Lazarof’s music was
fairly well represented during the LP
era. Some of it was championed by the
likes of the late John Ogdon and James
Galway. Structures Sonores
(1966), an early major score that put
him firmly on the musical map and still
to this day one of his finest works,
was recorded by Abravanel for Vanguard
(a re-issue of it is now long overdue).
More recently, though, his music has
been taken-up by Gerard Schwarz who
recorded various works for Delos (partly
re-issued in Naxos American Classics
series 8.559159) and for Centaur. Besides
the disc under review, there also exists
another release coupling Symphony
No.3 "Choral" and Encounters
(CRC 2519, to be reviewed shortly).
Lazarof’s present large
output includes seven symphonies, eight
string quartets, numerous concertos
and orchestral works as well as a huge
amount of chamber music, much of which
is still unrecorded at the time of writing
(2004). Lazarof’s music is sometimes
a hard nut to crack, but his more recent
works display a somewhat mellower idiom
and are thus rather more directly accessible.
This is certainly the case with his
three choral symphonies, of which the
Third and the Fifth are particularly
impressive, each in its own way.
Symphony No.4
"In Celebration" for chorus
and orchestra was commissioned by the
Seattle Symphony Orchestra to commemorate
the opening of the new Benaroya Concert
Hall in Seattle. It is dedicated to
Gerard Schwarz, a long-time Lazarof
champion. The texts set in the three
movements come from various sources:
the first movement sets excerpts from
Baron van Zwieten’s libretto for Haydn’s
oratorio The Creation, itself
drawing on Genesis and Milton’s Paradise
Lost. The second movement sets parts
of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem The
Aeolian Harp. The third and final
movement sets fragments from Ecclesiastes
and lines from Psalm 98. The outer sections
of the first movement are sung unaccompanied,
the orchestra joining in later. Some
of the music displays considerable stringency
and impressive dissonance, whereas the
voices sometimes fall back on Sprechstimme.
After an imposing climax, the music
winds its way back and the movement
ends quietly, preparing the way for
a slow movement that functions as a
short lyrical interlude. This is followed
by a massive song of praise, that –
as far as I am concerned – does not
entirely achieve the exultation it obviously
aims at. I could not help thinking of
what Walton or William Mathias could
have made of it. However, even if celebration
may not be Lazarof’s forte, his
Fourth Symphony is a substantial, if
slightly flawed piece of music.
Symphony No.5
for baritone, chorus and orchestra,
completed in 1998, is also conceived
on a grand scale. This time, Lazarof
chose to set some of his own verse (we
are not told whether they were written
for this piece or not) in the first
two movements, and parts of Rimbaud’s
long poem Soleil et Chair (‘Sun
and Flesh’), all texts being sung in
French. The piece opens with a short
orchestral introduction leading into
the first vocal movement Songe-Espace
(baritone and strings). About halfway
into the second movement Ode pour
l’Infini, the baritone is joined
by the men’s voices, whereas in the
final movement, the whole forces are
brought in to grand effect. The music
in the Fifth Symphony is Lazarof at
his very best: powerfully evocative
of mysterious infinite spaces as well
as of ‘restless questionings’, strongly
expressive throughout and impressively
imaginative. A great piece of music.
Schwarz conducts vital
performances of these substantial scores,
and is well served by very decent live
recordings. This is a very fine release
that admirers of Lazarof’s music will
want. Others may also find much to enjoy.
Hubert Culot
Richard Zeller (baritone); Seattle Symphony Orchestra
and Chorus; Gerard Schwarz