The
Naxos American Classics series has come up with some
real gems. Among the sparklers are discs from Gloria
Coates, John Corigliano, Kenneth Fuchs and Paul Moravec,
all of which have spent time in my CD player this year.
Even the better-known pieces of Americana from Copland
and Ives have received persuasive – and competitive – outings
in this series.
So,
what of this latest offering? Among the three composers
we have two Williams, of whom Schuman is probably the
best known; and then there’s Virgil Thomson, most celebrated
for his film scores,
The River and
The Plow
That Broke the Plains (see
review).
He and Perry have both written for visual media, so it’s
no surprise that the latter’s work – composed for the
400
th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown,
Virginia – has a cinematic sweep to it.
Cellist
Yehuda Hanani launches the concerto with a warm, lyrical
solo before a fanfare conjures up the spirit of 17
th century
England. This first movement, which quotes Elizabethan
madrigals, has a Korngoldian surge at times, but without
the latter’s harmonic richness. Indeed, the Irish band
sound rather distant, which tends to highlight the music’s
paucity of good material. That said, the movement ends
with a splendid flourish for orchestra, before we move
to the new town on the James River and the struggle between
settlers and Indians. Musically this is straightforward
pictorialism, with brass motifs for captains and chiefs,
thudding drums for cannon and, in the second movement, a
gentle cello-led prelude evoking the dawn.
Alongside
the gritty, sometimes quirky, narratives of Copland,
Ives and Thomson the
Jamestown Concerto is shot
in soft focus, especially in the harp- and string-dominated
music of ‘The Long Winters’.
The duet between
cello and viola d’amore is affecting enough but it strays
into sentimentality. The fourth movement, ‘Pocahontas
in London’, has plenty of zest, the dancing fiddles especially,
but generally it sounds too much like routine accompaniment
to a film sequence. And even though ‘Jamestown: Four
Hundred Years On’ attempts a perky, processional air
it’s anything but a high-stepping baton-twirler.
Not
the most auspicious beginning, the playing and conducting
average at best. The recording is dry and lifeless as
well, which doesn’t help. So how does the Schuman piece,
inspired by a snippet from Shakespeare’s
Henry VIII,
compare? The disc includes a reading of this text – also
printed in the booklet – before the work itself.
Schuman’s
response to these lines is anything but simple; it’s
austere – cerebral, even – and the soloist faces more
of a challenge. Certainly the composer works his material
vigorously, contrasting light lyricism with a degree
of dark discord. Unlike the thin gruel offered by the
Perry piece
A Song for Orpheus is musically more
nourishing. In fact it’s actually rather abstract and
Schuman’s eclecticism makes for a varied and stimulating
musical feast.
A
Song of Orpheus is a fine
piece, spoilt by a tinder-dry recording; the solo and
orchestral playing also lacks that last degree of eloquence.
I was heartened by the more spirited opening to the
Thomson concerto – acoustics notwithstanding – sensing
some of the unbridled energy of his Depression-era
film scores. The cello part is vigorous yet direct,
the orchestral writing robust yet full of individual
touches: just sample the ever-present snare drums that
hark back to ‘War and the Tractor’ from
The Plow
That Broke the Plains.
But
it’s the central movement, ‘Variations on a Southern
Hymn’, that really captures that stoic mood of pioneering
America; despite the close recording the music expands
rather well in the movement’s few climaxes. And Thomson’s
yearning, song-like melodies will surely strike a chord
with Copland fans.
On
the subject of singing Hanani acquits himself well in
this concerto, with a warm, lyrical tone that seems entirely
apt. He modulates easily into the sprightly, more cheerful
rhythms of ‘Children’s Games’, which has some of the
most characterful music on this disc. If only the playing
and recording were more satisfying this would be even
more delectable than it is.
As
much as I admire and support this Naxos project it would
be idle to pretend that all the music and/or performances
will live up to the high standards set by the best of
the bunch. This disc is worth hearing for the Schuman
and Thomson pieces, even though both deserve more alert
and spontaneous readings than they get here. On the plus
side the liner-notes are very detailed, and include several
music examples.
Dan
Morgan
Naxos American Classics pages 
Yehuda
Hanani (cello) 
