A Whole Lot of American Music

I'm going to do something a bit different today. I've got a bunch, a BUNCH, of recordings of American classics that I have transferred over the months and been sitting on. In one fell swoop, I'm offering them up here for some industrial size transferring. Here goes!

The first one is the jacket above of music of Ruggles and Cowell, a monaural Columbia recording, ML4986. Pianist John Kirkpatrick shines in Evocations! It's a masterpiece played by a master!

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Monaural ARS-38 - music by Henry Brant and Burrill Phillips.

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The excellent Beveridge Webster playing Copland, Sessions and Carter on Dover HCR5265 - monaural.

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Dean Dixon conducts symphonies of Cowell and Piston on ARS 112 - monaural. One of my favorite conductors.

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Music of Swanson, Diamond and Hanson of ARS6 & ARS 7 - monaural. Dean Dixon again along with the underrated Texan, Walter Hendl.

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Chamber Music of Harris and Diamond with Lawrence Sobol, clarinet. Grenadilla GS1007 Stereo. Mid 70's Super, super musicianship here.

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Longtime New England Conservatory professor Veronica Jochum plays MacDowell and Griffes on stereo Golden Crest CRS4168. Mid 70's. If you do not know Eugen Jochum's daughter, now is your chance to make her acquaintance!

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Have fun! Whew!

Walter Hendl conducts Sessions, Harris and Schuman on ARS

How happy I was to find this lp, again, last week. I've owned a copy for years but it proved to be in a very poor shape and though I tried to transfer it, the odds were against that enterprise. So, when I came across this in a second hand shop, I rejoiced. Great condition and eminently transferable...here it is.

We have here Sessions' The Black Maskers, Schuman's American Festival Overture and Harris' monumental Symphony No 3. Everything is led by the underrated American conductor Walter Hendl with the American Recording Society Orchestra, whomever they be.

These are strongly shaped and idiomatic performances. No excuses need to be made for committed music making even if the orchestra is less then first rate. Hendl understands, and loves, this music well and the results bear witness to that. Listen to the "dirge" from Black Maskers and you'll get the picture. Great mid 20th century fare, no doubt about that.

I'd like to hear more from Hendl. Hopefully some other bloggers will take notice; I'll be on the lookout for his other recordings.

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Dean Dixon and Howard Hanson conduct American Masters of the mid 20th century

Catching up on some transfers since I've basically been tied to the house this weekend with a queasy stomach. Perhaps its the chicken I ate the other night....

Here's some American music of the middle part of the last century. My pick here is the 10 inch (in honor of Buster) that I picked up a while back of Dean Dixon conducting Walter Piston's 2nd symphony with the "American Recording Society Orchestra." Recorded around 1950, it is the label's ARS-1 and the results of this first issue are absolutely thrilling. In my opinion, a composer could not ask for more powerful advocacy then what Dixon puts forth here. Orchestral playing is in spades here, a remarkable achievement for a pickup orchestra of sorts and this is possibly Dixon's finest recording of anything - it is THAT good. I am VERY happy with this transfer and I hope that you the listener will derive much pleasure from it. Piston's second is truly THE American symphony!

Howard Hanson conducts the balance of the program which includes Sessions' Suite from the Black Maskers, Hovhaness' Prelude and Quadruple Fugue, Barber's Overture to the School for Scandal and Adagio for Strings, and LoPresti's The Masks. I like the last piece very much; LoPresti was a rather prolific composer and arranger and he has a firm grasp on orchestral textures along with a solid gift in melody. Hanson, of course, proves a strong advocate of the music in this program since he was well acquainted with each composer in both a professional and personal setting. All composers write in a highly listenable vein which is bent on a conservative streak. Nuthin' wrong with that!

I think these compositions make for a nice, quite representative program of a very rich period in the musical life of my country.

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