Search - Aaron Copland, Luigi Dallapiccola, Elliott Carter :: Variations

Good performances, in MONO

Personne | Rocky Mountain West | 03/30/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I ordered this recording for the Elliott Carter variations. I didn't even pay attention to what else was on it. As a result, I was pleasantly surprised also to find Copland, Ives and Dallapiccola.



The Copland Variations are sometimes used to show that Copland "could too" write 20th-century music. In that regard, they're not persuasive. Had they been the work of a young composer, one would be more forgiving of the incessant pounding of the thematic materials, the lack of ingenuity in their development, the coarseness of phrasing. But Copland was a mature composer with a number of successes under his belt. 'Variations' stands as a near one-off experiment. Copland soon scurried back to more comfortable territory.



The Dallapicola variations are quite nice, generally subtle and subdued. The gentle complexity of the orchestration really cries out for a stero recording. This fine composer is surely underrepresented in his recorded output.



The Carter variations, even in this first recording, stand out for inventiveness. An ability Carter shares with Stravinsky is his ability to find small ensembles within a larger orchestral texture. The music moves surefootedly from intimacy to bold climax. What a piece!



What hasn't been said about the Ives America variations? Written originally for organ (Ives was still in his teens), they were orchestrated by the capable William Schuman. They're still funny, if perhaps a little puerile.



For many years the Louisville Orchestra was an important source of new music. It is breathtaking to consider the number of important pieces both commissioned and performed by this group. It's good to see some of those recordings available again. They're occasionally a bit on the rough-and-ready side, but they also convey the excitement of making this music for the first time. It would be great if they were in stereo, but they're not. Amazon could have been a little more clear on that fact."