Paul CRESTON (1906-1985)
The First Three Symphonies
Symphony No. 1 (1940) [23.32]
Symphony No. 2 (1944) [22.23]
Symphony No. 3 (1950) [26.38]
National SO of the
Ukraine/Theodore Kuchar
rec Kiev, 25-29 December 1998
NAXOS AMERICAN CLASSICS 8.559034 [72.39]
Of all the Naxos discs in this series this is the one I have awaited with
the least patience.
Paul Creston (born Giuseppe Guttoveggio in New York City) like Randall Thompson,
Vittorio Giannini, Howard Hanson, William Schuman, Roy Harris and Gian-Carlo Menotti found
his melodic language during the 1940s and remained true to it. This can be
contrasted with Roger Sessions, Elliott Carter, Peter Mennin, and Walter
Piston who, each in their different ways true to themselves, branched out
into different and arguably impoverished territory as the years ploughed
forward.
This is the first symphony's premiere recording on any commercial medium.
My comparison was with an air-check of a US relay. The first was given by
Fritz Mahler with the NYA SO at Brooklyn Academy of Music on 22 February
1940. My tape was of the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy
(3 March 1943) although it might just as easily be from the second Philadelphia
relay on 23 March 1943 (were both broadcast I wonder?). Broadly the four
movements compared with the Naxos as follows:-
|
Majesty |
Humour |
Serenity |
Gaiety |
| Ormandy |
7.30 |
4.30 |
7.00 |
4.30 |
| Kuchar |
6.28 |
5.32 |
7.12 |
4.13 |
Ormandy, heard through distressed broadcast platters of the second complete
public performance, is initially emphatic to the point of ponderous. Soon,
however, he gives the impression of speed shaking off languor. Kuchar launches
straight in and does not let up. This is a smooth and limber work which impresses
in its darting Gallic clarity and wit. It is imposing but devoid of angst.
From this point of view I am sure that it must have been influenced by the
Randall Thompson Symphony No. 2 of 1931 (memorably committed to disc by Bernstein
for Sony-CBS) or the Paul Paray Symphony No. 1 of 1935. The last movement
certainly recalls the pacey slipstream of the Thompson. The first movement
explores the tinsel bustle of Bax's Overture to a Picaresque Comedy and
Rawsthorne's Street Corner Overture. The Serenity movement
is an arboreal idyll of horn-bloomed melody - think in terms of Bax's Spring
Fire, Happy Forest and Summer Music with a Hollywood overlay.
The orchestral piano is quite clear on the Ormandy but disappears in the
Kuchar.
The other two works were known for years from a Westminster LP (W9708) from
the early 1960s or late 1950s (Howard Mitchell/National SO of Washington).
I don't have the LP but I do have a friend's cassette dub and it was through
this cassette that I came to know these works.
The Second Symphony is in two grand movements: I Introduction and Song;
II Interlude and Dance. It is, by the way, the most impressive of
the three symphonies and its first movement is especially fine. Mitchell
takes 13.35 against Kuchar's 11.56 but Kuchar's seems not a whit too fast.
The movement's long string-intoned, inward-orientated, introduction sets
up a climactic song of Hansonian delirium in which the brass stamped rhythm
counterpoints a finely unfolded melody. However the laurels for the most
devastatingly organic approach to the Song rest with David Amos's
otherwise rather lugubrious edge-softened recording on Koch International
with the Krakow PO. Amos is superb in the sunburst-topped declamation with
strings sway-surging over emphatic brass 'shouts'. I would also commend Pierre
Monteux's NYPSO live concert relay (preserved in the NYPO Americana box)
on 19 January 1956, motivated by a supple exciting impulse. Mitchell makes
much of the piano in the introduction (it sounds disconcertingly like Bax's
Maytime In Sussex). Amos holds time steady in peaceful resolution
in the conclusion of the first movement - spiritually close to the final
'farewell to bliss' of Bax's seventh symphony (premiered in New York in 1937).
