American Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Randall Thompson, George Whitefield Chadwick
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 6/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 69
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CHAN9439
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Symphony No. 2 |
Randall Thompson, Composer
Detroit Symphony Orchestra Neeme Järvi, Conductor Randall Thompson, Composer |
| Rip Van Winkle |
George Whitefield Chadwick, Composer
Detroit Symphony Orchestra George Whitefield Chadwick, Composer Neeme Järvi, Conductor |
| Melpomene |
George Whitefield Chadwick, Composer
Detroit Symphony Orchestra George Whitefield Chadwick, Composer Neeme Järvi, Conductor |
| Tam O'Shanter |
George Whitefield Chadwick, Composer
Detroit Symphony Orchestra George Whitefield Chadwick, Composer Neeme Järvi, Conductor |
Author: Andrew Achenbach
The Chadwick revival continues apace! Only in February I was welcoming a memorable (and outstandingly well-engineered) collection on the Reference Recordings label, featuring Jose Serebrier at the helm of a highly responsive Czech State PO. Two works on that issue – the imposing Melpomene overture and colourful symphonic ballad, Tam O’Shanter – are duplicated on Neeme Jarvi’s new Chandos CD, and the Estonian maestro also gives us the premiere commercial recording of the overture, Rip Van Winkle. This last item was first heard in December 1879, when the composer was nearing the end of his studies under Josef Rheinberger in Munich. The solo cello-led introduction certainly has an endearing ‘once upon a time’ quality about it, but the work as a whole contains little that lingers long in the memory, for all the solid craftsmanship on show.
As for the other two items, Jarvi seems especially at home in the roistering theatricality and vivid orchestral effects ofTam O’Shanter, of which he gives an extremely persuasive account; Melpomene, on the other hand, sounds just a touch bland – and whence the gong-stroke at the final big climax (such a shattering moment on the rival disc)? Of course, Serebrier’s orchestra may not be the super-slick ensemble that Jarvi has at his fingertips in Detroit, but the Brno band play with fine discipline and considerable character all the same; Serebrier’s direction, too, evinces perhaps just that little bit more interpretative imagination and greater familiarity with the idiom than Jarvi’s.
“An evergreen example of heartfelt Americana” is annotator Michael Fleming’s apt description of the wholly engaging Second Symphony of Randall Thompson (1899-1984). It was completed in 1931 and enjoyed substantial popularity in its day – no surprise in view of its clean-cut neo-classical demeanour and bracing melodic appeal. True, neither of the outer movements entirely banishes occasional sequential torpor, but Thompson’s basic thematic material is strong (the slow movement boasts a very beautiful tune) and the trio section in the third movement contains some captivating woodwind writing. A somewhat overquick slow movement apart, Jarvi’s lucid, well-prepared reading must now take precedence over Andrew Schenck’s more rough-and-ready New Zealand SO performance on Koch International, even though in some ways the latter account had a degree of charm which tends to elude the present team (I’m thinking in particular of that winsome trio). De luxe, almost ‘plushy’ sound quality in the now familiar Chandos/Detroit manner.'
As for the other two items, Jarvi seems especially at home in the roistering theatricality and vivid orchestral effects of
“An evergreen example of heartfelt Americana” is annotator Michael Fleming’s apt description of the wholly engaging Second Symphony of Randall Thompson (1899-1984). It was completed in 1931 and enjoyed substantial popularity in its day – no surprise in view of its clean-cut neo-classical demeanour and bracing melodic appeal. True, neither of the outer movements entirely banishes occasional sequential torpor, but Thompson’s basic thematic material is strong (the slow movement boasts a very beautiful tune) and the trio section in the third movement contains some captivating woodwind writing. A somewhat overquick slow movement apart, Jarvi’s lucid, well-prepared reading must now take precedence over Andrew Schenck’s more rough-and-ready New Zealand SO performance on Koch International, even though in some ways the latter account had a degree of charm which tends to elude the present team (I’m thinking in particular of that winsome trio). De luxe, almost ‘plushy’ sound quality in the now familiar Chandos/Detroit manner.'
American Orchestral Works
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