Search - Henry Cowell, Strickland, Vienna Symphony Orch :: Variations for Orchestra

Cowell Rarities

colin.clara@ntlworld.com | 08/27/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I have been intertested in Cowell for many years and must applaud the producers for issuing these old recordings on compact disc. As a Cowell enthusiast, I obtained the LPs of these works some years ago, but it is good to have them in the more convenient CD format. Praise for this disc must be qualified, however. Even by the standards of the time (they date from the 1960s) these recordings are not distinguished, and can only really be recommended to those with a special commitment to American music. Those who are interested enough to buy the disc may find themselves wishing - as I do - that some 21st century record company would give us modern recordings of these works. Vigorous, intense and plangently tuneful, Cowell's post-1939 orchestral works may come as a surprise to those who associate H.C. with the cutting-edge experimentation of the 20s and 30s. Around 1940, he turned to a more conventional mode of expression, taking his inspiration from a wide range of international influences, as well as American folk song and old hymns. I have not managed to hear all of H.C.'s symphonies, but numbers 4, 5, 7, 10 and 11 are all highly attractive works. No one would claim that they are masterpieces, but they are deeply felt, sincere and strangely affecting utterances by an American master who does not deserve his current neglect."