March 15, 2013

  • Review: More Music from Eugene Zador

     

    Zador: Divertimento; Studies for Orchestra; Oboe Concerto; Elegie and Dance

    Laszlo Hadady, oboe.Budapest Symphony Orchestra MAV/Mariusz Smolj
    Naxos 8.572548
    Total Time:  66:49
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

     

    Last year, Naxos released the first recording of the concert work of Eugene Zador (1894-1977).  Zador was one of the great orchestrators of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s, and began as a contract orchestrator for M-G-M in 1948.  While he provided some mostly uncredited film scores, he would work almost exclusively as Miklos Rozsa’s orchestrator. 

    The present release features a broader sample of Zador’s orchestral music from 1954-1969.  All are part of the composer’s mature style and the program is set up to be quite concert-like with two smaller works framing a concerto and a multi-movement work finishing off the disc.  The opening Elegie and Dance (1954) is a striking piece of orchestral writing of an almost impressionistic nature with a touch of Asian flair in its melodic line first expressed by flute and later English horn and all cast in modal sound.  Film music fans would certainly hear some of the lushness of 1940s scoring in the work and while the performance here is quite well-done, it is not hard to imagine Zador hearing “Hollywood” lush strings.  The Dance has the sort of “finale” feel of a Hollywood score and makes for a fine contrast to the opening movement.  The piece is certainly worth more appearances in concert.

    The 1975 Oboe Concerto is cast in 3 movements each in an overall ABA structure.  The opening movement has a theme almost bucolic in nature exploring the Mixolydian mode.  The central section has a bit more bite.  The second movement is very Rozsa-like with a quite romantic solo theme and lush string writing that one might expect from an epic film score.  The final movement is a playful pastoral piece feeling like a country dance and again much like a classic mid-century film score.  One wonders if perhaps Zador was not doing a bit of musical reminiscing in this work.  It is not hard to see why this concerto was “lost” in the midst of the sort of atonal and astringent concert writing then the vogue in the 1970s.  But the concerto is certainly worthy of more attention.

    The Divertimento for Strings (1954) finds Zador exploring modes, more contrapuntal writing, and melodic writing that is similar to his Hungarian compatriot, Bela Bartok.  The work is certainly has moments of Hunagarian sounding rhythms and musical lines with often open harmony.  The first movement’s central theme is perhaps the closest to a more folkish style.  The central “Andantino” is a lushly scored lyrical theme with divisi lower string.  The music certainly has a rather passionate feel.  The final movement features a mix of modal harmony and rhythmic play that also includes a brief fugal passage.  The piece was commissioned by the Musical Arts Society of La Jolla and premiered  at the La Jolla Music Festival in 1955 under Nikolai Sokoloff.  Eugene Ormandy would also program it in Philadelphia and it is one of the composer’s more performed works with a sound that hearkens back to concert music of the 1930s and early 1940s.

    The final work here comes from 1969.  The eight Studies for Orchestra might be considered an orchestrator’s dream work.  Zador’s intent was to create a real showcase for orchestra that would explore ranges of various orchestral instruments while providing a variety of character pieces each briefly demonstrating orchestral color and moods, tempo alternations within movements, use of various forms, and/or dynamic shading.  The many ideas here might at first be construed as a diffuse work but the piece manages to work all the same.  The piece is a tour-de-force of Zador’s skill as an orchestrator featuring many interesting ideas along the way full of wit, warmth, romance, and beauty on display throughout the piece.  Zador sent the score to Sixten Ehrling, at the time the conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, who would program it that year. 

    Mariusz Smolij and the Budapest Symphony continue to show an affinity for these pieces with committed performances.  The performances are wonderfully captured in a good overall sound with a touch of ambience that allows here for the crisp playing.  Zador’s music has a bit more chance to capture the ears of audiences more receptive to tonal music with modern touches and more open to Hollywood-based composer’s concert music.  Both this and the initial Naxos release (8.572548) are well worth picking up and are simply great releases to match the Rozsa concert pieces that Smolij has also recorded for the label.