Gosh! My posting of Ives' conducted by Morton Gould yielded gazillion comments. Thank you all for your warm thanks. This post has to be one of my most popular and that's terrific. Morton Gould was a national treasure and sadly, as the years have past, memories of his immense talents have begun to fade.
Here's more Gould, composer and conductor. One of my readers, Anthony, asked for Gould's record of Vaughan Williams and Coates and, here it is! Years ago, I had in my possession the Quintessence reissue and that record got lost somewhere along the way. Lucky me to find a clean copy of the original 1964 release on RCA.
Morton Gould is a very nice alternative to Boult. Whereas the latter maintains a tighter grip on the structure of the score, Gould allows his excellent studio band (probably made up of numerous former members of the NBC SO) to "run with the ball." The Tallis Fantasia is so elastic in this presentation but it works well because the musicians are top notch and they understand Gould's very flexible approach. Folk Song Suite in the Gordon Jacob orchestration (authorized by VW) is an amazing piece, cramming so many ideas into a concentrated package. It works so beautifully however the band version has that extra "bite" that VW had in mind when he wrote the piece for the bandsmen at Kneller Hall.
I will tell you that the absolute real winner here is the Coates' London Suite. This fantastic piece has so much color and the tunes are immediately hummable - a shame that it never appears on American concert programs! Gould has the full measure of the music, perhaps he finds that connection with Coates? Eric Coates' career path was very similar to Gould and their styles are really not too far apart. I would love to have heard what Gould would have done with "The Dam Busters," Coates fantastic march, one of the very best written anywhere during the last century.
Howard Mitchell conducts the National Symphony of Washington in Gould's 'Declaration' Suite and 'Jekyll and Hyde' Variations. My copy if the RCA Gold Seal release of the cover pictured above. Strangely, in 1958 this record was issued only in monaural sound though the Gold Seal billed itself as "first stereo release." It's true stereo too. Declaration is based on episodes in American history, like the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. Gould wrote often and consistently on American themes, obviously there was a deep well of inspiration for him. This is a nice suite, I especially like the Midnight ride scherzo as it sounds like a horse galloping! Jekyll and Hyde is more adventurous in harmonics and melodic material. This piece moves beyond the more popular aspects of Gould's concert style and is quite serious in scope. Gould's sure hand with the orchestra and masterful orchestrations are clearly evident.
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