The Second's second movement, after some high Gothic melodrama worthy of
Wuthering Heights, is a dynamic stomp with hauntings by the wraiths of Gershwin,
the finale of Piston's Symphony No. 2, the explosive storm, stamp, smash
and bark of the Moeran Symphony (finale) and the RVW 4th symphony
(first movement). Latino elements also surface. Copland's Danzon Cubano
(1942) and El Salon Mexico (1936) would surely have been known
to the composer. This makes for a powerful finish but does not have the emotional
thrust and assured confidence of the first movement.
| Second Symphony |
Introduction and Song |
Interlude and Dance |
| Howard Mitchell (Westminster LP) |
13.35 |
9.45 |
| David Amos (Koch) |
12.41 |
9.57 |
| Theodore Kuchar (Naxos) |
11.56 |
10.24 |
The Third Symphony is sub-titled Three Mysteries - each movement depicting
a 'mystery' from the life of Christ: Nativity; Crucifixion,
Resurrection. After the string-tensioned serenity of the lento,
Nativity leans substantially on jaunty wassailing disconcertingly
close to Vaughan Williams in clod-hopping mode and Franz Schmidt's Hussar
Song Variations. The Crucifixion is at stylistic ease with its
subject matter - a recessed pessimism hinting at the darkly rumpled pages
of Firebird - then clearing for music as thumpingly oppressive and
bleak as 'The Valley of Death' Arthur Bliss's tragically neglected John
Blow Meditations. It is interesting to note that this 1950 symphony stands,
chronologically speaking, between two sacred works by Howard Hanson: Symphony
No. 4 Requiem, 1943 (with movements: Kyrie, Requiescat,
Dies Irae, Lux Aeterna) and the one movement Fifth Symphony
Sinfonia Sacra (1954). Resurrection in its string and wind
cataracts inevitably suggests Hanson, and some sections seem to reflect a
familiarity with Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 5. Everything builds well
until the return of that jaunty Regerian theme from the first movement. For
me this theme rather saps the work's high ideals. There is little to choose
between Schwarz's performance (perhaps a shade slicker) and the Ukrainians.
I also compared both with a fine radio performance of the BBC Philharmonic
conducted by George Lloyd. That radio version (circa 1995 on BBC Radio 3)
had a memorably stirring panache in Nativity.
The only available CD comparisons are differently coupled. The Naxos has
the great advantage of a strong logical coupling bring together the first
three symphonies. The performances are bright and spirited without being
spotlit. Both the second and third symphonies exist on alternative discs:
No. 2 with Krakow PO/David Amos (c/w Corinthians XIII and Walt
Whitman Koch International 3-7036-2H1) and No. 3 Seattle SO/Schwarz (c/w
Out of the Cradle, Partita and Invocation and Dance Delos
DE3114).
Perhaps some way down the turnpike we will see a second disc from this source
coupling the final three Creston symphonies. This grouping works perfectly:
No. 4: [26.00]; No. 5: [27.00]; No. 6: [18.30] = [71.30].
Meantime snap up this bountifully complete and inexpensive disc and open
your symphonic shutters just a little wider. If you need one section to convince
you then sample the whole of track 5 - the mark of a composer at the zenith
of his powers - technically in command and emotionally eloquent. The second
symphony is an achievement to set beside the great symphonic works of 1940s USA.
Highly commended.
Reviewer
Rob Barnett
NOTE There is still plenty of Creston to record. Now that James Buswell and
the Ukrainians have recorded the two Walter Piston Concertos it would be
natural for them to move on to the two Creston violin concertos and couple
them with the Creston piano concerto of 1949.
Lewis Foreman adds :-
The American composer Paul Creston (1906-1985) wrote six symphonies and we
have here the three best known. The fifth is also recorded by Gerard Schwarz
on Delos (DE 3127), while the sixth, with organ solo, was premiered by Philip
Brunelle with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington in 1982. I have
never heard the fourth.
Naxos have quite simply produced an inspired programme, boldly and idiomatically
performed by a good Ukrainian orchestra, and filling a major gap - Creston's
First Symphony - in the discography of American music, and at a bargain price.
Good though it is to have that work, for me the high point of this programme
is Creston's Third Symphony, surely one of the all-time greats of American
symphonism - my reaction doubtless the outcome of having owned for best part
of forty years the Nixa/Westminster LP of Howard Mitchell's fine performance
of the Second and Third (WLP 5272), though in mono sound that now shows its
age.
Creston is another 1940s, big-boned, self-evidently "American" symphonist,
to rank beside that wonderful nationalist group who emerged just before,
during and after the Second World War: Roy Harris, David Diamond, Howard
Hanson, William Schuman, Walter Piston and Peter Mennin. And all who respond
to that punchy yet broadly lyrical American approach to music will love Creston.
