Search - Metropole Orchestra, Beau Hunks Saxtette :: Raymond Scott: Chesterfield Arrangements 1937-38

A splendid sound, but a little too "polished" at times

B. FILBERT | Oregon, USA | 04/04/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is, to my knowledge, the only recording of these orchestrations of Scott's works. They are lavish and very enjoyable - evoking an era, as well as hinting at some of the composers later musical ideas. Most of the pieces here are available in smaller arrangements on other recordings, but others seem purpose-written for this larger pallet (Christmas Night in Harlem - a very enjoyable song - and Tia Juana, in particular, comes to mind here).



As with the other Beau Hunks recordings of this music, my only criticism is that these performances are, at times, a bit too smooth. The Scott style is simultaneously unstable and finely-wrought, making for a certain tension in listening. Some of the cuts on this disc, particularly The Penguin, have the rhythms polished to lapidary perfection, but the sense of amazement that it all fits together is lost in the process.



This is, however, a very small censure. The overall effort - as with their other Scott recordings - is extremely well done and well worth purchasing. This small renaissance of Scott's early compositions is great to see. I only hope that an American ensemble will try at some point have the courage to try these arrangements!"

A little too stiff, disappointing

Presbyteros | Glassboro, NJ USA | 05/11/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"One of the things about playing music is knowing the style and being comfortable in it. The Metropole Orchestra obviously has played music like this before, but they are just a little too stiff in these arrangements. The running passages in "Powerhouse" actually sound labored. The Warner studio musicians in the forties, knew how to lean into the rhythms, and what to accent, etc. Obviously these are not Carl Stalling's reworkings, but the rhythmic figures are there.

Some music simply requires that you know the idiom (Chicago Symphony under Reiner or Solti, playing Bartok, as opposed to Karajan and Berlin).

I went back to the "Carl Stalling Project"."