Horvit was a pupil
of Gardner Read, Quincy Porter, Lukas
Foss, Piston and Copland. It is therefore
no surprise that this choral symphony
or oratorio is both tonal and welcoming.
It variously reminded me of Michael
Tippett in A Child Of Our Time and
of Vaughan Williams in Dona Nobis
Pacem. Horvit several times resorts
to the sort of affecting march we hear
in RVW’s Dirge for Two Veterans
(Oh What Is the Use of War? tr.
9); indeed it recurs and serves as an
emotional cohesive. Into the mix there
also come smokily hassidic meditations
as well as college sophomoric grandeur
of the type encountered in Hanson’s
Drum Taps and Randall Thompson’s
Testament of Freedom. Listen
also to the women’s vocalisation at
the end of tr. 10: Hanson’s Lament
for Beowulf is not far distant.
At the end (tr. 19) one cannot help
thinking of the patriotic works of Copland
(Lincoln Portrait), Bloch (America)
and Braga Santos (Fourth Symphony) in
imposing oratory ... and sometimes banality.
The inspiration of
The Mystic Flame is the story
of the sufferings of the Jewish people
and their struggle to be free from persecution
and bigotry. The composer writes that
the work’s message is intended to speak
also of the experience of all oppressed
peoples who came to the USA in search
of freedom. The symphony is in nineteen
sections deployed across three parts:
The Golden Door; The Tired
Sunset Glow; The Morning Light.
The sections play for between 1:36 and
6:13; most time out at less than five
minutes.
The standard of playing
and choral singing from Horvit’s own
college forces is extremely good. I
suspect there have been many long hours
of coaching and rehearsal. For evidence
listen to the Waltonian peck-and-hammer
ensemble precision of Her Beacon
Hand (tr. 7) and The Road to
Destruction (tr. 10). Not everything
in the garden is glorious. The mezzo
has a distinct and unpleasant beat in
her voice which in some way I cannot
quite pin down is more displeasing than
the tenor’s similar affliction in the
needily intense and operatic Kaddish
(tr. 13). The soprano is not completely
immune either although she sings touchingly
in To Die Young (tr. 11) and
Outpost of Democracy (tr. 16).
Horvit has other CDs
on Albany: Music of Michael Horvit
TROY134, Daughters of Jerusalem
TROY265, Even When God is Silent
TROY352 and two more are due (organ
music and chamber music).
The sung words are
printed in full in the booklet and the
disc is tracked generously. The insert
also includes decent biographies of
the composer, singers and conductor.
The Mystic Flame
aspires to the heights and does
so within a language well established
by others. It is a skilful, evidently
sincere and sometimes moving epic. While
not essential listening it will still
be appreciated by those who already
love their choral Hanson, Thompson,
RVW and Tippett.
Rob Barnett
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Moores School Symphony Orchestra and Festival
Chorus/Franz Anton Krager 
