Also, Gershwin: An American in Paris; Copland: An
Outdoor Overture. James Judd, Wolf Trap Opera; National Orchestral Institute
Philharmonic. Naxos 8.559859.
By John J. Puccio
This album is another in Naxos’s “American Classics”
series, and they could hardly have chosen three more representative American
composers for the program. The Gershwin work, An American in Paris, is a
certified classic, and the other two, Copland’s Outdoor Overture and
Bernstein’s Songfest, while not quite of the same elevated rank,
certainly represent the field. Conductor James Judd leads singers from the Wolf
Trap Opera in Bernstein’s vocal piece, and the National Orchestral Institute
Philharmonic, which I admit I had never heard of before, handles the orchestral
work.
The disc begins with one of the gems of American music, An American in Paris by George Gershwin (1898-1937), which was first performed in 1928. The work is a musical description of an American’s visit to Paris in the 1920's, strolling about and taking in the sights and sounds of the city. The novelty of the current recording is that it uses a new, 2019 critical edition of the score that offers Gershwin’s original orchestration, as the cover jacket announces, “unheard for 75 years--leaner, more angular and transparent, it also employs the correct use of the iconic taxi horns, for a new sonic experience.”
Maestro Judd takes the Gershwin music at a sprightly pace, not frenetically fast but quickly. It reminded me of the old movie If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, where a group of American sightseers take a whirlwind tour of Europe. Under Judd, Gershwin’s American takes something of a whirlwind tour of Paris. Still, the tourist appears to be having fun, and that’s the main thing. Judd captures the colors and textures of Gershwin’s music in an imaginative and ultimately rewarding reading.
The second item on the program is An Outdoor Overture, written by Aaron Copland (1900-1990) in 1938. Along with the ballet Billy the Kid, An Outdoor Overture helped to establish Copland’s reputation as a composer of “Americana,” an idiom for which he will forever be associated.
Copland called it An Outdoor Overture because after
the composer played a piano sketch of the music for a friend who was
commissioning it, the friend said it had “an open-air quality” about it.
There’s no doubt it has a vigor and airiness about it reminiscent of the
wide-open American West. It’s a kind of mini Billy the Kid or Rodeo,
and James Judd and his crew perform it with an appropriate vitality and flair.
The final selection of the album is Songfest: A Cycle of American Poems for Six Singers and Orchestra written in 1976-77 by teacher, composer, pianist, and conductor Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990). He wrote it to celebrate America’s Bicentennial Year, and used it as a musical setting for the verses of thirteen American poets, from Frank O’Hara and Lawrence Ferlinghetti through Julia de Burgos, Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, June Jordan, Anne Bradstreet, Gertrude Stein, e.e. cummings, Conrad Aiken, Gregory Corso, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Edgar Allan Poe.
Here’s the thing, though: While Judd and his ensemble do a fine job with the score, I’ve never been particularly fond of the music. Bernstein is more art song here than popular song, so don’t expect another West Side Story from the composer. That being the case, Judd, as I say, his ensemble and soloists do a first-rate job presenting the music and poems with a dramatic effect and poignant affection.
A healthy set of booklet notes and song lyrics complement an excellent presentation of the music. Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic, it’s a group formed each June by the musicians of the National Orchestral Institute, “chosen through rigorous international auditions” and focused “on creating future musicians and leaders in the world of orchestras.”
Producer, engineer, and editor Phil Rowlands recorded the music at the Elsie & Marvin Dekelboum Concert Hall at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park, Maryland in June 2018. The orchestral sound is uniformly excellent, among the best I’ve heard from Naxos. It has clarity, width, depth, air, dynamics, frequency range, the works. It may not be as transparent as some audiophile recordings, but it’s close. I enjoyed it immensely. The vocal music, too, is clearly presented, although it betrays minor traces of edginess in the upper registers. Not enough to spoil the show but present, nonetheless.
JJP
To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click below:
By John J. Puccio
The disc begins with one of the gems of American music, An American in Paris by George Gershwin (1898-1937), which was first performed in 1928. The work is a musical description of an American’s visit to Paris in the 1920's, strolling about and taking in the sights and sounds of the city. The novelty of the current recording is that it uses a new, 2019 critical edition of the score that offers Gershwin’s original orchestration, as the cover jacket announces, “unheard for 75 years--leaner, more angular and transparent, it also employs the correct use of the iconic taxi horns, for a new sonic experience.”
Maestro Judd takes the Gershwin music at a sprightly pace, not frenetically fast but quickly. It reminded me of the old movie If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium, where a group of American sightseers take a whirlwind tour of Europe. Under Judd, Gershwin’s American takes something of a whirlwind tour of Paris. Still, the tourist appears to be having fun, and that’s the main thing. Judd captures the colors and textures of Gershwin’s music in an imaginative and ultimately rewarding reading.
The second item on the program is An Outdoor Overture, written by Aaron Copland (1900-1990) in 1938. Along with the ballet Billy the Kid, An Outdoor Overture helped to establish Copland’s reputation as a composer of “Americana,” an idiom for which he will forever be associated.
The final selection of the album is Songfest: A Cycle of American Poems for Six Singers and Orchestra written in 1976-77 by teacher, composer, pianist, and conductor Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990). He wrote it to celebrate America’s Bicentennial Year, and used it as a musical setting for the verses of thirteen American poets, from Frank O’Hara and Lawrence Ferlinghetti through Julia de Burgos, Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, June Jordan, Anne Bradstreet, Gertrude Stein, e.e. cummings, Conrad Aiken, Gregory Corso, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Edgar Allan Poe.
Here’s the thing, though: While Judd and his ensemble do a fine job with the score, I’ve never been particularly fond of the music. Bernstein is more art song here than popular song, so don’t expect another West Side Story from the composer. That being the case, Judd, as I say, his ensemble and soloists do a first-rate job presenting the music and poems with a dramatic effect and poignant affection.
A healthy set of booklet notes and song lyrics complement an excellent presentation of the music. Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the National Orchestral Institute Philharmonic, it’s a group formed each June by the musicians of the National Orchestral Institute, “chosen through rigorous international auditions” and focused “on creating future musicians and leaders in the world of orchestras.”
Producer, engineer, and editor Phil Rowlands recorded the music at the Elsie & Marvin Dekelboum Concert Hall at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park, Maryland in June 2018. The orchestral sound is uniformly excellent, among the best I’ve heard from Naxos. It has clarity, width, depth, air, dynamics, frequency range, the works. It may not be as transparent as some audiophile recordings, but it’s close. I enjoyed it immensely. The vocal music, too, is clearly presented, although it betrays minor traces of edginess in the upper registers. Not enough to spoil the show but present, nonetheless.
JJP
To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click below:
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