RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Music for a Time of War
Charles IVES (1874-1954)
The Unanswered Question (1906) [5:44]
John ADAMS (b. 1947)
The Wound-Dresser (1989) [20:18]
Benjamin BRITTEN (1913-1976)
Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20 (1940) [19:03]
Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)
Symphony No. 4 in F minor (1931-34) [32:53]
Sanford Sylvan (baritone)
The Oregon Symphony/Carlos Kalmar
rec. live 7-8 May 2011, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland, Oregon. DDD
English text (Adams) included
PENTATONE CLASSICS PTC5186 393 SACD [78:04]
This is an uncommonly interesting programme and the four pieces that comprise
it make a satisfying combination. I have to say that I’m not sure about
the “for a time of War” tag, which is unexplained in the booklet
notes. The Ives piece was written in peacetime; the Adams work, although it
is a setting of words rooted in the American Civil War, was more inspired
by the composer’s experiences of the last illness and death of his father
as well as the fact that several people close to Adams had died of AIDS. The
Britten was certainly a product of the war years but the Vaughan Williams
symphony, though finished as the political storm clouds began to rise in Europe
in the 1930s, is now generally accepted to relate to his personal situation
at the time: a recent film, The Passions of Vaughan Williams, suggested
that the work has a lot to do with his frustrations at the increasing ill
health of his first wife, Adeline. Let us not quibble, however; there is much
that binds the works together and the key thing is that the programme is musically
satisfying. It’s also extremely well executed: there’s some very
fine music making to be experienced here.
The Unanswered Question is given a refined and cultivated reading.
However, despite the sensitivity of the performance a couple of doubts crept
into my mind while listening. I wondered if it’s not a bit too slow
- but then reminded myself that the recordings by both Leonard Bernstein and
Michael Tilson Thomas are even more expansive. However, John Adams on his
1989 album American Elegies (Elektra Nonesuch 79249-2) gets through
the piece in a ‘mere’ 4:49 and I rather like his refusal to linger
excessively. Slightly more concerning is the fact that I’m unsure that
the woodwind interjections sound sufficiently “quarrelsome”, as
annotator Steven Kruger aptly describes them. However, the piece is very well
played indeed.
John Adams’ The Wound-Dresser is one of his most thought-provoking
pieces. It’s a setting for baritone and small orchestra of lines from
Walt Whitman’s Drum Taps in which the poet describes graphically
his experiences ministering to wounded soldiers during the American Civil
War. The text is grim and stark, evoking some harrowing imagery and it seems
to me that one of Adams’ great achievements in the piece is the avoidance
of any mawkishness or hysteria. The piece, which is a declamatory soliloquy
for the baritone, is surprisingly calm and restrained in tone. Though it depicts
a war-time scenario Adams was inspired to write it having experienced his
father’s terminal illness and also after the AIDS-related death of a
number of friends.
The performance benefits from two things. One is the sensitive and committed
conducting of Carlos Kalmar, who, as in the Ives, obtains very fine and responsive
playing from his orchestra, not least from Jun Iwasaki, who was the concertmaster
at the time. The second is the presence of baritone Sanford Sylvan. Mr Sylvan
has a very close association with John Adams’ music; he created the
role of Chou En-Lai in Nixon in China and the title role in The
Death of Klinghoffer and went on to give definitive performances in
the recordings of both operas. Even more relevantly, it was he who gave the
first performance of The Wound-Dresser in 1989 and he went on to make
the first recording, with the composer conducting, later that year (Elektra
Nonesuch 79218-2). Comparing the two recordings I find there’s little
to choose between them: both are first class. Sylvan is a most eloquent soloist
on this new recording - as he was in 1989 - and he’s accorded a lovely
natural balance against the orchestra. If you haven’t heard this fine
piece before then the present disc would be an excellent way to experience
it.
