Oregon Symphony and Carlos Kalmar continue their acclaimed Aspects of America series with this second instalment, featuring three symphonic works that were all awarded a Pulitzer Prize. Walter Piston’s Symphony No. 7 (Pulitzer Prize 1961) is a pastoral and jubilant glorification of nature, while Morton Gould’s Stringmusic (Pulitzer Prize 1995) was composed for star cellist Rostropovich, and showcases all possible sounds and colors of the string orchestra. In his Symphony No. 4 “Requiem” (Pulitzer Prize 1944), Howard Hanson explores the mysteries of life and death in an American musical idiom that simultaneously reveals the composer’s Nordic roots. Oregon Symphony and its music director Carlos Kalmar have a vast PENTATONE discography, including Music for a Time of War (2011), This England (2012), Spirit of the American Range (2015), Haydn Symphonies 53, 64 & 96 (2017), Aspects of America (2018), as well as Gospel Christmas (2018), with conductor Charles Floyd.
REVIEW:
For admirers of 20th-century American symphonic music, this is a particularly attractive package. All are written in the kind of broad and expansive idiom that represents American composition at its finest. The performances here are both committed and forensic in their attention to detail. The sound (while not Pentatone’s superb surround idiom) nevertheless does full service to the music.
