The U.S.A. Exploration Thread

[Papy Oli]

Thank you @Karl Henning , @VonStupp , @Daverz , @San Antone , @lordlance . I have added your recommendations to the list.

[Papy Oli]

Really enjoying that Fancy Free Ballet right now:

[Papy Oli]

I enjoyed West Side Story off the above way more than I remembered. I am somewhat nonplussed by On The Waterfront. 

[Luke]

One evening in the early 1990s I opened up a package of LPs which I had chosen simply because they looked particularly tempting in the ECM catalogue. In those pre-internet days I had no idea what they would sound like, especially as I was only 15 or 16. So that evening I heard my first Arvo Part, my first Gavin Bryars and my first John Adams. I don't think I have recovered yet: each of them introduced a whole new, undiscovered universe to me. The Adams piece was Harmonium. I never knew orchestras could do this - be so overwhelming, so sweeping, so contemporary and San-Francisco-cool and yet so timelessly gorgeous. Adam's theory of harmonic 'gates' combines the power of minimalist weight with the emotional weight of late romantic harmony, but it is nowhere more sumptuously expressed than in this divine piece. I have followed, bought, studied almost everything he has written since, but little ever hit me with quite the force of that piece. These ones do, however:

Harmonium, as described
Harmonielehre
The Wound Dresser

then there is about a decade-long gap  - I have most of what he wrote in those years, and I like it, some of it I really love, but the next genre-changing wallop of a piece for me was:

The Dharma at Big Sur

There is a lot of great stuff, a huge amount of imagination and musical 'world-building' - that is, he creates whole new musical worlds so skillfully. But these four go to a really deep place.

[vers la flamme]

Great thread Oli. My favorite American composers are Leonard Bernstein, John Cage, Elliott Carter, and Morton Feldman. Not that any of them sound even remotely like the others, but they are all genius in their own right.

Since you're on Bernstein right now I have to urge you not to miss what is in my opinion his best work, Mass.

[foxandpeng]

Antheil, George: Once you get past the theft from Shostakovich and Prokofiev his symphonies (and I'm sure many others I don't notice), his orchestral music is very entertaining.

Antheil is great. Chandos recordings of his symphonies under Storgårds are the cornerstone of his work, for me.

[lordlance]

Antheil is great. Chandos recordings of his symphonies under Storgårds are the cornerstone of his work, for me.

Any particularly intense favorites?

__

Separately if you want the text of the Bernstein Mass let me know, Papy Oli.

[VonStupp]

I am not sure where your preferences lie, but if you like that early American conservative romanticism, George Frederick Bristow might be worth looking at. He had a couple of symphonies and an overture/symphonic poem or two that are colourful, if not particularly earth shattering. Not many recordings out there, though, so he remains fringe listening.

VS

[Mandryka]

If you search under my name for Auerbach you'll see there's been a bit of discussion, it's not my syle but you may well like it of course. Certainly worth checking.

[Daverz]

Barati, George: I have one CD on CRI. One of the works was recorded by Ormandy and Philadelphia.  As I recall, his music is neo-Classical and motivic, perhaps a bit "standard" for that era, but pretty good.

Listened to this again last night.  The whole CD is excellent.  I probably made Barati sound a bit dry, but his orchestration is quite colorful, though the music is expressively on the cool side.  Despite 3 different sources for the recordings, there's no jarring sonic transition from work to work.  As you'd expect, the Ormandy/Philly recording is fantastically played, the Bartokian elements in the Chamber Concerto are very well done, and the sonics are excellent.

[Mandryka]

Check Antheil's second violin sonata. It's fun to know. Memorable and a lovely final part for violin and little drum.

[foxandpeng]

Any particularly intense favorites?

__

Separately if you want the text of the Bernstein Mass let me know, Papy Oli.

