John Becker's (re)discovery long overdue
Discophage | France | 05/26/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It was a nice idea to bring together Schuman's "Prayer in Time of War" from 1943 and Harris' "Epilogue to Profiles in Courage: JFK", written in memory of the assassinated President and premiered in 1964. The Prayer (originally published on LP as Louisville S-721 with Becker's Symphony and Felix Labunski's - whoever that may be - Canto di Aspirazione) is simple in its language and construction, a powerful and dramatic orchestral prayer of great emotional impact, first solemn (some passages of Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem are brought back to mind) then agitated and combative, before returning to the appeased and introspective mood of the start. Likewise Harris' "Epilogue" is an intensely stated dirge of again simple construction and great emotional impact, not the least because it is pervaded by a feeling of hope. It was first released on LP as Louisville S-666 with Toshiro Mayuzumi's Samsara and Gunther Schuller's Dramatic Overture. Louisville S-692, which had the recording of Schuman's Fourth Symphony that is reissued on this CD, had a coupling which would have also made an appropriate disc-mate to Harris' homage: Robert Bernat's "In Memoriam JFK (Passacaglia)" (and New Music From Bowling Green has another such piece, Samuel Adler's "Requiescat in Pace").
On the other hand Harris' orchestral variations "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" on the famous Civil War song (1934) shows that a famous popular tune doesn't necessarily make good good music. To me this is "Americana" at its most superficial and circus-like. It was first published on LP as Louisville S-766 with Piston's First Symphony (reissued on Kurka/Mennin/Piston: Orchestral Works) and John Weinzberg's Symphonic Ode.
Schuman's Fourth Symphony is well-crafted in its kind but features many of the cliches one associates with the symphonies written by American composers in the 1940s. It starts with a brooding lament with english horn solo over a quasi-passacaglia ostinato on low strings, rising to a statement of great romantic sweep played by the strings underpinned by the horns, one you might associate with Copland or Harris. At 4:08 the development proper begins with a vigorous Coplandesque dance-like rhythm in colorful orchestration that develops into a fugue for strings. Ensues busy orchestral activity alternating the woodwind-led pastoral, the string-led romantic and the brassy motoric (with a passage for timpani and brass very reminiscent of the finale of Carl Nielsen's Fourth), rising to a climax of strong emotional impact but also verging on the bombastic. The wistful and brooding, woodwind-led middle movement, rising to a dramatic climax before receding back to its opening, appeased mood, could also have been written (and has been) by just about anybody who wrote symphonies in those years. The finale is a little more original in conception, starting as a mischievous and biting scherzo, with an appeased romantic and contrapuntally elaborate middle section first scored for strings then woodwinds, developping into a fugue that rises to a heroic and triumphant brassy climax, conjuring echoes of Nielsen and Vaughan Williams (not to mention Alwyn, Rubbra and all the "minor" British symphonists of those days). But ultimately I find that Schuman's Fourth doesn't offer all the unexpected surprises with which the Third constantly grabs your attention. I haven't heard David Allen Miller's recording on Albany (Schuman, William: Credendum, Piano Concerto, Fourth Symphony), but while the Louisville Orchestra is coarser and craggier sounding than Gerard Schwarz' Seattle forces on Naxos (William Schuman: Symphonies Nos. 4 and 9; Orchestra Song; Circus Overture), with strings and trumpet at times strained to their limit, Mester generates more excitement than the grand, luscious but comparatively sluggish Schwarz. Still, if it is indeed Schuman you are interested in you had probably better go to Miller or to Schwarz, the latter also offering the fine 9th symphony.
Anyway, after hearing Schuman's Fourth and many similar works written in the 1940s by Piston, Hanson, Harris, Antheil, Copland, Barber, Diamond, Mennin (ordered here by date of birth), it comes as a relief to hear the "dissonant" voice, such as Riegger, Carter, Sessions... and John Becker.
John J. Becker is something else altogether. He is the most obscure of the members of the group known in the 1920s as the "American Five", which includes Ives, Ruggles, Cowell and Riegger. He is also the man who wrote "Laws are made for imitators. Creators make laws". Everything is original in the symphonic conception that informs his 3rd Symphony, "Symphonia Brevis" (completed in 1929 and revised in 1933), e.g. un-influenced by the accepted conceptions of symphonic form, starting with its overall shape, with two movements of vastly contrasting duration. The first is a sardonic scherzo of 3 and ½ minute's length with a trio in plaintive mood, and it is followed by a grand and powerful, 13 minute elaboration on a stern opening motif, an improbable bridge between Bruckner (the grandiose, chorale-like progressions) and Schoenberg (the variation elaboration on a stark basic motive), with Ivesian overtones (slightly grating strings against percussive-piano interjections).
John Becker's output includes seven symphonies, two piano concertos and an opera written in 1935, "A Marriage with Space", still unperformed when the CD was released. There is apparently a big legacy of Becker's manuscripts at the Lincoln Center Library of the Performing Arts in New York City. The (re)discovery of John Becker is long overdue (more of his music - only a paltry 41 minutes, but fascinating in content - can be heard on Becker: Soundpieces 1 & 5 / At Dieppe / Concerto Arabesque).
The two Schuman items have been reissued, with the composer's ballet Judith, on a single First Edition CD (W. Schuman: Judith / Symphony 4 / Prayer in Time of War), but the Harris pieces and the Becker are available only here. The pieces contained on this disc were recorded between 1966 and 1978, and come in good stereo sound. Good and informative liner notes for Becker and Schuman, terser for Harris.
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Track Listings (8) - Disc #1