I feel that the original with its slimmer instrumentation is more poetic, more transparent. The opening movement, Very slowly, with the clarinet solo and the gossamer fabric of the accompaniment is so lovely. The Allegro – rhythmic and energetic – leads over with a diminuendo to the beautiful, melancholy Moderato. The fourth movement, Fast, is again convincingly transparent: chamber music with impressive drive – and playfulness. Allegro subito is the scherzo of the suite, pizzicato, rhythmic precision, gradually takes us back to the opening in the short sixth movement, marked As at first, and then we reach the finale, Doppio movimento, where the quaker song, which has haunted us all through the suite, now gets to blossom, filled with joy and, finally solemnity. It is followed by Moderato (like a prayer) and here nobility reigns.
Appalachian Spring is probably Copland’s most popular work, and it has often been seen as the established symbol of American nature. But Copland had no such intentions. He called it simply “Ballet for Martha”, and it was only shortly before the premiere that Martha gave it the now established title. The alternative ending, on this disc placed last, after Reflections on Visa från Utanmyra, differs a lot from the one in the original suite. Doppio movimento, is an extended fantasia, 11 minutes long, on Simple gifts, both playful and highly dramatic, and it is followed by the touching prayer.
In 1964 pianist Jan Johansson issued Jazz på Svenska (Jazz in Swedish) first on three EPs, later collected on one LP. It is still the best-selling jazz record of all times in Sweden. The first track was Visa från Utanmyra, and most Swedes of some maturity can still hum it and hear it in his/her inner ear in Jan Johansson’s arrangement. Here Simon Crawford-Phillips plays it in Johansson’s arrangement, accompanied by a double bass. After that follow six reflections by six composers. Simon Crawford-Phillips writes in the liner notes: “They were all asked to compose their own ‘reflection’ on ‘Visa från Utanmyra’ – not necessarily a variation but more a response. Rather like the word game where each player is asked to complete the preceding player’s sentence, here the composers were given the previous composition/’Reflection’ before they started to write so that there might be a unifying feel to the piece. The result is a multi-coloured festival of Swedish music bound together by one haunting melody. Enjoy!”
And enjoyable it is. Magnus Lindgren writes swinging big band music in dark colours, and Lina Nyberg hangs on Lindgren’s darkness, but her warm voice gives special profile to her contribution. From the classical camp Andrea Tarrodi begins with a diffusely murmuring orchestra, but soon woodwinds break loose with fragments from the original tune and creates a kaleidoscope of colours. Anders Nilsson’s airy strings sound almost Mantovanian, but soon shape a landscape of nervous movement – but the original visa is constantly there. Emilia Amper is a hurdy-gurdy player – in 2010 she became World Champion on her instrument – and she focuses on the folk music elements in her tribute to Reser Anna, while the multi-talented Svante Henryson is the one who sticks most closely to the original visa – but also takes us on the most fanciful excursions. All in all a truly “multi-coloured festival of Swedish music bound together by one haunting melody”.
High-quality music-making and a fascinating meeting of the old and the new.
Göran Forsling
Contents
Copland: Appalachian Spring
Very slowly
Allegro
Moderato
Fast
Allegro subito
As at first
Doppio movimento
Moderato (like a prayer)
Gershwin:
Variations on I Got Rhythm (arr Iain Farrington)
Reflections on Visa från Utanmyra
Visa från Utanmyra (trad./arr. Jan Johansson)
Reflection (Magnus Lindgren)
Reflection (Lina Nyberg)
Reflection (Andrea Tarrodi)
O solitude silens (Anders Nilsson)
Till Reser Anna (Emilia Amper)
O Tysta Bolero från Utanmyra (Svante Henryson)
Copland: Appalachian Spring - Alternative Ending
Doppio movimento
Moderato (Like a Prayer)
