Propelling Music: George Antheil (1900-1959)

[EigenUser]

In connection with a book I'm reading about Hedy Lamarr, I just discovered Antheil's Ballet mecanique.  Lots of fun!  And now I hear where Bartok got some of his inspiration for the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion.

It is a very cool, unapologetic piece. I love the "mechanical" sound in certain 20th-century compositions (might partly explain my current Messiaen phase), so this work is particularly interesting for me, though I don't know it all that well. Have you heard of Antheil before? An interesting guy, though not exactly consistent. I like him alright based on what I've heard (not much).

I really like his neoclassical Serenade for Strings, but it is nothing like the Ballet Mechanique.

I never thought of the Bartok connection. I wonder if Bartok was at all familiar with Antheil's music. It wouldn't surprise me since I know first-hand (i.e. his son Peter told me in an email) that his father thought very highly of Gershwin. I read somewhere a while ago that Bartok even asked Cowell if he could use cluster-chords in his 2nd PC (I'm guessing the fast part of the 2nd movement). He certainly was familiar with American music.

[cilgwyn]

i love his music although I must admit he's not one of my most played composer.(I have to be in the right mood!) I particularly like his symphonies. The Cpo recordings are superb and include some fascinating fill-ups. Great artwork as usual. I think the cd of No's 1 & 6 is my favourite. At best they have a haunting dream like quality. A bit like being in some wierd kind of dream. I wouldn't want to listen to No's 1 & 6 with the lights off!! The Cpo cd of piano concertos is another one I enjoy. There is also great recording on the Arte Nova label of the Concerto for piano & small orchestra coupled with his Jazz symphony and a fine performance of Gershwin's Piano concerto,which I don't always enjoy!
The recording of his opera sounds disappointing,though!

The Nimbus cd entitled 'Ballet Mecanique'....."A recreation of his Carnegie Hall Concert of 1927 is also very good.

I don't find much enthusiasm for his orchestral works on forums,that said! I think like Cyril Scott,who was much better at composing chamber and instrumental music,he's just misunderstood.

[Mirror Image]

I can't say anything by Antheil has grabbed me. Perhaps the music just isn't gloomy enough for me.

[Ken B]

In connection with a book I'm reading about Hedy Lamarr, I just discovered Antheil's Ballet mecanique.  Lots of fun!  And now I hear where Bartok got some of his inspiration for the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion.

Les Noces you mean?

[vandermolen]

I like symphonies 3 and 4 most.

[cilgwyn]

I seem to be alone in liking 1 & 6 best! Although,it may be No 6! Which really shows how often I listen to Antheil!! But seriously,he is the kind of composer I have to be in a certain mood for. As absorbing as his best music is,it's not something I am ever going to bung on when I just feel like some music. Also,I tend to listen via cordless headphones these days and I can't always see the cd player display to see what track I'm listening to!! So it could 1 & 6 or just 6 or 1 or even 1 or 6?!! At any rate,one or both of them have/has a very spooky wierd,rather nightmarish atmosphere. I find it a bit creepy!

[cilgwyn]

Actually,I think I should have said 'interesting' rather than absorbing! Antheil strikes me as one of that flourishing spring of American mavericks that seem to have grabbed attention for a while then slipped away into obscurity for one reason or another. His music strikes me as having more substance than Cowell,for instance,who seems to have been desperately trying to be oddball and wacky without having anything genuinely interesting to say. I think the main problem with Antheil is that unlike certain composers that I know Mirror Image (and I ) like,however interesting Antheil's music may appear at the time,there's nothing that ultimately really stays in your head or genuinely moves you! I do find the wierd juxtapositions and atmosphere interesting though. In that respect my Antheil collection isn't a complete waste of space!! But just think of the symphonies of Martinu! Listen to those and they'll haunt for days. Antheil? Hm? Not,really!

[cilgwyn]

I like symphonies 3 and 4 most.

I listened to Antheil's symphonies again,recently. I enjoyed 1 & 6 as before,but must concede now that vandermolen is right in liking No 4. Or at least,I share his opinion now. I will have to listen to No 3 again. I DO like Antheil's music. I like his collage like magpie style and he IS different to other American composers I have heard. I'm not always sure his approach to writing symphonies really works;but he is,imo,a fascinating diversion from your usual mainstream composers. Listening to his First and Sixth symphonies I was sure he had composed some film scores. Listening to some of the spooky and the almost technicolor profusion of often eerie sounds in these symphonies I did wonder if he had composed some horror scores. I haven't looked into all the film scores by this composer on Wikipedia,but I don't think so? A pity!! I think it might have been right up his proverbial street!

[cilgwyn]

Based on the music on the cpo cd of 1 & 6,I should say!

[Karl Henning]

Based on the music on the cpo cd of 1 & 6,I should say!

Sarge pushed me (so to speak) to check that out, and I've entirely enjoyed it.  The "great American symphony"?  Probably not;  but cracking good fun.

[Karl Henning]

The Nimbus cd entitled 'Ballet Mecanique'....."A recreation of his Carnegie Hall Concert of 1927 is also very good.

Well ... according to the notes to the cpo disc of the First & Sixth, the New York presentation of the piece was marred by exaggerations and distortions of the composer's intentions, and the resulting fiasco was a great hurdle which the composer would at last overcome only partly ....

[Daverz]

The Nimbus cd entitled 'Ballet Mecanique'....."A recreation of his Carnegie Hall Concert of 1927 is also very good.

I see that Tidal has the BMOP performance (recreation?) (doesn't come up on a search of "Antheil"; search on "Boston Modern Orchestra Project".)  I'll have to save it for when the neighbors are at work.

