November 3, 2011

  • Review: Music for a Time of War (Oregon Symphony)

     

    Music for a Time of War: Works by
    Ives, Adams, Britten, & Vaughan Williams
    Oregon Symphony/Carlos Kalmar
    Pentatone Records 5186 393
    Total Time:  78:04
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

     

    The many fine regional orchestras in the US are often overshadowed by European civic and state ensembles because their recorded history tends to be infrequent.  No lesser a group than the players of the Oregon Symphony have had their moments of fantastic recorded history that brought critical attention in the 1990s under their then music director James Depreist.  Their recordings on the Delos label featured fine performances of Shostakovich and a great recording of the Korngold symphony.  The latter at a time that was just beginning to appreciate the Golden Age composer’s film and concert works.  Under their new director, Carlos Kalmar, the orchestra made an explosive and impressive appearance Carnegie Hall this past May at the first Spring Music Festival.  That program is represented here in this stellar new recording for Pentatone.  The musical choices here definitely lie outside the purview of standard orchestral repertoire and their uniqueness is one of many amazing things to discover in this new release.

    Charles Ive’s moving The Unanswered Question opens the disc in quiet tones that seems almost to make time stand still.  Whether one believes this work to be from 1906, or more a reflection of the composer’s 1930-35 revision, you cannot deny the pieces power.  Here under Kalmar’s direction, the orchestra reaches to its lower dynamic level with steady and quiet musical strokes that are cause for reflection as the work unfolds.  The choice of the Ives piece proves to be a magnificent one as John Adams’ The Wound Dresser begins.  Walt Whitman’s texts from Drum Taps are the inspiration for this elegiac remembrance dealing with the Civil War.  It is one of Adams most moving works and it is more neo-Romantic than anything the composer had written up to that point (1989).  This appears to be the work’s third recording and Sanford Sylvan’s second take on the work since his premiere recording of it.  The music is cinematic in quality and Sylvan’s diction and interpretation help bring the human drama and intensity to a real studied intensity.  Again the orchestra performs this work showing off individual soloists and its ability for sustained lines.  The overall arch of the piece comes across equally well in a way that makes this recording a must for John Adams’ fans.

    Two British works make up the remainder of this album.  The first of these is Benjamin Britten’s powerful Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20.  A pacifist, Britten found himself in America in 1940 as London burned.  His response, including one of the most explosive openings ever written, takes its inspiration from the Christian dramas and Latin mass, specifically the lachrymosa, Dies Irae, and requiem aeternam.  There are no lack of fine performances of this work.  Kalmar’s tempos appear to be in line with most with the central movement taken slightly faster.  What is most fascinating here are the huge string swells and the shaping of phrases that Kalmar draws from his players as the first movement begins and his climaxes in the first movement are simply shattering.  When the harmonies begin to open up to some of Britten’s most powerfully beautiful constructions, the result is simply amazing.  The dramatic performance here is another contender for one of the best recordings of this work. 

    Vaughan Williams’ Fourth Symphony is one of his more powerful symphonic statements with the sort of intensity that one would find in many post-WWII works.  It certainly has its classic performances too from the composer’s own to Andre Previn’s classic 1969 recording.  The work is relatively relentless in its power seeming to take a page from Sibelius at times and featuring mixes of dissonances and long lyric lines.  And yet, the intensity of the age still manages to find Vaughan Williams coming back to a lighter and softer conclusion as his first movement comes to a close.  What most find striking in the work as a whole though is that it eschews the more folkloric aspects that the composer is noted for and instead enters into a world of more astringent harmonic structures that one might expect from say Bartok or more likely Hindemith, and even which one finds in later Prokofiev.  In that respect, the work remains one of the most striking in Vaughan Williams’ output.  Kalmar tends to emphasize the darker qualities of the work more and lets some of the intricate writing unfold slowly towards the more open segments of the work.  Overall, the piece is yet another testament both to Kalmar’s interpretation and the ability of the orchestra to respond to that vision.  Clarity of articulation and attack is truly amazing and one appreciates this most fully in the fast moving scherzo with its fast moving passages and accented ideas. The movement also allows some truly amazing interplay between sections of the orchestra making it another showpiece for the Oregon players. 

    Pentatone’s hybrid multichannel recording is simply amazing and demonstration quality.  The levels are a bit low but well equalized so that you are not blown out of your home by the louder segments.  Overall this superb release of 20th Century classics is a worthy addition to any music library with powerful performances and amazing music making.  Anyone who was able to experience this concert in New York will definitely want this release as a testament to the high level of orchestral playing that exists in this country!  Here is to a new fabulous era of recording to the Oregon orchestra!