A new recording from
Metier www.divine-art.co.uk brings an attractive and enterprising collection
of orchestral works by contemporary American composers coupled with a
transcription for orchestra of Grainger’s Lincolnshire Posy. All of these works
are played by the Moores Symphony Orchestra www.uh.edu/class/music/orchestras
conducted
by Franz Anton Krager www.uh.edu/class/music/faculty-staff/krager_f
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I had not heard of the Moores
Symphony Orchestra before but they are an orchestra comprising 110+ members
conducted by University of Houston Director of Orchestras, Franz Anton Krager. As a
major ensemble, the orchestra performs as a musical partner with many of the Moores
School of Music’s departments and studios.
The high level of its performances has been hailed by international
artists and critics alike as a student ensemble of professional quality and
versatility. They appear regularly with
world-class performing artists and has been featured at several Texas Music
Educators Association conventions as well as at The Midwest Clinic in
Chicago. The Moores Symphony Orchestra enjoys
frequent broadcasts on KUHA Classical
91.7 and The Front Row and can be
heard on compact disc on a number of other recordings.
Membership is open, by audition, to all graduate and
undergraduate students at the University of Houston. The orchestra collaborates on a regular basis
with the Moores Opera Center, Moores School Choirs, and the Houston Ballet
Academy. It is a leading ensemble in the
area of new music as well as being an important repository for the standard
repertoire. Many Moores Symphony Orchestra graduates have gone on to become
professional level orchestra musicians, conductors and leading music educators.
The first work on this new disc is Thomas Fortmann’s www.divine-art.co.uk/composers/fortmann.htm Symphony No. 2 ‘Etruria’ Thomas
Fortmann was born in Switzerland and became a successful songwriter during the
1970s. At the age of twenty six Fortmann abandoned his career as a rock
musician and dedicated himself to further studies in composition and
instrumentation. This period prepared the foundation for compositions such as
the Pythagoras and Aion Symphonies, the oratorio Francescano, and three music plays, Sommerfrau & Winterwolf, The Cross and the Rooster and Collodis Pinocchio. In the mid 1980s he
moved with his family to Tuscany, Italy where he founded the Accademia Amiata.
In addition to his activities as a composer, he has also conducted at the
Toscano delle Culture festival for several years.
His Symphony No. 2 is
in four movements opening with a Moderato
where chimes from the celeste and tubular bells appear before the strings bring
a shifting dissonant melody creating a quite exquisite sound. A solo violin
appears in the texture, timpani sound quietly as the lower strings bring a deep
anchor to the swirling strings. Brass enter above the strings as more drama
arrives and the music gains in strength. Soon timpani herald a sudden drop in
tempo and dynamics to a slower, quieter passage full of atmosphere and a sense
of expectation. A solo violin brings a faster, lighter section through hazy orchestral
textures before moving through some passages where the lower strings adding a
brooding feel. There is a fine sense of forward flow before the beautifully
turned coda.
Lower wind open the Animato
that goes ahead with a rhythmic theme pointed up by an array of percussion, full
of rhythmic variety and colourful sounds. It moves through rhythmic, dissonant
passages, becoming increasingly dramatic with swirling strings and a fine
orchestration. The music eventually works up to a peak before relaxing to a
quieter section where percussion are still heard before rising to the coda.
The Larghetto opens
with a shifting haze of orchestral sound through which the theme can be heard,
timpani keeping a rhythmic pulse. It moves through passages of very distinctive
string sounds, little drooping phrases, passages of shifting harmonies, full of
fine textures and sonorities creating a fine atmosphere. The music eventually rises through a brightly
lit brass passage before sinking into the quiet, hazier texture, pointed up by timpani.
It rises again with side drum and brass to the coda that arrives with a quieter
woodwind phrase.
Brass and percussion open the lively Andante with woodwind soon bringing a fast moving theme. The theme
is quickly moved around the orchestra, rattling ahead with a myriad of
percussion in a riot of variations. This is a terrific movement with occasional
brass rhythms that have a jazzy nature. Later a quieter hesitant passage arrives,
full of fine orchestral detail. The music soon gains a rhythmic flow with some attractive
woodwind parts as it slowly increases in dynamics, moving forward, full of
panache and colour towards the sudden end.
This is an attractive symphony, beautifully orchestrated.
Robert Nelson http://robertnelsonmusic.com was born
in Phoenix, Arizona in 1941, but grew up in the Midwest. He began piano lessons and made his first
attempts at composition while still at school later taking up the trumpet.
