Search - Walter Piston, Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony Orchestra :: Walter Piston: The Incredible Flutist

The Schwarz/Seattle Piston Series Reappears on Naxos

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 06/13/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A wonderful record label, Delos, seems to be no more. In their heyday they began recording an American classics series that included, among others, the symphonic works of Walter Piston (1894-1976). And here is one of them, now remastered and released on Naxos. This one includes Piston's most popular work, the ballet score 'The Incredible Flutist,' as well as the 'Fantasy for English Horn, Harp and Strings,' 'Suite for Orchestra,' 'Concerto for String Quartet, Wind Instruments and Percussion,' and 'Psalm and Prayer of David.' [I include the CD's contents because Amazon has not done so on this product page, at least as of the date of this review.]'The Incredible Flutist' was the first music by Piston I ever heard. I was a young boy, taken to a concert by my music-loving aunt, and can still remember the excitement I felt when the Circus Parade Music came by, and my surprise and delight that it ended with the sound of a dog barking. On this recording the dog is a yapper. I think I would have preferred to hear a deep-voiced dog (as it was on Leonard Slatkin's old recording), but there you are. The performance by flutist Scott Goff, and by the Seattle Symphony, is first-rate.The English Horn Fantasy was written as a display piece and shows off the plaintive voice of the solo cor anglais. Its mood and use of modal harmonies make it sound as if it could have been written by one of the English pastoralists. Glen Danielson is a fine English hornist, and harpist Therese Elder Wunrow makes the most of her important accompanying role.The 'Suite for Orchestra' (1929) is a three-movement piece, Piston's first published work. His background working in dance bands is in evidence in the energetic jazzy rhythms of the first movement. The English horn figures again in the bluesy middle movement. The finale deserts the American pop world when it develops into a vigorous multi-voiced canon.'Psalm and Prayer of David' is a two-movement work for chorus and orchestra that sets two biblical texts: 'O sing unto the Lord a new song,' (more recently set in somewhat altered form by Bernstein in his 'Mass') and 'Bow down thine ear, o Lord.' It is in a somewhat astringent, but not notably Jewish, harmonic language that aptly illustrates the texts. It was, I believe, Piston's last published music, premiered in 1976.For me the most interesting piece on the CD is the ten-minute, 'Concerto for String Quartet, Wind Instruments & Percussion,' played here by the dedicatees, the Juilliard Quartet, and members of the Seattle Symphony. It is a one-movement set of variations which evolve each from the other, beginning with a harsh juxtaposition of winds and percussion against straining string quartet, but then slowing and quietening to a lyrically mournful middle section. There is an extended and virtuosic cadenza for the quartet that leads to a vigorous full wind-and-percussion peroration that eventually culminates in a quiet, pensive ending. Hats off to all involved in this wonderful series. I understand that Piston's Fourth Symphony and Three New England Sketches have just been released and I expect that issue will be one of my next reviews!Review by Scott Morrison"