Certainly in the Second Symphony, as the composer remarked in a famous statement.
we have "an apotheosis of the two foundations of all music: song and dance".
The symphony falls into two movements encapsulating four - 'Introduction
and song' and 'Interlude and Dance' - and this approach underpins so many
orchestral works by Creston, indeed another of my long-standing favourites
of Creston is actually called Invocation and Dance, long-known from
a Louisville Orchestra programme issued by American Columbia (ML 5039) well
over forty years ago, but best heard today in Gerard Schwarz's coupling with
the Fifth Symphony.
The Third Symphony, with its title Three Mysteries, is a little different,
founded as it is on Gregorian chant which colours the melodic style in an
orchestral meditation on the birth and Passion of Christ, of unique atmosphere
and appealing lyricism. While perhaps the music should not be listened to
in a closely programmatic way, the movements are titled "The Nativity", "The
Crucifixion" and "The Resurrection", and it is valuable to know this to
appreciate the music, for after all, Creston was the long-established organist
of a mid-town Manhattan church, and the Gregorian chant was deeply loved
by the composer.
The booklet does not name the melodies Creston uses, but it is useful to
do so, for they illustrate how tunes associated in the Roman Catholic tradition
with these three tremendous events are used in each movement, underlining
the story. Thus in the first movement we have Puer natus est nobis
('Unto us a child is born') and Gloria in excelsis ('Glory to God').
In the slow movement the haunting opening cello solo, pitched dramatically
against the brass, is the tune Pater, si non potest hic calix ('Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me'); and, becoming more closely
programmatic, in the violent middle-section we hear the fury of the mob.
In the finale Angelus Domini descendit ('The angel of God descended')
is played by the lower strings. Soon, on the horns, comes Christus resurgens
ex mortuis ('Christ is risen'), to return as the triumphal chorale at
the end. This is all slow introduction, and when we reach the Allegro
ma calmo we have the Gregorian theme Victimae paschali laudes
('To the Easter Victim sing Praise'). The music communicates so immediately
it can, of course, be enjoyed without any of this.
If you want just the second or just the third symphonies, then there are
very competitive versions of each available respectively from Chandos (CHAN
9390) and Delos (DE 3114). In the Chandos version of No 2, Neeme Jarvi has
the benefit of a better orchestra - the Detroit Symphony - and the Chandos
sound, while in the Delos orchestral collection conducted by Gerard Schwarz
we have another American orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, and the Third Symphony
is heard in a programme of three other Creston orchestral works not otherwise
available. There is also a very idiomatic recording of the Second Symphony
with a mixed programme of Creston orchestral pieces by the Krakow Philharmonic
conducted by David Amos (Koch 37036-2). The annoying aspect of these varying
couplings is that if you are a Creston enthusiast you are going to want all
those different orchestral works which come with the symphonies. But even
if you have all three, for under a fiver this new recording is surely worth
having, essential to add the First Symphony. Just occasionally I could have
welcomed a warmer string sound, particularly in high exposed passages, but
conductor Theodore Kuchar persuasively champions the First Symphony, and
presents all three symphonies in sequence, in committed vividly recorded
performances. It is difficult to believe they have not been playing them
for years. Recommended.
Reviewer
Lewis Foreman
but David Wright has severe reservations
I have known and loved these symphonies for over forty years. I possess scores
and, in fact, discussed the symphonies with the composer face to face in
the mid 1960s.
Because the composer told me that Howard Mitchell's recording of Nos 2 and
3 were 'definitive performances' and that it 'was inconceivable that they
would ever be performed better I acquired this Westminster LP and studied
the performances with the scores. There is absolutely no doubt that Mitchell
accurately realises all the composer's intentions. The composer said so;
the scores say so and I concur.
In the opening movement of Symphony No 2 Mitchell gives the music
its essential space whereas Kuchar is too fast; the music does not breathe
and thereafter the Song is not cantabile at all. Both Kuchar
and David Amos (Koch - International) have exaggerated performances in which
sforzandos are painfully caricatured in the style of Simon Rattle.
The balance is awful on the Naxos disc ... for example, some of the bass
drum entries are so strong that they obliterate the equally important remaining
orchestral detail. Naeme Jarvi is better but only second best to Mitchell
who is miles in front. The Pierre Monteux broadcast has its good points but,
quite frankly, all these performances are seriously lacking compared to Mitchell.