During his senior year he began playing both trumpet and piano in local dance
bands, an interest that he pursued throughout college and his professional
career. He began serious composition study with Robert Beadell at the
University of Nebraska, where he received his Bachelor’s degree with a major in
music education and his Master of Music degree. He continued his composition
studies with Ingolf Dahl and Halsey Stevens at the University of Southern
California, where he earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree with a major in
composition. In 1968, he joined the music faculty at the University of Houston,
which would eventually become the Moores School of Music. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Music
Theory and Composition and co-author of five widely adopted music theory books.
His interest in combining classical and jazz elements has found expression in
many of his works, most prominently Up
South, written for the combined Moores School of Music Orchestra and Jazz
Ensemble.
Here we have his Capriccio
for violin and orchestra for which the Moores Symphony Orchestra are joined by
violinist, Andrzej Grabiec www.interharmony.com/Session2/Andrzej-Grabiec-violin
. In the opening, the solo violin brings a theme above light swirling strings
pointed up by the celeste. The music soon moves ahead with a richer orchestral
sound, the soloist bringing some fine rhapsodising flourishes to this very fine
melody. Soon the music reduces to a
quiet moment coloured by delicate percussion. A vibrant section arrives,
punctuated by deeper orchestral phrases before moving through more flowing
passages. There is a passage with a staccato, rhythmically hesitant pulse as
well as a romantic passage redolent of Korngold at his most melodic, before a
beautifully drawn lead up to the vibrant coda.
This is another most attractive work that is also finely
orchestrated.
Peter Lieuwen www.peterlieuwen.com was born in Utrecht, The Netherlands, in 1953, and grew up in New
Mexico. He studied at the University of New Mexico and the University of
California, Santa Barbara with composers Scott Wilkinson, William Wood, Edward
Applebaum, Emma Lou Diemer, and Peter Racine Fricker. From 1984 to 1987 he
taught composition at UC Santa Barbara. Since 1988 he has been on the faculty
of Texas A&M University. From 2000-2005 Lieuwen served as the inaugural
head of the Department of Performance Studies at TAMU, where he is currently
Professor of Music and Composer-in-Residence. Many of Lieuwen’s compositions
are impressions of nature and legend, infused with the kinetic rhythms of jazz
and world music. His orchestral works have been introduced by orchestras around
the world.
Astral Blue was
written in 2006 and reflects the beauty of the natural earthly and cosmic
environment. Bright, vibrant strings open with an insistent, repeated motif
with brass adding the theme. The repeated motif is shared around the orchestra
before lower strings add an underlying deep support. The music moves ahead with
various instrumental sections taking the theme around the insistent motive. A
harp brings a quieter section for woodwind, with the strings joining to bring a
flowing melody. There is a fine breadth and free flow before rising up majestically.
The harp brings another quieter section
for strings to which the rest of the orchestra join as they move through
passages of varied orchestration keeping a forward flow until a hush comes and
a slow shimmering string passage arrives with little harp detail. A flute then
clarinet enters before the music rises up to drive ahead with punctuated brass
to the sparkling coda.
There are some finely written instrumental passages in this
lovely work.
Percy Grainger’s Lincolnshire
Posy for concert band was written in 1937 for the American Bandmasters
Association. Its six movements are adapted from folk songs that he had
collected on a trip to Lincolnshire, England in 1905–1906. Here the Moores
Symphony Orchestra plays it in an arrangement for orchestra by M. Patterson.
The opening Lisbon brings
a fine rhythmically sprung tune finely coloured in this orchestration. Horkstow Grange has a slow melody with the added sonority of
a brass ensemble within the orchestra, picking up something of the favour of
the original version. A solo cornet adds atmosphere before rising to a fine,
sonorous climax.
There is a fine atmospheric Rufford Park Poachers that rises to some fine climaxes with some
lovely use of brass. The Brisk Young
Sailor brings a beautifully woven arrangement before the brass open Lord Melbourne in a terrific section
before the full orchestra takes the music forward with a wistful central
section. Finally there is a nicely pointed rhythmic The Lost Lady Found with the folksy element pointed up by this fine
arrangement.
The Moores Symphony Orchestra under Franz Anton Krager bring
some fine results in these often quite challenging works. If there are moments
where the strings show a lack of body and refinement, the overall performances
are extremely good.
They are very well recorded at the Moores Opera House,
University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA. There is a nicely produced booklet
with excellent notes, composer details and photographs making this an excellent
way to get to know works by these composers.
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