The Good: Good music, Volume, Decent orchestration.
The Bad: I tend to like one composer per disc . . .
The Basics: Often rousing and voluminous, this recording satisfies those looking for a decent mix of anthemic and bold and quiet and pastoral.
For those who do not follow my reviews regularly, I recently raided my father's classical music collection to expand my knowledge of Classical music. There, I found some truly wonderful albums and a pretty terrible recording of Respighi's works. Having recently become intrigued by Respighi, this left me disappointed. Severely.
Fortunately, my father had a second disc that had Respighi's music on it. It was the "Living Stereo" recording of Debussy's "La Mer" and Respighi's "Pines Of Rome" and "Fountains Of Rome." I tend to prefer my Classical with one composer per disc, but I decided to give this one a whirl and I find myself genuinely pleased with that decision. This is not a bad pairing of artists and the renditions seem quite good. Moreover, I can hear each and every note on every track at a volume that is reasonable!
With eleven tracks, clocking in at 62:10, Fritz Reiner conducts the Chicago Symphony in this classic recording of classical music. Recorded in 1959 and 1960, the combined tracks bring the album up to a duration that does not insult the c.d. medium. Reiner conducts a full orchestra and the notes are universally clear and precise, which is surprising given how some digitally remastered albums sound.
Debussy's suite "La Mer" opens the album. It has three movements and uses the full range of an impressive orchestra. "From Dawn Till Noon On The Sea" is the first movement and it starts with mid-range woodwinds and brass and escalates almost immediately into a soft, but sweeping theme. I tend to like Classical music pieces that are big and epic and this piece is not that. Instead, it is ponderous and contemplative, mixing an undertone of high strings playing softly with clarinets, oboes and the like to present a piece that has a hard to define melody. Instead, the piece is about growth and when the brass section comes in eventually, it is only to present a musical climax. It is like seeing land at the edge of a vast expanse of water. In other words, it is hard to define the water, but the contrast with the land makes a noticeable impression.
By contrast, "Play Of The Waves" is quick and involves a decent amount of interplay between the strings and woodwinds. There is an oboe that plays off a harp at the beginning that is particularly capricious and one has the sense of a shoal full of life and movement. "Play Of The Waves" includes fast trills that zip around the higher end of the scale and a remarkably complete use of the orchestra's string and woodwind sections. This evokes images of watching nature - not in its glory - so much as in the chaos of its movement. In the latter half of the piece, when bigger instruments come in, including some brass (french horns?) there is the sense of creatures of different scales interacting and it creates an intriguing piece of music.
The suite concludes well with "Dialogue Of The Wind And The Sea," a piece that sounds like a storm or chase at sea. The woodwinds keep up a fast tune while the strings keep a determined beat along with the percussion section. And on this track, the brass section erupts with big, bold waves of sound. The piece creates a sense of chaos and danger before settling into a much more serene play of the lighter orchestral instruments. The strings are allowed to flow as opposed to keep time and the suite ends with a feeling of calm and peace that is quite inspiring and evocative.
This sense of serenity lends itself well to the start of the Respighi pieces. The "Fountains Of Rome" suite begins with "The Fountain Of Valle Giulia At Dawn," a quiet pastoral piece dominated by subtle woodwinds and light strings. The song is very quiet - almost to the point of being too quiet, but it is not a function of the recording. This is a soft, dreamy piece.
The second movement, "The Triton Fountain At Morning" is more of what I like from Respighi and classical music in general; the piece is full of grand instrumentals, crescendos and a strong sense of movement. The brass and strings play off one another well, creating the sense of something grand and worth contemplating. There are sweeping dashes between the strings and woodwinds and they are broken up with occasional fanfares by the brass section. It is a rousing theme and I am sure if I were driving while listening to it, I would get caught for speeding.
This musical trend continues into "The Fountain Of Trevi At Midday" which is a soaring, brass-dominated anthem that sounds like the arrival of a king. Not a march, but rather a musical dawning of the extraordinary, this movement in the suite is powerful, bold and has the impression of completely controlling the listener. It is captivating in the way one hopes an energetic anthem will be and it deigns to give the clarinets their moment in the end and that, too, is very suave.
The suite is closed out by the movement "The Villa Medici Fountain At Sunset," a much quieter piece. Here the woodwinds and strings ease the listener into a gentle night. It is the sound of cleaning up after a festival. Sure, the brass section pops up here or there, like the memory of something at the earlier party. For the most part, though, this is a quiet, meandering piece that brings the energy of the previous movement in for a quiet landing.
It should be noted that the "Fountains Of Rome" movements blend seamlessly into one another, creating the sense of travel around a realm. Usually, the instrument that finishes one track begins the next, lending to a sense of musical continuity that is very tasteful.
The "Pines Of Rome," despite the title suggesting trees, is a much more active piece. "The Pines Of The Villa Borghese" is a brass-centered movement that instantly evokes images of grand structures in the mind of the listener. It is a short opening to the movement, but it breaks the listener out of their reverie from the prior track.
The "Pines Near A Catacomb" again has Respighi's trademark anthemic chase sounds. The brass is punctuated by cymbals as the song creates the sense of big and dangerous, much the way the composer on Star Trek did for the episode "The Doomsday Machine." Instead of flinching away from the potentially horrifying, the musical cues force the listener to rush headlong into danger and musically it is the equivalent of watching a stunt that is both impressive and foolhardy. The piece then becomes quieter, letting the tubas and deeper orchestral pieces create a new melody that builds up over the latter half of the piece into a reflection on the initial brashness.
With "The Pines Of The Janiculum," takes a much more serene turn, allowing the woodwinds and violins to take over to create a pastoral setting. It is quiet, sublime and peaceful. This movement is one to relax to; it lulls the listener in to the sense that they are in a safe place with a cool breeze blowing over them. It is unfettered by anything deeper or dangerous.
The work is closed out by "The Pines Of The Appian Way," a quiet piece that continues along the same way as the prior track. Midway through, though, the brass section breaks out, creating a new dawn, a new sense of rising up from the instrumentals, taking the piece into an ascension that closes the work dramatically and with much fanfare.
The overall album is a little too erratic to recommend the work for while driving (the quieter pieces could well put one to sleep if driving at night!), and the same thing with using for a romantic mood or even dining. This is good music for doing something both active and creative and this is a good recording for those who want a soundtrack for an activity like that.
The best track is Respighi's "The Pines Of The Villa Borghese," the low point is "The Fountain Of Valle Giulia At Dawn," which is just a little too quiet.
For other Classical music reviews, please check out my takes on:
Nocturnes, Volume 1 - Chopin
Karajan Gold Tchaikovski
Pictures At An Exhibition and Night On Bald Mountain - Mussogrsky
7/10
For other music reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!
© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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