[asin]B00ET5F08Y[/asin]

I'm very fond of the symphonies.  The piano concertos are great, too.  Not profound, but always very entertaining.  And "magpie" is right, he stole from the best.

[cilgwyn]

I have three versions of the Jazz symphony. One on Cpo ,coupled with the Piano concertos and some piano pieces. Another one on Arte Nova,coupled with Schulhoff's Piano Concerto (a great choice,by the way) and a fantastic (imho,anyway) performance of Gershwin's Piano Concerto. The Cpo recording seems good,but sounds staid next to the Arte Nova performance,which in turn sounds positively po faced compared to the performance on Nimbus,which is downright raunchy and an absolute hoot! That said,it is tremendous fun listening to all three,just to compare!
The Nimbus cd is great fun. I'm going to have listen to it again,and the Ballet pour instruments Mécanique et Percussion,as it is referred to on the cd,is (in the words of a certain sitcom) "a real riot!" At least it is here!
I also like the other pieces on the cd,including the the Second Sonata for Violin,Piano and Drum (a sonata with a sort of drum kit accompaniment). The String Quartet No 1,I will have to listen to again. This is one of the problems with using cordless headphones allot.You can't see the tracking while you're listening!

[cilgwyn]

I think the Piano Concertos,Jazz Symphony and Ballet Mécanique should be heard more often in concerts. I think they would be great fun and concert goers might enjoy them. That said,while I I enjoy the symphonies and actually find them rather fascinating,I can see the critics having a field day with all the crazy 'stealing' from other composers and the (how best to put it,if not a musician?) collage like approach to the symphonic form would not impress them. Sadly,I think that this is another symphonic cycle that is purely for home consumption. Not that I think the concert halls should be thundering to the sounds of Antheil symphonies;but just that No's 1,4 and 6,for example,would be an entertaining diversion from the usual suspects.....and a chance to see exactly how Antheil gets those spooky sounds in 1 & 6 (cordless headphones again;I must keep an eye on the tracking.....but from upstairs?!! ).

[Karl Henning]

Well ... according to the notes to the cpo disc of the First & Sixth, the New York presentation of the piece was marred by exaggerations and distortions of the composer's intentions, and the resulting fiasco was a great hurdle which the composer would at last overcome only partly ....

My point being that a recreation of his Carnegie Hall Concert of 1927 may be of historical interest, but not necessarily of service to the composer.

[Karl Henning]

. . . in the spring of 1927.  The efforts of resourceful managers had put Ballet mécanique on the program of New York's Carnegie Hall.  Antheil and his wife made the trip to New York with great expectations, but the work's performance there on April 10 was a disaster.  The sensation-hungry promoters had increased the number of pianos and insisted on a genuine propeller, which sent flying the members of the audience and their programs.  Moreover the hand siren did not go off until after the performance;  nobody had remembered that it had t be wound up for a minute before the howling could begin.  In short, the mechanical ballet turned out to be a burst in the bore and earned Antheil a reputation that made things difficult for him in the country of his birth even years after this incident.

One may argue (to only a degree) that the nature of the work lent itself to sensationalism and the disastrous excesses of the promoters;  but the music might have worked if they had (* Jeevesian cough *) followed the score.

And if the event had been a success, the composer's career after would have moved along other lines, yes?

[Karl Henning]

I seem to be alone in liking 1 & 6 best! Although,it may be No 6! Which really shows how often I listen to Antheil!! But seriously,he is the kind of composer I have to be in a certain mood for. As absorbing as his best music is,it's not something I am ever going to bung on when I just feel like some music. Also,I tend to listen via cordless headphones these days and I can't always see the cd player display to see what track I'm listening to!! So it could 1 & 6 or just 6 or 1 or even 1 or 6?!! At any rate,one or both of them have/has a very spooky wierd,rather nightmarish atmosphere. I find it a bit creepy!

Well, that disc is the only Antheil I heard as yet, but I am enthusiastic for it, too.  In fact, this enthusiasm has pushed me to plump for the disc of the Fourth & Fifth, too.

[Daverz]

Sadly,I think that this is another symphonic cycle that is purely for home consumption.

Antheil seems to be more popular in Europe than in the US.  The fine CPO cycle was recorded by a European orchestra by a European record label, after all.

[snyprrr]

lolz-

Antheil wrote the music for a "silent" '50's unreleased horror film called 'Dementia' (not 'Dementia 13'), which was then bought and repackaged as 'Daughter of Horror'- which is the movie playing in the theater when 'The Blob' attacks!!

[cilgwyn]

Sarge pushed me (so to speak) to check that out, and I've entirely enjoyed it.  The "great American symphony"?  Probably not;  but cracking good fun.

It may not.....but if you like music filled with the most wild,hallucinatory,occasionally nightmarish confrontations and colours,these are the aural (note the "au",please! ) equivalent of an lsd trip. Quite spooky in places...it does make you think of some of those early German horror films in places.....except,they were silent. Other parts of the score are lush,at times quite ravishingly beautiful. It's choc full of ideas. Phantasmagorical discoveries!!

The emi cd of American ballet music arrived through the letterbox today. This one has an abridged version of "Capital of the World" on it. The stamping feet sound absolutely fan-b*****tastic! (I must stop wearing hob nail boots!). I'm referring to the Flamenco dancer,of course. This is viscerally very exciting music and if anyone is put off buying this recording because it's in mono;I can tell you now,that the sound quality is first rate for the era and the performances of all three ballets are so good you don't worry about it,anyway...unless you are totally and utterly allergic to mono,of course! Schuman's Undertow is a  superb score. Mirror Image is dead right to call for a modern recording of this score.I haven't got to the Gould yet;but I seem to remember it's one of his best scores.