The second movement's main section is a Latin-American dance and the Naxos
version has absolutely no idea of the composer's intentions. The rhythmic
drive is lost in Kuchar's performance and the important piano obligato
is missing. Imagine Shostakovich's Symphony No 1 without the piano
part and you will appreciate what I mean. The Mitchell version honours the
composer's intentions and how magnificently he achieves the orchestral balance
and respects Creston's instruction to make the high violin cantilena sing.
Only Mitchell has the incursive attack as clearly indicated by the composer.
Pierre Monteux's performance is a good attempt at this colourful music but
even this is lack-lustre compared to the Mitchell sound.
I was bemused by Rob Barnett's review of this disc. His comparison of Creston's
music to that of Bax has no currency at all and his comment that the piano
part is disconcerting is not so. The piano part is not the disturbance of
the music's composure but the composer's wish. I was also confused by his
reference to Creston's music having a Hansonian delirium, whatever that is.
There is nothing incoherent or hallucinatory in the text of Creston's music.
The 'ecstasy' of the second movement is only caught (and kept) by Mitchell.
I doubt whether Howard Hanson would want to be referred to as delirious!
He was a very level-headed man.
Rob refers to this second movement as Gothic. It isn't. There is nothing
Western European about it and the music is certainly not barbarous or uncouth.
Neither is it a dynamic stomp nor can it be compared to E J Moeran's
Symphony, the finale of that symphony is structurally unsound. Paul
Creston told me that he 'came to Copland late' which may refute Rob's claim
that Creston would surely know Danzon Cubano and El Salon Mexico.
The Symphony No 3 is, according to Rob, influenced by Vaughan Williams
'clod-hopping mode', whatever that is, Franz Schmidt, Stravinsky, Max Roger
and Arthur Bliss. This attack on Creston's originality is both unfair and
unfortunate. Paul was a devout Roman Catholic and saw this work as 'an unworthy
homage to God' and that 'true spirituality would be its only influence'.
What we have is a deeply-felt personal and original religious quest. It is
a 'factual' music-picture not an emotional one. Both Amos and Kuchar miss
the point, failing to understand the music's profound utterance as did George
Lloyd in his hopeless and embarrassing account with the BBC Philharmonic
some five years ago. In fact, that performance was threadbare and served
to depopularise this very fine symphony. Lloyd, the English Schubert, highlighted
the melodies at the expense of the harmonies, counterpoints, subtle modulations
and so many other features.
Mitchell captures what no other conductor does ... the mystery of the
Nativity, the stillness and wonder of Bethlehem's might, the rejoicing
shepherds. In the Crucifixion there is no pessimism in Mitchell's
version but the acceptance of the vital purpose of the death of Christ and
in the Resurrection, the sunlit morn and the disciples rushing to
the empty tomb is so alive, so real and not exaggerated. The 'Hallelujah
Chorus' is of quiet celebration, that inward joy that does not froth. Again,
only Mitchell captures that.
The Symphony No 1 did come out on an LP in the 1950s, complete with
the Saxophone Concerto and Trombone Fantasy, which I have.
I am further bemused by Rob linking Creston, Thompson, Giannini, Hanson and
Menotti as melodists on the one hand and, on the other hand, Sessions, Carter,
Mennin and Piston who branched 'into impoverished territory'. Melody is only
one possible ingredient in music and the originality of Sessions and Carter
is admirable. Mennin's Cello Concerto is possibly the finest concerto
for the cello of the twentieth century and his last three symphonies are
both powerful and magnificent. Impoverished territory?
Kuchar's version of Creston's Symphony No 1 is frankly awful because
it is cheap. It is a performance of sentimental Hollywood proportions and
is too fast in the first movement, Majesty - too slow in the second
movement, Humour and so on. Kuchar's performance is schmaltz.
Since writing this I have followed the Naxos performances with the scores
and listed over 40 errors and flaws in each of the symphonies' performances.
They are very poor.
These are great symphonies, probably some of the best American symphonies
of all but I urge you to acquire the Mitchell performances and avoid
disappointment. Only the best will do. The Ukrainians sound as if their
performances are first rehearsals; they certainly do not understand the music
or where it is going.
Reviewer
David Wright
Performances
pass
Recording
pass
