Six Superb CDs of Mid-20th Century American Classics at Budg
J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 01/19/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"These discs were originally issued separated (and in different combinations than here) and all feature Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony or the New York Chamber Symphony. Each was loudly lauded when it first came out, and links are provided for those single issues where one can read reviews of each. Since at the time of this review, Amazon had not listed the contents of this six-CD box set, here is what is included:
1. AARON COPLAND
Fanfare for the Common Man
Lincoln Portrait
Canticle of Freedom
An Outdoor Overture
ROY HARRIS
American Creed - Free to Dream & Free to Build
When Johnny Comes Marching Home
Portraits Of Freedom: Music of Aaron Copland and Roy Harris
2. DAVID DIAMOND - Music for Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet"
WALTER PISTON - Sinfonietta
HOWARD HANSON - Piano Concerto in G
Diamond: Music For Romeo And Juliet/Psalm/Kaddish For Violoncello And Orchestra/Symphony No.3, Diamond: Symphonies 2 & 4 / Concerto for Orchestra, Piston: Symphony Nos. 2 & 6; Sinfonietta, et al.
3. PISTON - Serenata for Orchestra
DIAMOND - Concerto for Small Orchestra
HANSON - Pastorale for Oboe, Harp and Strings
PAUL CRESTON - Choreografic Suite
Walter Piston: Serenata; Symphonies 5, 7 & 8,Paul Creston: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2,
4. HANSON
Symphony No. 2, "Romantic"
Fantasy Variations on a Theme of Youth
Symphony No. 4, "Requiem"
Music of Howard Hanson, Vol. 1
5. HANSON
Elegy in Memory of Serge Koussevitsky
Symphony No. 6
Serenade for Flute, Harp and Strings
Mosaics
Symphony No. 7, "A Sea Symphony"
Music of Howard Hanson, Vol. 1
6. ALAN HOVHANESS
Symphony No. 2, "Mysterious Mountain"
Prayer of St. Gregory
Prelude and Quadruple Fugue
And God Created Great Whales
Alleluia and Fugue
Celestial Fantasy
Hovhaness: Mysterious Mountain/And God Created Great Whales
I don't have a lot to add here except that I've been playing these discs fairly frequently since they first came out in the mid- and late-1990s. I particularly love the performance of Hovhaness's "Mysterious Mountain" -- even though it doesn't replace the work's first recording with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago SO -- and since the prominent trumpet soloist is not named, have often wondered if it might be Gerard Schwarz himself as he first came to prominence as a trumpet in the New York Philharmonic. (Charles Butler, on that same disc, is credited as the trumpet soloist in the "Prayer of St. Gregory".) Other highlights for me: Creston's Choreografic Suite; James Earl Jones as the speaker in Copland's Lincoln Portrait; Harris's When Johnny Comes Marching Home; Diamond's Concerto for Small Orchestra. But they are all wonderful and I wouldn't want to be without any of them.
Heartily recommended.
Scott Morrison
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