Sinfonia da Requiem is very well done indeed. Kalmar directs a very
powerful account of the first movement, ‘Lacrymosa’ but, despite
the arresting opening and several other potent passages there are many stretches
of this movement that are much more subdued and these are played with great
refinement. The second movement, ‘Dies Irae’ spits and snarls
as it should. In a reading of great energy and drive one cannot but admire
the precision of the Oregon Symphony. The finale, ‘Requiem Aeternam’,
is much more consolatory in tone; the violence is past. The orchestra responds
to this change of mood with some very beautiful, dedicated playing. Here,
I must make comment about Steven Kruger’s notes, which I’m afraid
I find disappointingly tendentious in relation to this work. Leaving aside
the factual error that Britten “set [the piece] before the public”
in 1940 - the first performance was given in New York in March 1941 - I really
have some difficulties with his assertion that “it is not a stretch
to view it as depicting the Battle of Britain then taking place.” I
can agree with him that Britten came to feel increasingly uncomfortable in
the safety of the USA while Britain was at war. However, I’ve never
read anywhere else the suggestion that the Sinfonia, which was composed
in a great hurry to meet a rapidly approaching deadline, depicts the Battle
of Britain. According to Humphrey Carpenter’s biography of Britten the
work was completed in June 1940. However, the battle of Britain really only
began the following month. Possibly the events of the Spanish Civil War, which
had affected the pacifist Britten quite considerably provided more of an impetus
for the work but this is not a piece about the Battle of Britain. I
don’t think Mr Kruger helps his cause either by statements such as this
one about the third movement: “Britten now undertakes to do what any
good English composer does for serenity - he walks the listener home.”
I bet Britten would turn in his grave at rubbish like that! Forget the notes
and concentrate on the performance, which is a fine one.
Impressive too is the reading of Vaughan Williams’ Fourth Symphony.
The account of the first movement is robust and potent; the orchestra’s
playing is very dynamic. The slow movement is also well done. Much of this
is brooding music and Kalmar’s interpretation is probing. He controls
the stretches of quiet music very well while the climaxes have strength. The
tempestuous third movement is delivered with great thrust and vigour; the
spiky irregular rhythms are articulated very well. As for the finale, it erupts.
The performance is as fast as I can recall hearing it - though it’s
not rushed; Kalmar exerts a fine grip on proceedings. The music boils and
the brass playing is superbly incisive; mind you, the whole orchestra is incisive.
There’s no applause after the performance - nor is there after any of
the pieces - but I bet that on the night the audience were enthused by this
performance, and rightly so.
I listened to this hybrid SACD as a conventional CD and I found the sound
was very good indeed. The recording has clarity, presence and depth and it
shows the excellent playing of the Oregon Symphony in the best possible light,
which is what the quality of their playing deserves.
Immediately after these concerts the orchestra took the programme to Carnegie
Hall for the inaugural Spring for Music season there. Unfortunately their
appearance there was not reviewed by MusicWeb International Seen and Heard
but my colleague Bruce Hodges caught the concert that the Toledo Symphony
and their conductor, Stefan Sanderling gave in the same series and in his
review
he said this: “In Toledo next season the ensemble will replicate another
Spring for Music concert, conductor Carlos Kalmar’s program with
the Oregon Symphony…... The reason: Sanderling and the orchestra wanted
to retain a festival souvenir - how can one not smile at such an imaginative
coda?” I’m reminded of the proverb that imitation is the most
sincere form of flattery. I’m not surprised that Sanderling should wish
to replicate such an interesting programme as this one. I presume that the
Oregon Symphony gave as good an account of themselves in Carnegie Hall as
they do on this disc for I understand that they’ve been invited to return
to New York for the 2013 Spring for Music series.
That’s in the future. The orchestra’s next CD for Pentatone is
already in the can, I understand and will include the Vaughan Williams Fifth
Symphony and Elgar’s ‘Cockaigne’ Overture, recorded
in concert in February 2012. That’s something to look forward to, especially
if it turns out to be as fine as this present CD.
John Quinn
An uncommonly interesting programme, excellently performed and recorded.
Discography and review listing: Sinfonia da requiem
Review index: Vaughan Williams symphony 4