Carl RUGGLES (1876-1971)
Sun-Treader (1926-1931) [15:25]
Steven STUCKY (1949-2016)
Concerto for Orchestra No. 2 (2004) [14:44]
John HARBISON (b. 1938)
Symphony No. 4 (2004) [24:22]
National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic/David Alan Miller
rec. 2017, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Elsie & Marvin Dekelboum Concert Hall, University of Maryland, USA
NAXOS AMERICAN CLASSICS 8.559836 [65:00]
I’ve encountered the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic previously. They impressed me with a disc of American music, including significant compositions by Samuel Barber and Randall Thompson (review). They also set down another disc for Naxos, which I’ve not heard, which included John Corigliano’s First Symphony (review). On that latter disc they were conducted by David Alan Miller and he’s on podium duty here as well.
Two of the pieces are from our present century but they open with Sun-Treader, a radical work of the twentieth century. Though it plays only for some 15 minutes, it took Ruggles five years to compose. That speaks possibly to the composer’s slow work rate but more likely to the complexity of the score. It’s a hugely imposing creation, even if it’s a work that inspires admiration in me rather more than affection. There’s no little strength in the present performance but David Alan Miller and his impressively talented ensemble of young players are just as successful in the piece’s more lyrical passages. This uncompromisingly imagined work gets a very assured – and very well recorded – performance.
Steven Stucky wrote his Concerto for Orchestra for the inaugural season of the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. I learned from Robert Lintott’s informative notes that for this composition Stucky created a notation system corresponding to letters of the alphabet – what I might call an extension of the ‘BACH principle’. This enabled him to spell out thematically motifs such as GEHRY or ESP (Esa-Pekka Salonen) or LAP (Los Angeles Philharmonic). Frankly, it’s impossible to pick up these references while listening. It is slightly easier, however, to pick up the allusions to certain pieces of music during the first of the three movements. This is entitled Overture (with friends), and right at the very start Stucky mimics the opening of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G. As the movement progressed, I thought I detected references to Sibelius (Fifth Symphony) and Stravinsky (Petrushka). There may be other composer/work allusions that I have missed so far. This is a very busy movement, with lots going on in the orchestra. The central movement, Variations, consists of a theme and six variations. Playing here for 13:47, it accounts for just over half of the total duration of the work. The variations are alternately in slow or fast tempi, which helps the listener discern where one ends and another begins. Much of the music is quite restrained in tone, certainly by comparison with the highly active first movement; I found the scoring fascinating. The Finale is a brilliant, virtuoso movement, full of colour. Stucky uses solo instruments and also ‘combos’ of instruments. This is music of great vitality. The Concerto for Orchestra was new to me. It’s entertaining – in the best sense of the word – and it receives a very assured performance here.
Having reviewed a download of John Harbison’s first two symphonies on the Boston Symphony’s own label a little while ago, I never got round to their recordings of the other four symphonies, despite the best of intentions. Consequently, I was glad of this opportunity to experience the Fourth Symphony through this present recording. The symphony was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony for their centenary in 2004. It’s scored for a large orchestra, including triple wind, full brass, a large percussion section, piano, harp and strings. The work is cast in five movements. The opening Fanfare is the shortest; it’s described in the notes as “bombastic”. The music is full of energy and it certainly gets the listener’s attention. The Intermezzo that follows is much more subdued. This is a most interesting movement, fastidiously scored. The central Scherzo is rhythmically light and unpredictable. Quite frequently Harbison’s writing features exchanges between one section of the orchestra and another.
The fourth movement, Threnody, was the first to be composed. We learn from the notes that the composer wrote it very soon after receiving a phone call which, we infer, contained bad news concerning someone close to him. Harbison has said that the movement “is not about loss, but about the imminence and inevitability of loss at times, we of course, do not choose.” The Threnody is serious and eloquent and rises to a very intense climax shortly before the end. The Finale is, we are told, inspired by a line of poetry written by Emily Dickinson: “After great pain, a formal feeling comes-.” Robert Lintott suggests that the formality lies in the manner of Harbison’s writing, which “sounds more like a standard symphony than anything else in the entire work.” That may be so – he’s more familiar with the music than I am – but what I can say for sure is that the movement is a most energetic creation. This is a very impressive symphony and it’s impressively performed.
This disc gave me a great deal to admire, both in terms of the quality of the musical invention and the assurance, flair and commitment of the performances. The recordings have been very well engineered; the sound has plenty of impact – without being in any way aggressive – and engineer Phil Rowlands lets you hear a satisfying amount of detail; that’s crucial in intricate scores such as these. Robert Lintott’s notes guide the listener well.
John Quinn
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