Aaron COPLAND (1900-1990)
Symphony for Organ and Orchestra (1924) [23.33]
Orchestral Variations (1957) [12.35]
Short Symphony (1931-33) [15.22]
Symphonic Ode (1927, revised 1955) [18.18]
Jonathan Scott (organ)
BBC Philharmonic/John Wilson
rec. January 2016, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, (Organ Symphony); BBC Philharmonic Studio, MediaCity, Salford Quays
CHANDOS CHSA5171 SACD [70.17]
On the surface these are ‘difficult’ works - difficult
for listeners and performers alike - quite unlike Appalachian Spring
for instance. Reading Mervyn Cooke’s learned notes before listening
to the music I began to wonder what I had let myself in for not being familiar
with the music on this album. Cooke comments on how orchestras cringed at
each one of the four pieces here. However times and tastes change and John
Wilson, meticulous and conscientiously skilled at researching, reinstating
and arranging scores, has clearly delved deeply into the structure of this
music. He has delivered performances that have clarity, lucidity and an engaging
vivacity that holds the ear. He is aided by a bright and very detailed recording
from the Chandos engineers.
It will be remembered that Copland studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in
1921-24. Back in America Copland remained in contact with Boulanger and composed
his Organ Symphony for her. When she arrived in New York to play the Aeolian
Hall organ, the instrument played up and she had to fix it. The ‘squally’
Symphony must have bewildered and frightened the gentle, conservative ladies
at that Sunday afternoon concert. A reviewer commented that the ending sounded
as though it was “… screaming like a wild banshee …”
Boulanger, eminently practical, had commented to Copland, “… don’t
be too complicated …” and warned him that “one cannot rehearse
very much and orchestras are not ready to handle certain problems properly
…” Jonathan Scott, the organist, on this recording contributes
a note of his own about the extraordinary writing of the organ part including
asking for fulsome dexterity of hand calling for the performer “potentially
to play (or miss) notes on four keyboards at once." Scott's scintillating
performance utilises the Bridgewater Hall’s Marcussen & Son concert
organ’s impressive facility from gentle treble to full earth-trembling
swell in the impressive finale. The booklet contains a full visual description
and specification of this organ. The influence of Stravinsky is apparent and
as well as the Finale, I enjoyed the accessible bouncy, breezy Scherzo middle
movement with its suggestions of birdsong.
Intellectual in intent, Copland’s Orchestral Variations were
originally written as Piano Variations in 1930. Copland gave the work’s
premiere himself after Walter Gieseking had despaired of it, writing to the
composer that no audience – “… would accept such crude dissonances
without protesting …” Many years later, in 1957, Copland arranged
the work for orchestra for the Louisville Symphony Orchestra under Robert
Whitney (review).
A local newspaper commented, “New-Old Copland Work Cheered. Also Jeered’.
This is rather unfair. Under Wilson the piece, comprising Theme and Coda with
twenty variations between, is, despite those dissonances, vital and colourful
with jazzy and Latin touches and glimpses of the familiar Copland homespun.
The Short Symphony was written for Carlos Chávez and performed by
the Orquesta Sinfónica de México in Mexico City. Again there were difficulties
and ten rehearsals were necessary despite its relative brevity and reduced
instrumentation: no lower brass, no percussion. The influences are Stravinsky
and Schoenberg. As Cooke wryly observes, its rhythmic complexities had unimpressed
both Stokowski and Koussevitzky, each of them shuddering at the prospect of
performing it. Under John Wilson, it proves to be an exhilarating work with,
again, the occasional nod at Copland’s lovable pastoral style.
The Symphonic Ode was premiered by Koussevitzky in February 1932
to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The rehearsals
had not gone at all well. The work’s rhythmic complexities had caused
serious difficulties such that only a mere three bars had been perfected in
one hour of rehearsal time. Things were so bad that the premiere had to be
postponed by a year while Copland made revisions to allow easier performance.
In 1955 he further revised the score and reduced its orchestration. It was
then premiered by Charles Munch in February 1956 to celebrate the Boston orchestra’s
seventy-fifth anniversary. Influences include Mahler and Stravinsky and musical
elements of the composer’s Jewish heritage. Its blues-inflected basic
idea comes from his 1926 Nocturne for violin and piano. The music
presents us with a night vision that is hardly peaceful. It is partially jazzy,
and proud and defiant in character.
Overall then this is spiky, hard-edged music for a dynamic American society,
driven with vivacity and excitement yet I doubt if it will make many appearances
in my CD player.
Ian Lace
|
Support us financially by purchasing
this from
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|