Search - Peter Mennin, Christian Badea, Columbus Symphony Orchestra :: Mennin: Symphony No. 8; Symphony No. 9; Folk Overture

Late Mennin for the Stout-Hearted

Thomas E. Pliske | Miami, Florida | 03/27/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have enjoyed Peter Mennin's orchestral and chamber works over the past 40 years, and I am happy to see these last two of his symphonies available on disc. At the outset let me say that the performances are impeccable and the sound is first rate throughout all three works. This is extremely difficult music to perform, and I can appreciate the rehearsal time that went into these performances. Between his Third and Seventh symphonies, Mennin's music underwent a evolution from what was an essentially lyrical, tonal, dynamically propulsive idiom into a darker more serious mode dominated by chromaticism and searing vertically compressed tone clusters. The Eighth and Ninth Symphonies represent these developments in their final form. Only in the slow movements and the introductions to the works does the lyricism remain and there with a tragic or nocturnal poignancy The two symphonies are closely allied in style and imagery. Except for the slow movements, they carry the listener through an eruptive landscape illuminated by flashes and flares of vertically stabbing chords and in an atmosphere filled with Mennin's dense contrupuntal figurations. One wonders at the Biblical inscriptions of the Eighth, since the moods are unremittingly forboding and apocalyptic. The Folk Overture, a much earlier work from the time of the Third Symphony, is a ray of sunshine in contrast to the two stormy but highly engaging symphonies. This disc is a must for Mennin lovers. It captures the dark yet brilliant final mood of one of America's great symphonists. Laurels to Badea and the CSO for their near-perfect performances."

Modern Mennin and Masterful

Robert Milne | Toronto, Canada | 09/20/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The 8th symphony is terrific; the 9th even better.
I cannot understand those reviewers who say that the music is " perplexing" or even " not for the faint of heart". It is perplexing---in a positive way; and the faint of heart should take great solace in a 9th symphoney that --I truely believe will, one day, be ranked with the great 9th symphonies of the past--- and clear you, with open ears and heart, to dispense with defibralaters and just listen to this serene and elegiac wonder. True this music was performed in memoriam Mennin, but would you collapse listening to the last offerings of Beethoven, Bruchner, Mahler, R.V.W et al . No , of course not. Ok this is not the younger more lyrical Mennin--- except for the --to me --- somewhat out-of-place "Folk Overture"--- these are the highly refined last musical thoughts of a genius.
Ahab had his " Moby Dick" as did P.M, but Mennin was able to move on and grow thereafter. I can't help dwelling more on the 9th , than the 8th. The 8th is wonderful , emloying as it does, his collected wisdom : it is a work of a multitude of ideas....and each is given it's own modality : from abstaction to precison, from solemn to harsh, peaceful to violent; This 8th is wrought superbly by a man who juxtaposes quiet strings with timpanic brassy frentics : if there were a dominate mood it would be agitato. Nothing wrong, eh, with a little hot sauce on your brie. The 9th leaves me nearly speechless Yes, It is that good, that powerful. it reminds me of Schnittke's last symphony : beauty in bleakness, richness in (seeming) simplicity ; an achiness relived ; soulful, pensive, sublime. It has an idea from which it never deviates, despite the bumps in the dark, an idea of summary, of life near closure.
Unless you loathe modern classical music..... this CD is a must. It is an American Masterpiece....there are many...but I know, I KNOW these --beyond Carter, Diamond,Gerber, even Barber will grow
, grow in recognition and acclaim, grow despite relative anonimity concert-wise , grow to blossom and bloom to the magnificence they, especially the 9th, deserve and deserve NOW"

I am perplexed but not by this marvellous music

Robert Milne | 02/19/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"From the UK, I've always felt a deep love of American "classical" music; in particular for those great symphonists of the 50s onwards. I join the ranks of many who cannot understand the neglect suffered by Peter Mennin, recently remedied to some extent by recordings such as these (thankfully). His symphonies are powerful, intense, brooding, dark, light, laden with moments of nervous energy. Moreover, they are technically excellent symphonies, models of superb orchestral balance as crafted by an uncompromising spirit. I well remember my acquisition long ago of his third symphony on the Louisville Subscription Series, available in London and how I sat there, gazing as if something deep had been revealed in my musical sphere!
This recording, the 8th and 9th, represent a culmination perhaps, rather than a departure, especially the 9th where Mennin seems to find a certain respite in a more choral-styled texture than the sometimes frenetic contrapunctal evolutions in the 3rd and 5th.
I find Mennin's work easier than, say, David Diamond, and only hope that if interest increases, we may oneday have a recording of the 2nd Symphony, or even the withdrawn 1st.
This recording conducted by Christian Badea is superb, capturing the veiled light of these late works. It is a credit to New World Records and I, for one, am truly grateful for their sense of adventure."