I wouldn't describe any of them as intense, but I would probably recommend 4 or 5 as an entry point 🙂

[Papy Oli]

Brant, Henry: Listening to Ice Field.  The kitchen sink is in there somewhere, but it's quite aurally entertaining:

I tried this one but that's not my cup of tea   

[Papy Oli]

Marc Blitzstein - the Airborne Symphony
Bernstein/NYP

Ok for one listen but not a work I would go back to.

[Papy Oli]

One evening in the early 1990s I opened up a package of LPs which I had chosen simply because they looked particularly tempting in the ECM catalogue. In those pre-internet days I had no idea what they would sound like, especially as I was only 15 or 16. So that evening I heard my first Arvo Part, my first Gavin Bryars and my first John Adams. I don't think I have recovered yet: each of them introduced a whole new, undiscovered universe to me. The Adams piece was Harmonium. I never knew orchestras could do this - be so overwhelming, so sweeping, so contemporary and San-Francisco-cool and yet so timelessly gorgeous. Adam's theory of harmonic 'gates' combines the power of minimalist weight with the emotional weight of late romantic harmony, but it is nowhere more sumptuously expressed than in this divine piece. I have followed, bought, studied almost everything he has written since, but little ever hit me with quite the force of that piece. These ones do, however:

Harmonium, as described
Harmonielehre
The Wound Dresser

then there is about a decade-long gap  - I have most of what he wrote in those years, and I like it, some of it I really love, but the next genre-changing wallop of a piece for me was:

The Dharma at Big Sur

There is a lot of great stuff, a huge amount of imagination and musical 'world-building' - that is, he creates whole new musical worlds so skillfully. But these four go to a really deep place.

Thank you for your pointers @Luke , I have added those to the list   

[Papy Oli]

Separately if you want the text of the Bernstein Mass let me know, Papy Oli.

thank you but I think I have it in the booklet of an Harmonia Mundi Sacred Music box somewhere.

[Papy Oli]

I am not sure where your preferences lie, but if you like that early American conservative romanticism, George Frederick Bristow might be worth looking at. He had a couple of symphonies and an overture/symphonic poem or two that are colourful, if not particularly earth shattering. Not many recordings out there, though, so he remains fringe listening.

VS

Worth adding in any case, thank you!

If you search under my name for Auerbach you'll see there's been a bit of discussion, it's not my syle but you may well like it of course. Certainly worth checking.

Thank you, will do.

Listened to this again last night.  The whole CD is excellent.  I probably made Barati sound a bit dry, but his orchestration is quite colorful, though the music is expressively on the cool side.  Despite 3 different sources for the recordings, there's no jarring sonic transition from work to work.  As you'd expect, the Ormandy/Philly recording is fantastically played, the Bartokian elements in the Chamber Concerto are very well done, and the sonics are excellent.

thank you @Daverz , Added & Queued up

I wouldn't describe any of them as intense, but I would probably recommend 4 or 5 as an entry point 🙂

Added as well, thank you Danny.

[Papy Oli]

Harmonium
Harmonielehre
The Wound Dresser
The Dharma at Big Sur

Meant to ask, @Luke : any particular recordings for those 4 works to look at first please? Thank you.

[Luke]

Meant to ask, @Luke : any particular recordings for those 4 works to look at first please? Thank you.

I'm totally imprinted on repeated listening to the recordings I first knew so dont take these as definitive:

The ECM Harmonium (there is a prominent mistake in it, but you need to be following the score to know for sure) This recording has the shock of the new, the fresh, the exciting about it. It's like an alien has landed. Awesome. But maybe I feel that way because I was very impressionable when I first heard it. Put it like this: it's the only thing I've ever air-conducted to....
Rattle's CBSO Harmonielehre. I've heard a few other versions, this one pleases me but so do others when I've heard them.
With The Wound Dresser and The Dharma at Big Sur Adams'own readings with soloist for whom he wrote them (Sanford Sylvan/Tracy Silverman) seem pretty definitive, but I haven't heard alternatives very much.

[Papy Oli]

Thank you @Luke , found all four on Idagio. All queued up.