Naxos American Classics

[vandermolen]

Awww, do we have to stick to Naxos???  Most of the American composers I listen to are on other labels! 

No, please feel free to discuss any CD of music by American composers.

[vandermolen]

Albert is a very interesting composer, and I have collected quite a few of his works. The cello concerto, his last piece, is also his greatest - in it he resolves the compositional issues which had plagued him over the years before his early death. It is a wonderful score, dramatic, lyrical, combining the new and old in a very unique way such that a truly individual voice very clearly shines through. It is unfortunately extraordinarily difficult, both for orchestra and especially the solo cellist, which I think will hamper its ability to muster the performances that it so richly deserves. The same fate befalls that greatest of American cello concertos - Barber's op.22, but here at least the situation has begun to improve over the last two decades. The Albert cello concerto was recorded by Yo-Yo Ma in the early nineties, and remains one of his finest recordings.

Thanks. Is the Cello Concerto on CD?

[Sorin Eushayson]

No, please feel free to discuss any CD of music by American composers.

Wonderful!

Then I can safely recommend this...



Bristow's F-Sharp Minor Symphony = BRILLIANT!  I must have listened to it over a dozen times.  I'm shocked that none of his other works have been recorded!

By the way, check out the works of John Knowles Paine ASAP if you're not yet acquainted with them! 

[Guido]

Yes: http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-York-Album-Yo-Yo-Ma/dp/B0000029K5/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1238153136&sr=1-3



In case Colin is reading this - the piece is much much more romantic than that previous Ma disc I recommended - I think it would be right up your street. As I say, it remains one of his finest achievements on record, and I think another CD of american chamber works he recorded very close to that album is also superlative:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Made-America-Yo-Yo-Ma/dp/B0000028UF/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1238153302&sr=1-2


The Ives piano trio is one of my all time favourite works and this remains by far the most convincing and beautiful account on record. The Bernstein clarinet sonata is another hidden gem and to me sounds even better on the cello (though I am biased of course! And it does help that one of the world's great artists is playing it.) The Gershwin preludes are also an absolute delight.

For me, with a few exceptions, Ma's recordings from the late 80s and early 90s remain his best, mostly because at some point in the late 90s/early 2000s he seems to have stopped practising to anything like the same degree - one exception is the CD of John Williams 'serious' works for cello and orchestra which is just fantastic on every level - the orchestral playing and recording is first class - the compositions are all superb - far better than what I was expecting from either his previous serious works or his film music. I recommend the cello concerto (and Heartwood) as highly as the Albert concerto:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yo-Yo-Plays-Music-John-Williams/dp/B00005YVQ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1238153753&sr=1-1



The soundworld of the cello concerto is somewhere between Adams' harmonielehre, Walton's cello concerto, Britten's cello symphony and maybe Piston, though the result is pretty unprecedented in either the cello repertoire, or 20th music in general as far as I am concerned.

[Dundonnell]

Yes Well, I liked the Albert symphonies on Naxos so it looks as though the Cello Concerto is next up

(Updated: Ordered...but from Arkiv-since no Amazon dealer has it. Also ordered the Piston Clarinet Concerto which is just about the last mainstream American concerto on cd that I don't have )

[Guido]

Yes Well, I liked the Albert symphonies on Naxos so it looks as though the Cello Concerto is next up

(Updated: Ordered...but from Arkiv-since no Amazon dealer has it. Also ordered the Piston Clarinet Concerto which is just about the last mainstream American concerto on cd that I don't have )

That means that 3 other people ordered the cheap ones off amazon.co.uk - that's how many there were this morning when I made the post! I'm glad my posts make that kind of impact! It's a really fine work, and though it is initially gorgeous, it took me a few listens to really see the whole picture. There is a cleanness to the orchestral textures that is very distinctive, such that the music is beautiful, but always open and never quite lush. The themes have an appealing angularity that makes them resonate in the mind. I'd love to hear other people's views when they hear it.

Do you have the Williams concerto Colin?

[Guido]

http://joshuanemith.blogspot.com/2008/01/dpo-plays-alberts-cello-concerto.html

here's a nice blog entry on a recent performance of the Albert cello concerto.

[Dundonnell]

That means that 3 other people ordered the cheap ones off amazon.co.uk - that's how many there were this morning when I made the post! I'm glad my posts make that kind of impact! It's a really fine work, and though it is initially gorgeous, it took me a few listens to really see the whole picture. There is a cleanness to the orchestral textures that is very distinctive, such that the music is beautiful, but always open and never quite lush. The themes have an appealing angularity that makes them resonate in the mind. I'd love to hear other people's views when they hear it.

Do you have the Williams concerto Colin?

