American Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Colin McPhee, Chinary Ung, Lou Harrison
Label: Argo
Magazine Review Date: 4/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 68
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 444 560-2ZH
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Suite for Symphonic Strings |
Lou Harrison, Composer
American Composers Orchestra Dennis Russell Davies, Conductor Lou Harrison, Composer |
| Tabuh-tabuhan |
Colin McPhee, Composer
American Composers Orchestra Christopher Oldfather, Piano Colin McPhee, Composer Dennis Russell Davies, Conductor Peter Basquin, Piano |
| Inner Voices |
Chinary Ung, Composer
American Composers Orchestra Chinary Ung, Composer Dennis Russell Davies, Conductor |
Author: Peter Dickinson
Another imaginative release in this British series devoted to American music of which the major landmark is the first modern recording of Tabuh-Tabuhan by the Canadian-born composer, writer and ethnomusicologist, Colin McPhee (1900-64). Some may know the 1956 Eastman Rochester recording under Hanson, still available in the USA: or may have caught a rare broadcast by the BBC SO under Richard Pitman in 1993. This sparkling toccata for two pianos and orchestra is one of the earliest examples of mid-Pacific music since it adapts the musical traditions of Bali, where McPhee lived for eight years, to western instruments – the first performance was conducted by Carlos Chavez in Mexico City in 1936, but New York had to wait until 1953. If the sound-world feels up-to-the-minute this is because the opening movement, “Ostinatos”, might almost have been written by John Adams.
Much of the central “Nocturne” prolongs oriental scales into a static trance with celebratory outbreaks of a kind which are more developed in the finale. The freshness and individuality are extraordinary.
This is only the second work in the CD catalogue by the Cambodian-American, Chinary Ung (b. 1942), who settled in the USA in his early twenties and has won several prestigious awards. Without quite the easy access of Takemitsu, Inner Voices has a sumptuous orchestral sound, finely heard. This time western instruments are being adapted to an oriental imagination – haunting microtones on woodwind and an eerie role for the contra-bassoon with a solo hitting the bottom at 15'20''.
Another Lou Harrison orchestral work is a bonus. This Suite was a 1956 Louisville Orchestra commission including ideas going back 20 years and first recorded under Robert Whitney (nla). The slower movements (tracks 2, 4 and 7) have some of the rapt stillness of Ives: charming but overextended. All the performances are convincing.'
Much of the central “Nocturne” prolongs oriental scales into a static trance with celebratory outbreaks of a kind which are more developed in the finale. The freshness and individuality are extraordinary.
This is only the second work in the CD catalogue by the Cambodian-American, Chinary Ung (b. 1942), who settled in the USA in his early twenties and has won several prestigious awards. Without quite the easy access of Takemitsu, Inner Voices has a sumptuous orchestral sound, finely heard. This time western instruments are being adapted to an oriental imagination – haunting microtones on woodwind and an eerie role for the contra-bassoon with a solo hitting the bottom at 15'20''.
Another Lou Harrison orchestral work is a bonus. This Suite was a 1956 Louisville Orchestra commission including ideas going back 20 years and first recorded under Robert Whitney (nla). The slower movements (tracks 2, 4 and 7) have some of the rapt stillness of Ives: charming but overextended. All the performances are convincing.'
American Orchestral Works
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