Duke ELLINGTON (1899-1974)
Harlem (orch. Maurice Peress) (1950) [14:27]
Black, Brown, and Beige - Suite (orch. Maurice Peress) (1943) [18:29]
Three Black Kings - Ballet (completed by Mercer Ellington)* (1943)
[18:10]
The River - Suite (orch. Ron Collier) (1970) [21:04]
Billy STRAYHORN (1915-1967)
Take the ‘A’ Train† (arr. Ellington) (1939) [6:19]
Sal Andolina (clarinet* and alto saxophone*†); Tony Di Lorenzo (trumpet†);
Amy Licata (violin†)
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra/JoAnn Falletta
rec. Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, New York, USA, 9-11 May 2012 DDD
Naxos American Classics
NAXOS 8.559737 [78:30]
Duke Ellington was celebrated as a major big-band leader and pianist from
the 1920s through to the 1970s. His concert music has had less attention.
That said this is by no means the first time that this aspect has been addressed.
Most prominently this was done by Neeme Järvi and the Detroit Symphony
across CHAN 9909, CHAN 9926 and CHAN 9154, overlapping with two of the three
works here.
Harlem is sub-titled A Tone Parallel to Harlem. It’s a
work blessed with a mercurial wealth of ideas smoothly and kaleidoscopically
varied. The versatile Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and JoAnn Falletta have
no blushes and only confidence for its big-band jazzy jolt. It’s worth
bearing in mind that in the 1970s this was the orchestra that delivered a
devastatingly apt CBS
LP of Gershwin Broadway overtures under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas.
There’s clearly something in the DNA there. The brass and percussion
in particular play it down and dirty with total conviction as in the smokily
delivered up-swelling at 8:33 in Harlem.
The Black, Brown, and Beige suite swings, sashays and smooches moodily
in the two outer movements, which occasionally can be heard casting sideway
glances at Gershwin. There’s a Delian sigh to the Brown central
movement which is Ellington’s tribute to the African-American soldiers
of the Civil War and World Wars I and II.
Three Black Kings deploys railroad rhythm excitement in King of
the Magi, more dank Delian bluesiness and sighing romance in King Solomon
and deep affection in the extremely likeable Martin Luther King movement.
This tripartite piece was left unfinished at Ellington’s death and was
completed by his son.
In 1970 Ellington was commissioned by the American Ballet Theater to write
a dance work with choreography by Alvin Ailey. It was for piano and big-band.
The score was adapted for full orchestra by Ron Collier and five of those
nine episodes are recorded here: The Spring, The Meander, The
Giggling Rapids, The Lake and The River. This is a score
affluent in inspiration and accommodating of Hollywood sentiment alongside
poetic and jazzy populism. The music is also open to the moody and desolate
cosmopolitan dark nights of the Philip Marlowe novels and the paintings of
Edward Hopper. I note that the Järvi version on Chandos includes two
movements not featured here: Vortex and Village Virgins.
Take the ‘A’ Train was Ellington’s signature number.
It is incurably up-beat and street-confident. That’s what it gets from
Buffalo and Falletta. The extended violin solo from Amy Licata is worthy of
Grappelli.
The notes by Edward Yadzinski are fully up to the task.
A vital and very generous collection showcasing a concert Ellington who loved
his commercial roots yet had more to give and gave it.
Rob Barnett
A vital and very generous collection showcasing a concert Ellington who loved
his commercial roots yet had more to give and gave it.
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