See...this is what happens when I stay up half the night posting here and don't get up until lunchtime: the cheap copies of the cd get snaffled

Williams? Which Williams would that be? You are not suggesting more expenditure by me are you

[Guido]

John Williams (see five posts up).

[Dundonnell]

John Williams (see five posts up).

Ok...£5.80 on Amazon. Bought! Cheaper than a packet of those things I really shouldn't buy

[Benji]

one exception is the CD of John Williams 'serious' works for cello and orchestra which is just fantastic on every level - the orchestral playing and recording is first class - the compositions are all superb - far better than what I was expecting from either his previous serious works or his film music. I recommend the cello concerto (and Heartwood) as highly as the Albert concerto:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yo-Yo-Plays-Music-John-Williams/dp/B00005YVQ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1238153753&sr=1-1



The soundworld of the cello concerto is somewhere between Adams' harmonielehre, Walton's cello concerto, Britten's cello symphony and maybe Piston, though the result is pretty unprecedented in either the cello repertoire, or 20th music in general as far as I am concerned.

That is a great disc, yes. I especially like the Elegy. I'm not sure I hear Harmonielehre in the Cello Concerto (but I certainly do in Williams' score for A.I. if you know that?), but Walton yes. Williams is quite big on British composers (as was Bernard Herrmann, incidentally), and I hear the influence of Walton in a lot of Williams' music from the 80s, including my favourite score, TESB. I often think that in another universe, Williams might have written Walton's 2nd Symphony.

[Benji]

Ok...£5.80 on Amazon. Bought! Cheaper than a packet of those things I really shouldn't buy

Knickers? 

[Dundonnell]

Knickers? 

They would be less injurious to my health

[Guido]

That is a great disc, yes. I especially like the Elegy. I'm not sure I hear Harmonielehre in the Cello Concerto (but I certainly do in Williams' score for A.I. if you know that?), but Walton yes. Williams is quite big on British composers (as was Bernard Herrmann, incidentally), and I hear the influence of Walton in a lot of Williams' music from the 80s, including my favourite score, TESB. I often think that in another universe, Williams might have written Walton's 2nd Symphony.

Yes, Hermann was a Finzi fan! I hear the clear influence of Harmonielehre (first movement) in the first movement of the concerto - mainly in the orchestral writing with those subtle pulsating figures laying down a shimmering and slowly shifting background to the by turns heroic and ecstatic solo line of the cello which arches and lurches around the whole range of the instrument. I don't know anyone else who writes for the cello like this, but I think it's very effective, even if very difficult to play. The same sort of thing applies to the end of the fourth movement. The Scherzo (third movement) is just pure Britten - its incredibly similar to the scherzo of Cello Symphony. And yes as I said Walton's cello concerto looms large too.

I really love Heartwood too - it has the most beautiful harmony - those massive chords at the begginning, and the last three minutes are just perfect too. Another very fine piece. I just wish that the sheet music was published for both of these (I have hastled his secreteary repeatedly about this, but she says that there are no plans to publish it either.  )

Ok...£5.80 on Amazon. Bought! Cheaper than a packet of those things I really shouldn't buy

See I'm saving you from yourself by enticing you with CDs!

[DavidRoss]

Not a Naxos disc, but if you liked Williams's cello concerto and would like to hear more of his "serious" music, you might try his bassoon concerto, on this disc with several fine couplings:

[Guido]

I have that CD yes, some nice music, but I found the bassoon concerto a little more ordinary, less memorable. Maybe the nature of the solo instrument, but yes as you say the couplings are good. I love the front cover (Ansel Adams).

The CD with Gil Shaham playing various works for violin and orchestra by John Williams is better I think.

[Guido]

He has a thing for trees it seems - theres are concertante pieces for cello, bassoon and violin which all have someting to do with 'em.

[DavidRoss]

I have that CD yes, some nice music, but I found the bassoon concerto a little more ordinary, less memorable.

And I feel the same way about the cello concerto!  Funny, eh?  Different strokes for different folks, and it would be a pretty boring world if we were all exactly alike. 

[Guido]

  And I feel the same way about the cello concerto!  Funny, eh?  Different strokes for different folks, and it would be a pretty boring world if we were all exactly alike. 

True dat!

[Dundonnell]

Of the Cello Concertos recommended by Guido(and others) in this thread I am most impressed by the Stephen Albert. This strikes me as a really fine addition to the cello repertoire, a serious and beautifully written piece which makes one regret Albert's early death even more

The John Williams works for cello I am less taken by-although 'Heartwood' is certainly attractive. I do not sense anything like the same profound depth as in the Albert. The Williams is more music of effect rather than substance.

Sorry to negative about Williams....but one masterpiece is better than none