This is my first encounter with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project,
and I am mightily impressed. The music on this admittedly brief disc
is performed with such verve and evangelical intensity that it makes
the visit to George Antheil’s sadly underrated or arguably overrated
world supremely worthwhile.
Heard here in its longer original version complete with banjos and
heaven knows what else, you probably won’t have heard A
Jazz Symphony sound quite like this before. Some passages sound
like Stravinsky meets New Orleans jazz, and the whole thing is wonderfully
loopy and given a performance to match.
There are a few alternative recordings around for these works. A
Jazz Symphony can be found on an extensive Antheil programme
on the CPO label (777109-2), with the North German Radio Philharmonic
conducted by Eije Oue. . This is an excellent performance but more
plush and, well, symphonic, than this original version. The timing
of this version, 8:03 when compared to the BMOP’s 13:14 is symptomatic
of the remarkable differences between them. Crazy piano solos, exotic
instrumentation and some fantastic cartoonish passages have been slashed
from the later version, and it seems sadly sanitised as a result.
The Ballet Mécanique is one of Antheil’s most
popular scores, and the booklet notes for this recording quote extensively
from the composer’s own comments on the work, as well as having
an extensive essay on the piece by Paul Lehrman.
Nimbus Records (see review)
has the closest competitor to this BMOP disc, with both original versions
of the same works here and the added bonus of Antheil’s Second
Sonata and String Quartet No. 1 and the irrepressible
Rex Lawson running his pianolas. The alternatives include an energetic
one from the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra on Naxos (8.559060
– see review),
and a less attractive version with four pianos from the Baynov-Piano-Ensemble
on Ars Producktion (FCD368352) which makes the work sound more like
Stravinsky’s Les Noces or even bits of Bartók’s
Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion. Yes, it is Antheil’s
unbelievable orchestration which makes this work stand out from the
crowd, and the BMOP throw everything at it, from sirens through every
kind of percussion and a truckload of pianos made to sound satisfyingly
like the synchronised pianolas intended by the composer. Aaron Copland
declared that the piece “outsacked the Sacre”. Lehrman
sums it up as “relentlessly loud and cacophonous”, and
this is indeed the only problem with this recording. Even with the
best Super Audio system I could muster, there is so much going on
that you can hardly call the sonic picture ‘transparent’,
and I suspect overload distortion at some points when listening through
plain stereo, though I am happy to have it proved that it was my own
sound system which was at fault.
Despite technical issues and Antheil’s overcooked instrumentation
there are some remarkable effects on this recording, and if you are
up for a severe chunk of brutalist minimalism then this may well float
your boat. The SACD sound is pretty spacey, but even a greater separation
of instruments doesn’t disguise the overcrowding of the soundtrack
– perhaps even emphasising it in some ways. If pushed to choose
I would have BMOP’s wild Jazz Symphony and Maurice
Peress’s Ballet Mécanique, and the sensible
option is Nimbus NI 2567. If Super Audio and a freshly bruising experience
is what you seek this BMOP/Sound disc delivers plenty of wallop.
Dominy Clements
