As far as I can tell, this is only the second recording of Henry
Brant’s orchestration of Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata. I reviewed
an earlier release, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, back
in 2008. Rather than repeat myself in describing the work, I’ll
refer readers to that original
review, where I compare the orchestration to the original
piano sonata.
For those interested in going further with this work, you can
download the text of Charles Ives’ Essays Before a Sonata
from Project
Gutenberg.
I have a particular affinity for this work - the piano sonata
version - being especially interested in the writers that Ives
puts into music, and having some 15 recordings of the work.
Performers of the Sonata can approach it in many ways, choosing
to highlight the tempestuousness of certain parts (notably in
the Emerson movement), focusing on the rhythmic aspects or choosing
tempi that are either very fast or much slower. The recordings
I have range from a speedy 38 minutes to a leisurely 62 minutes,
with an average in the 45-50 minute range, or about the same
tempo as this current recording.
When unleashed for orchestra, the Concord Sonata (or Symphony)
takes on a new life. As I said in my previous review of the
Dennis Russell Davies recording, “these are more accurately
two completely different works rather one being simply a transcription
of the other.” Michael Tilson Thomas has developed a “sound”
with his San Francisco Symphony orchestra, a group of musicians
he has been working with regularly for more than fifteen years,
and with whom he has performed many twentieth century works.
There is a certain naturalness to this recording, as though
the orchestra is in its milieu, and a balance among the instruments
that sounds nearly ideal. When the orchestra lets loose in the
middle of the Hawthorne section - with blaring horns, punctuated
by soft strings, then back to a cacophony of horns, then a marching
band imploding - I just want to turn the volume up and be overwhelmed
by the waves of sound.
The sound quality of this disc is excellent. The orchestra is
spacious, and the full palette of instruments can be heard well
no matter what the volume; as this work has a very wide range
of volume, this is essential. The full, lush strings in the
Alcotts section fill the soundscape, and the definition of the
winds and strings at the beginning of the Thoreau section is
clean and precise. There is one tiny problem, though, at the
end of the work: applause. There is really no need to have applause
at the end of a live recording of any classical work, if that
applause can be edited out - which it can here. It stands merely
as a reminder that the recording is live - one which, by the
way, is unnecessary. It is almost insulting to reach the end
of a work, feel the enjoyment of completion, and then be interrupted
by such noise. If I’m in a concert hall, I expect it; on my
stereo, I resent it. Why any sound engineer, or anyone else
involved in a recording like this, would want to have five seconds
of applause, is beyond me.
While the head-liner on this disc is the Concord Symphony, this
current recording does include another work, and no mean one
at that: Aaron Copland’s Organ Symphony. An early work, premiered
in 1925 when Copland was merely 23 years old, this was Copland’s
first major composition. Copland later re-scored this as his
Symphony No. 1. The three movements are all very different.
In the first, light strings play a subtle melody, as the organ
plays almost a continuo, but so quietly you can almost miss
it. The second movement has a snappy tempo, and is rather dance-like
at first, with the orchestra taking center-stage, swelling to
monumental scale. The organ is, for the most part, in the background,
being just another instrument in the orchestra, and not a solo
role until the very end of this movement where it has a bit
of presence. The final movement, Lento, begins with dense strings,
and the organ finally becomes prominent, in full expression.
Slow, loud chords are enough to shake the room you’re in, and
I can imagine that, in the Davies Hall, where this was performed,
the effect must have been impressive. As the movement proceeds,
the orchestra becomes imposing and powerful, ending with a powerful
punch. While melodically this is a simplistic work, the sound
quality, as for the Ives, is excellent.
The Copland is a young composer’s work, and, compared to the
refinement of Ives’ Concord Sonata - and the orchestration herein
- is much less interesting. But the coupling of these two works
presents two great American composers writing around the same
time. Rather than just having the Concord Symphony on this disc,
the addition is welcome. Compared to the Davies recording of
the Concord Symphony, I’d give a few extra points to this current
recording, if only for the sound quality which features better
definition. But both are excellent. If you don’t know this work,
and appreciate Ives, this current disc – coupled with the Copland
- is essential.
Kirk McElhearn
Kirk McElhearn writes about more than just music on his blog
Kirkville.
Paul Jacobs (organ) 
[77:07] 
