Rouse, C Orchestral Works
Eloquence in an agonised aesthetic: Rouse is a true American individual
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Christopher Rouse
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: BIS
Magazine Review Date: 1/2009
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 63
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: BISCD1386
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Iscariot |
Christopher Rouse, Composer
(Royal) Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Alan Gilbert, Conductor Christopher Rouse, Composer |
Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra |
Christopher Rouse, Composer
(Royal) Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Alan Gilbert, Conductor Christopher Rouse, Composer Martin Fröst, Clarinet |
Symphony No 1 |
Christopher Rouse, Composer
(Royal) Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra Alan Gilbert, Conductor Christopher Rouse, Composer |
Author: David Gutman
The miscellany contains only one work new to the lists. However, David Zinman’s Nonesuch recording of the First Symphony (1986) is currently elusive, while Marin Alsop’s stunning account of 1989’s Iscariot (RCA, 8/97R) has been relegated to American independent Phoenix. If you don’t know this piece, its agonised aesthetic is similar to James MacMillan’s Confession of Isobel Gowdie which it predates and which Alsop has also conducted with distinction. Gilbert is subtler, slower and ultimately not quite intense enough, although that may be the impression imparted by BIS’s more recessed and sophisticated sonics. The concluding thwacks seem insufficiently fierce to clinch the deal – or rather the betrayal.
The Clarinet Concerto (2001) is an unexpectedly angular roller-coaster, constructed in part in reaction to the Rautavaara-like consonance of Rouse’s previous orchestral work, Rapture. Its unlikely game-show inspiration is most obvious in the gong and whistle that bring its torrent of notes to an abrupt end. For much of the time it sounds as if one of Messiaen’s nastier birds is trapped on a busy industrial production line. Martin Fröst copes admirably with the technical challenge.
Gilbert equals Zinman’s achievement in the predominantly miserablist, Bruckner-based First Symphony, a one-movement design of pile-driving dynamics and agonised near-silences. The central consolatory section from 12'25" (were the Swedish players reminded of Allan Pettersson?) achieves an eloquence rare in contemporary music. For me this is postmodern balm of the least specious kind, squashed flat rather than indulged by the music that follows “de profundis clamavi”. You may find the borrowings from the Sixth Symphonies of both VW and Shostakovich more of a puzzle. Recommended.
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