Most “concept” recordings are more interesting theoretically than they are audibly entertaining. This is one of the rare exceptions. All three of these works won Pulitzer Prizes in the 1940s. Whether or not they deserved them you can judge for yourself, but that’s not really the point. This disc restores two important, neglected choral works to the modern catalog, and if the world isn’t aching for another version of Appalachian Spring, it not only makes good sense purely as a listening experience, coming between the two choral pieces, but it’s also a piece of logical programming. The performance is very good too. My only quibble is simply that Carlos Kalmar takes the “moderato” episodes quite a bit slower than that–but then, so do a lot of other people. Everywhere else the playing is excellent and as lively as one could wish.
In any case, the main attractions are the Schuman and Sowerby, especially the latter. Schuman’s A Free Song runs the risk of becoming a potboiler, but its brevity and energy prevent that from happening. It’s vintage early Schuman, which is to say declamatory, vibrant, 1940s Americana, and far better than his dry, unattractive later style.
Sowerby’s setting of Matthew Arnold’s English translation of St. Francis’ Canticle is the largest work here (about half an hour). It’s a wonderfully varied, textually aware piece of writing, sensitively scored, harmonically pungent and sophisticated, atmospheric and evocative. It does not sound easy to sing, and Christopher Bell’s Grant Park Chorus does a really impressive job bringing the piece to life.
Kudos, then, to Kalmar and his team for putting together a program that really does add up to more than the sum of its parts. If it’s not quite perfect, it’s close enough as makes no difference. Cedille’s sonics are uniformly excellent, warm and very well balanced, particularly in the choral works. An impressive and important release. [9/16/2011]
