MASLANKA Symphony No 10, 'The River of Time'
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Navona
Magazine Review Date: 02/2020
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 76
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: NV6261
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
O Earth, O Stars |
David Maslanka, Composer
John McMurtery, Flute Mike Fansler, Conductor Moisés Molina, Cello Western Illinois University Wind Ensemble |
Symphony No 10, 'The River of Time' |
David Maslanka, Composer
Mike Fansler, Conductor Western Illinois University Wind Ensemble |
Author: Guy Rickards
When David Maslanka died on August 7, 2017, barely five weeks after his wife and three weeks shy of his 74th birthday, America lost one of its warmest-hearted and most prolific composers. He was especially active in music for wind ensembles; indeed, eight of his 10 symphonies were for concert bands, including the last, left incomplete at his death. At the composer’s expressed request his son, Matthew, produced this performing version, here receiving its second recording. (The first was made by the University of Utah Wind Ensemble, who premiered the symphony in 2018.)
At 40 minutes in length, the Tenth Symphony is a major utterance, yet something of a family affair, too. The opening ‘Alison’ (the only movement completed by the composer) is a double portrait of Maslanka’s dying wife and his anger at her condition. The sense of impending loss is developed further in the finale, ‘One Breath in Peace’, which resolves on to a Bach chorale (sung by the band’s pianist; Maslanka’s morning routine was to play and sing Bach chorales at the piano). The second movement, ‘Mother and Boy Watching the River of Time’ (of which the full score was half-finished at his death), and finale were fully sketched by Maslanka but the third – the work’s heart – was in very fragmentary form. Matthew Maslanka has done a remarkable job deciphering the sketches and producing a viable – if overlong – movement. It may not be, indeed, ‘what Dad would have written’ but is of a piece with the rest. Titled ‘David’, the third movement is a collaborative work, a portrait of a family united in grief and love.
The coupling is of almost equal duration, the suite-cum-double concerto for flute, cello and concert band O Earth, O Stars (2010). It is also rooted in one of Bach’s chorales (‘Jesu, meine Freude’), though its six movements embrace material and inspiration from Buddhist imagery, Jung and AA Milne! It is an attractive and well-written work, beautifully played here by John McMurtery and Moisés Molina. The Western Illinois University Wind Ensemble, directed impressively by Mike Fansler, accompany superbly and their interpretation of the symphony is as affecting as their Utah rivals (Mark Records). Navona’s sound is warm and clear.
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