William Grant STILL (1895 - 1978)
Symphony No. 5 ‘Western Hemisphere’ (1945 rev. 1970) [19:37]
Poem for Orchestra (1944) [10:27]
Symphony No. 4 ‘Autochthonous’ (1947) [26:15]
Fort Smith Symphony/John Jeter
rec Arkansas Best Corporation Performing Arts Center, Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA,
23-24 May 2009
NAXOS 8.559603 [56:24]
Musically this disc has proved to be something of a disappointment. In the past
I have really enjoyed William Grant Still’s music. The companion disc of
the earlier symphonies from Naxos is a winner and in particular a disc on the
short-lived Collins label entitled Witness Volume 2 - The Music of William
Grant Still is both powerful and moving. Likewise, the indefatigable Neeme
Järvi and his Detroit orchestra produced for Chandos dynamic versions of
his symphonic music. Hence, I was really looking forward to expanding my knowledge
of this trail-blazing and important American composer. I don’t think I
have heard as dull a piece of symphonic writing as the Symphony No.5 ‘Western
Hemisphere’ in a long time. It is in effect a 1970 major revision of
the 1945 Symphony No.3. I have no way of knowing the extent of the revision
so I can only assume that by 1970 Still, at 75 year old, found it harder to summon
the vigour that so characterises his earlier music. This symphony is built on
a 3-note short, short, long rising motif. This is treated in predictably uninspiring
ways - inverted, expanded, contracted and ultimately builds to a somewhat cinematic
climax. There is an appended programme to the whole work that is remarkable in
its avowed goal - I’m not sure how to comment on it without sounding mean-spirited
and negative. Enough to say, I did not feel the music successfully represents
the aspirational intent. The second movement is the most successful of the work.
A gently throbbing pedal chord sustained by a marimba over which languorous strings
sing a simple song. It’s the kind of movement that could quite easily appear
on a light classics disc with a title like Sunset in the Tropics. The
scherzo third movement is again hampered by the repetitive use of small melodic/rhythmic
cells. This results, just as it did in the opening movement is long passages
of unvarying textures. The Finale is more interesting but pales beside
any of the symphonic works of a Schuman, Harris or Diamond let alone a Copland,
Bernstein or even Don Gillis at his most populist. Throughout this work I am
disappointed by the orchestration - with the exception of the marimba moment
mentioned above - Still’s handling of the orchestra is predictable and
for 1970 downright reactionary.
David Ciucevich Jr.’s liner-notes tell us that Poem for Orchestra is “one
of Still’s key works” without saying why! I find that kind of sweeping
statement absolutely infuriating - it might well be central to his entire oeuvre
but you must explain for what reason it deserves that status. It certainly has
a bleaker more foreboding character than the Symphony. It is all too easy to
assume any work written during wartime reflects the mood of the time. I do find
this to be a wholly more impressive work although I could not escape the sense
that there is something rather cinematic in the emotions it seems to convey.
By that I mean that it creates a mood which is then sustained until a transition
to a new “scene”. Also, there is a progression from a dark and menacing
opening to a sunlit ‘happy ending’ that is rather corny to be honest
- right down to Hollywood countermelodies on the horns over the strings richly
harmonised hymn. I’m a sucker for this kind of writing but it does feel
rather forced here.
The programme concludes with the longest work presented here - the Symphony
No.4 ‘Autochthonous’. Hopefully I am not alone in not previously
knowing that autochthonous means pertaining to indigenous flora/fauna/rocks of
a country or continent. Apparently Still uses the title to refer to the spirit
of the whole American people not just the original inhabitants. Again, I am naturally
uneasy about any art that aspires to encompass enormous “ideas” within
such limited frameworks - so when the fourth movement is subtitled “the
warmth and the spiritual side of the American people - their love of mankind” I
start to twitch. Clearly this is expressed as an ideal and an admirable one at
that but regretfully I have to say I do not think Still has the compositional
tools at his disposal to bring it off. The most successful movement for me is
the most modest - the 3rd movement - with a graceful
lilt. Again this could very easily be extracted as a separate character piece
and certainly contains elements familiar from Still’s earlier works showing
his knowledge of the Jazz and Broadway scenes. It has an easy swinging bluesy
feel (and the orchestration is so much better than the Symphony No.5)
and nonchalantly strolls along in a way that probably does capture more of the “American
Spirit” than any other section of the work. The abovementioned finale very
quickly descends into cinematic clichés of brave new worlds and happy
ever afters that to be honest others have done better.
One of the unexpected beneficial by-products of the Naxos American Classics series
has been the discovery that the USA has a lot of very good orchestras away from
the big famous cities. The Fort Smith Symphony from Arkansas are good without
being exceptional - characteristically confident brass playing but strings who
sound under pressure during complex passages a little more than the best orchestras
do. The various sections of the orchestra do not blend or speak with the total
unanimity that one has come to expect - the very ending of the last track would
have benefited from one more take. They play with gusto when required although
no-where on this disc does the playing truly bloom. The recording is good without
being one of Naxos’s finest. It sounds as though the resonance of the hall
has made the engineers bring the microphones slightly closer than normal which
results in the strange combination of a balance tight onto the instruments set
in a halo of ambience.
As ever, it is wonderful that via Naxos one is able to hear unusual and specialised
music such as this for so little money. I will be returning to the works of Still
in the future just not as presented here.
Nick Barnard