Morton Gould - Symphonettes Nos. 2-4; Spirituals for Orchestra (Arthur Fagen)

Information

Composer: Morton Gould

• Symphonette No. 4 "Latin-American Symphonette"
• Symphonette No. 3 "Third American Symphonette"
• Symphonette No. 2 "Second American Symphonette"
• Spirituals for Orchestra

ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra

Arthur Fagen, conductor

Date: 2020

Label: Naxos

https://www.naxos.com/CatalogueDetail/?id=8.559869

-----------------------------------------------------------

Review

The ‘Symphonette’ was Morton Gould’s tongue-in-cheek updating of the ‘Sinfonietta’ to create smaller, American-style orchestral works in a lighter vein than the symphonies of Copland and Harris that were starting to emerge in the 1930s. Gould came to regret his hybrid title, which went the way of ‘kitchenette’ and similar terms as a byword for up-to-the-minute modernism that rapidly became outmoded. Gould’s music, however, never fell into the trap that the title did – these are just sinfoniettas, after all – and became deservedly popular as immaculately crafted light-music classics.

No 1 seems to have sunk without trace (at least as far as recordings go) but No 2 (c1935) achieved a deal of success, especially its central movement, ‘Pavanne’ – cunningly misspelt to ensure American radio announcers pronounced it correctly – which was praised in these page for its ‘hotting up, so to speak, of the old four-in-a-bar dance measure … very attractively and discreetly’ (9/60). No 4, the still livelier Latin-American Symphonette (1940; Nos 1-3 were all subtitled American Symphonettes), ‘which belies its horrible title’ (8/66) is the largest and arguably most popular of the set, with its infectious rhythms and brilliantly calculated orchestration.

There are a number of competing recordings of these works, with David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony Orchestra the main competition in Symphonettes Nos 2 and 3. Fagen and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra are just as idiomatic as interpreters and are better served by Naxos’s bright recording. Of Gould’s own recordings only that of Spirituals (1941) is available currently, part of a six-disc RCA survey (5/16). Spirituals is another typical work, its five vivid movements described by its composer as ‘a work for string choir and orchestra’, designed ‘to realise the texture of this idiom’ and ‘the different feelings and characteristics of the folk expression’. Fagen and his Viennese players do it proud.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone

More reviews:

ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 7 / SOUND QUALITY: 8

https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Apr/Gould_sys_8559869.htm

https://artmusiclounge.wordpress.com/2020/03/02/arthur-fagen-conducts-morton-gould/

http://www.classicalmusicsentinel.com/KEEP/gould-fagen.html

https://www.davidsclassicalcds.com/blog/fantastic-gould-symphonettes-on-naxos

https://artsfuse.org/197963/classical-cd-reviews-aspects-of-america-the-pulitzer-edition-morton-gould-symphonettes-and-lindberg-conducts-bernstein/

https://www.allmusic.com/album/morton-gould-symphonettes-nos-2-4-spirituals-for-orchestra-mw0003355170

https://www.naxos.com/Review/Detail/?catalogueid=8.559869&languageid=EN

https://www.amazon.com/Symphonettes-VIENNA-RADIO-SYMPHONY-ORCHESTRA/dp/B083XRCCKH

-----------------------------------------------------------

Morton Gould (December 10, 1913 – February 21, 1996) was an American composer, conductor, and pianist. Recognized early as a child prodigy, he studied at the Institute of Musical Art in New York. Gould composed Broadway scores, film music, music for television, and ballet scores. His music was commissioned by symphony orchestras all over the United States and was also commissioned by the Library of Congress, the American Ballet Theatre, and the New York City Ballet. As a conductor, Gould led all of the major American orchestras as well as those of Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan, and Australia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton_Gould

***

Arthur Fagen (born 1951) has conducted at the world’s most prestigious opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera and Vienna State Opera. From 2002 to 2007, he was music director of the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dortmund Opera. He has been music director of The Atlanta Opera since 2010 and is also chair of orchestral conducting at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington. Fagen has made recordings for BMG, Bayerischer Rundfunk, SFB, and WDR Cologne. He regularly records for Naxos, with releases including cycles of the Martinů's Symphonies and Piano Concertos.

https://www.naxos.com/Bio/Person/Fagen_Arthur/31578

https://arthurfagen.com/

-----------------------------------------------------------

FLAC, tracks

Links in comment

Enjoy!