William Grant Still’s Fourth and Fifth symphonies are saddled with bombastic and ridiculous titles that have little or nothing to do with the musical reality of what you will actually hear on listening to them, so I choose to ignore them. In truth, Still wasn’t a particularly adept symphonist in the traditional sense–in qualities such as rigorous development and economical exploitation of thematic material. He was a melodist, and a very good one. The slow movements (and scherzos) of both symphonies are extremely beautiful, graceful, elegant, and sincere. In quicker music he tends to become repetitious; but as if understanding his real strengths, he fills both works with lovely, lyrical tunes at slow to moderate tempos. This makes the quicker music an effective contrast, but as I said, it’s not terribly symphonic. No matter; this is very enjoyable stuff, sort of a cross between George Gershwin and Howard Hanson (well, probably better than the latter for the most part).
The Poem for Orchestra may be the best piece on the disc, and not because it’s less ambitious. In fact, at 10 minutes it lasts longer than any single movement in either symphony, but its contrasting episodes are very effectively structured into a cohesive whole. The Fort Smith (Arkansas) Symphony, not quite a full-time group when last I checked, plays this not-terribly-difficult music warmly and accurately. Of course, I could imagine a bit more snap to the rhythm, a touch more heft at the climaxes, but conductor John Jeter ensures that nothing gets in the way of the listener’s enjoyment, and these works are so attractive and audience-friendly that there’s no reason to quibble. Definitely worth a listen if you collect 20th-century American music.
