These Copland performances
impressed me mightily on vinyl, not
least because of Telarc’s remarkably
clean engineering. Revisiting them now,
my enthusiasm persists, but in more
muted form.
The opening percussion
shots of the Fanfare for the Common
Man have the sort of tremendous
depth and presence at which Telarc used
particularly to excel. But they're way
out of proportion to the main group
of instruments, which doesn’t register
with the same impact. The opening trumpets
suggest a distant call across vast open
spaces – an effect missed in more conventionally
in-your-face performances such as Ormandy’s
(Sony or RCA) – but never get "closer";
even the tympani whacks sound subdued
alongside the recurrent punctuations.
Perhaps unfolding the SACD's surround
information would help – I listened
in straight frontal stereo – but that
seems unlikely. It's still impressive,
but I’d have preferred a more realistic
equalization.
The four dance episodes
from Rodeo – does anyone ever
play the complete original ballet? –
go nicely. Louis Lane projects the irregular,
syncopated rhythms with assurance and
a nice "swing" – if without Bernstein's
crispness and point (Sony) – and gently
nudges the metrical ambiguities of the
Saturday Night Waltz. As in other
Atlanta recordings from this period,
the string desks sound slightly understaffed,
but this helps keep the textures light,
especially in the outer movements.
Appalachian Spring
offers beautiful pages alongside others
imperfectly realized. After a flowing
but aimless slow introduction, the first
tutti picks up a nice airborne
buoyancy, only to grow tentative and
lose steam as it winds down. Vibrant
string tone sustains interest in some
of the quiet passages; others simply
go static. From the Shaker tune through
to the coda’s wistful fadeout, however,
is all first-rate, with the pellucid
woodwind reproduction making no small
assist.
Hindemith’s Symphonic
Metamorphosis, which fills out the
program, is drawn from an earlier Telarc
LP. The composer's accessible astringencies
prove an unexpectedly effective foil
for Copland's Americana mode. Robert
Shaw never achieved the same technical
expertise as an orchestral conductor
that he had as a choral trainer, a shortcoming
that shows here in generalized orchestral
textures and some diffuse string attacks.
But he delivers this extroverted score
with a healthy musicality, eliciting
plenty of vivid, pungent orchestral
color.
The choice and sequence
of works is pleasing, then, and the
program is mostly well recorded, but
this isn't really a top choice for any
of the works included. The booklet,
by the way, places the Copland sessions,
implausibly and erroneously, at Powell
Hall in St. Louis; Telarc's American
representative confirms that all these
pieces were in fact recorded in Atlanta,
as the headnote indicates.
Stephen Francis
Vasta
for details 
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra/Louis Lane,
*Robert Shaw 
TELARC
SACD-60648 [64:38] 
