Deems TAYLOR (1885-1966)
Through the Looking Glass, Op 12 (1919-21) [31:28]
Charles Tomlinson GRIFFES (1884-1920)
Poem for Flute and Orchestra (1919) [10:34]
The White Peacock (1917) [6:11]
The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan (1912, orch. 1919) [10:51]
Three Tone Pictures (1912, orch. 1919) [8:21]
Bacchanale (1913, orch. 1919) [4:15]
Scott Goff (flute)
Seattle Symphony/Gerard Schwarz
rec. 20 March 1990 (Poem, Pictures), 29-30 May 1990 (remainder)
NAXOS 8.559724 [71:39]
This CD handily couples two American composers who deserve more attention:
Charles
Tomlinson Griffes, a fascinating impressionist whose death at age 36
silenced
one of the nation’s most original and interesting voices, and Deems
Taylor,
a younger man who for decades successfully kept the romantic spirit alive.
It’s
a valuable addition to any library of American music, especially for the
Griffes.
Deems Taylor comes first on the program, with his half-hour suite
Through
the Looking Glass. It’s based on Alice stories and it sounds a
little
bit like Ravel’s Mother Goose but without any of the pathos
or
hidden threat. There’s bubbly good cheer throughout, as in the
Mendelssohn-meets-Disney
scherzo “The Garden of Live Flowers”, although this is
undercut
by the rather enigmatic ending of the piece, a fade to black which ends
the
section dedicated to the White Knight. Taking up one-third of the running
time
is a lone disappointment, “Jabberwocky”, although I might just
be
sad because of my expectations. I expected a play on the nature of the
poem
itself, a work where all the words sound familiar and right even though
they’re
all complete nonsense. Wouldn’t it be interesting to hear a musical
attempt
at that, where all the notes seem to make sense even though they’re
gibberish?
Please refrain from writing in to tell me who your least favorite composer
is.
Instead we get a literal depiction of the Jabberwocky beast galumphing and
getting
struck down by the vorpal blade.
The CD’s second half is another story. Charles Tomlinson Griffes
began
his studies with the late German romantics but became fascinated by the
twin
threads of impressionism and exoticism; he especially loved Scriabin. This
collection
brings his nearly-complete orchestral music - there’s also an
overture
and a handful of dances - and it’s all superb. The Poem for Flute
and
Orchestra, if it had Debussy’s name at the top, would be played
everywhere
by everybody, so wonderful is its writing for the soloist and so
enchanting
are its melodies. The White Peacock showcases the composer’s
superb
way with the orchestra, celesta and muted strings engage in dialogue with
the
flutes and oboes before a sudden swell of the violins portends
Griffes’
glorious attempt to write the most luxurious, radiant music he possibly
can.
The work’s second half is pure magic.
This clears the way for his masterpiece: The Pleasure Dome of Kubla
Khan.
Of the Americans, only Ives was anything like this good at orchestration,
as
the piece sounds simply utterly amazing, from its foreboding beginning
through
swells and waves of hallucinatory rapture. The climax arrives when
it’s
least expected, but goodness is it breathtaking in its explosive sweep. It
would
most certainly make a good pairing with The Firebird, La
mer,
or The Poem of Ecstasy. The three Tone-Pictures are rather
slight-sounding
in comparison, although they are quite effective descriptions of their
subjects
(especially the “Lake at Evening”). The CD ends with a
Bacchanale,
which sounds very oriental and includes yet more delicious orchestral
writing.
The trombone chorales, violent tubas and ecstatic percussion don’t
at
all betray the fact that this started off as a piano piece.
Griffes didn’t have time to really make his name as a great master,
but
what he left behind can be extraordinary. I’d say you need the piano
music
- Stephen Beus has a good selection on Harmonia Mundi, and the complete
works
appear on two aging Naxos discs - and also suggests at least an MP3
investigation
of the other Naxos orchestral CD, which adds “Clouds” and
three
songs with soprano. As for this disc, Scott Goff’s flute solo work
in
the Poem is extraordinary - no wonder he was with the orchestra for
42
years! - and Gerard Schwarz really understands the sensual,
impressionistic
idiom of the music. The sound from 1990 has aged well, though as always
it’s
worth pointing out that the Seattle Symphony has since moved to a hall
with
yet finer acoustics, so don’t expect the sonic opulence of the new
Rimsky-Korsakov
CDs.
Brian Reinhart
A great introduction to Griffes’ exotic impressionism, one of the greatest of American sound-worlds. The Taylor is non-essential but fun.