October 1, 2014

  • Hallowed Ground: Some Copland and New Music from Cincinnati

     

    Hallowed Ground: Copland/Lang/Muhly
    Dr. Maya Angelou, narration.  Nathan Wyatt, baritone.
    Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra/Louis Langree
    Fanfare Cincinnati 003
    Total Time:  47:06
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Though less well known than its Northern compatriots in Cleveland, the Cincinnati Symphony has an equally grand history on disc.  It is the fifth oldest symphony orchestra in America founded in 1895 and was the first orchestra in the state.  Perhaps its biggest claim to fame is that it was responsible for commissioning Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man.  The ensemble was also the first nationally broadcast orchestras in 1921!  Over the past few decades, the ensemble has made a few critically noticed recordings, perhaps more overshadowed by their Pops releases under Erich Kunzel.  Louis Langree became the new music director of the orchestra in 2013 and the present release comes from these early concerts.  The program is taken in  part from the MusicNOW Festival last March.  However, for many, the primary interest may lie in one of the last recordings of the great Dr. Maya Angelou reading the narration for Copland’s Lincoln Portrait.

    Copland’s work was another commission premiered by the CSO in 1942 by then director Andre Kostenlanetz.  Three “portraits” were actually commissioned.  The others were by Jerome Kern (who chose Mark Twain) and which was recorded by the CPO with Kunzel, the other is the relatively forgotten one by Virgil Thomson (based on NY Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia).  While there are many recordings of this work, most tend to use politicians, military heroes, or famous actors.  Dr. Angelou’s contribution is almost like having Wisdom itself speak Lincoln’s words.  As one of the very rare versions featuring a female narrator, the disc would be worth seeking out, but it has additional interest in it being perhaps one of the last appearances by the legendary poet prior to her death.  It is a small shame that some of the narration gets covered by the orchestra a few times.

    The album also features two recently commissioned works by younger American composers David Lang and Nico Muhly.  Lang has garnered a great deal of critical acclaim recently including the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Music.  His work, mountains, is a rather intriguing work that centers around a harmonic pulse and a bit of an “echo” that is a residual after effect of 3-4 smaller pulses.  Essentially, the piece revolves around the repetition of a tonal harmonic impulse and smaller ones.  Occasionally, a drone, or pedal point, will appear to offer a continuous line across these pulses, perhaps serving as a sort of musical horizon.  It would certainly be interesting to see how the music looks on the page as it must give an additional visual cue to this “minimal” work that seems rather intent on a single concept.  The harmonic language is fairly accessible overall, though the piece does feel a bit overlong at times.

    Nico Muhly gained attention in film music circles a few years ago with his score for The Reader (2008) and more recently Kill Your Darlings (2013), but he has a firm foot in the concert world as well and a number of recordings of his concert work.  The present piece, Pleasure Ground, in some respects hearkens back to the conception of the opening Copland piece as it focuses on providing a portrait of the 19th century American architect Frederick Law Olmsted.  The texts come from the mid-19th Century and address aesthetics of the natural world and how it can be shaped, the aftermath of the Civil War, and images of trees as a sign of new hope and growth.  Accompanying these intriguing texts is a musical style that begins rather innocently in a post-minimalist style at first but also owes some to Post-Romantic lyricism.  The music does a very good job of creating the appropriate atmosphere for these powerful texts, of which the central movement is perhaps the most intense.  However, the final movement some will find reminiscent of Corigliano.  A play on the idea of “ground bass” is also incorporated into the music with recurring bass lines at times, but often cycles of a set number of chords that help create the “grounding” of the music.

    The unfortunate thing about this release is its brevity and this is further too bad as these are really fine performances that leave one wanting more.  Langree’s interpretation of Copland allows textures to really be distinguished well and it would be interesting to hear some more from him in this repertoire.  The Lang piece will be an interesting curiosity.  Muhly’s work though feels like it could really find a place in the repertoire of contemporary orchestral song settings.  The performance of baritone Nathan Wyatt certainly makes the case for the piece.  The audience’s response suggests that it made a quicker connection where the Lang may take a few times.  Performances in the modern works are superb and the sound is quite excellent.  Audience applause does occur after each performance but not until the works have truly finished.