Cheap Symphonies 2 & 4 (Music) (Diamond, Schwarz, Seattly Symphony) Price

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Customer Reviews of Symphonies 2 & 4

Amen to that. This CD is a partial reissue of a Delos CD which came out in 1990 at the time of David Diamond's 75th birthday. The Delos also contained the 13-minute 'Concerto for Small Orchestra,' which I presume will be coupled with something else in this ongoing Naxos reissue of the whole series of Diamond recordings made by Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony from that time.

Symphony No. 2 reminds me of the comment Schoenberg made to Diamond when the latter asked about the possibility of study with him. Schoenberg said, 'Why do you need to? You're the new Bruckner...I never meant [the twelve-tone technique] for everybody." This symphony is surely Diamond's most Brucknerian, not so much in its sound as in its unhurried long-spanned structure. Indeed, I've always thought of this four-movement 43-minute work as really consisting of two long Brucknerian movements arranged so: 1 2 | 3 4, where 1 & 3 are elegiac and lyrical adagios leading directly to 2 & 4, which are vigorous allegros. Further, material from 1 reappears in 3, as material from 2 recurs in 4. The slow movements are threnodies; the symphony was written in 1942-43, during America's early days in the uncertainties of World War II. They contain much soft, slow-moving mostly string music with treading soft timpani, melancholy Coplandesque solo woodwind melodies and low brass interjections; the overall effect is that of hieratic elegies that occasionally rise to anguished or triumphant climaxes. The two fast movements share material that is distinctly American sounding and they display Diamond's expert manipulation of harmony (e.g., 'walking tenths' creatively re-harmonized) and energetic and inventive rhythms, the latter spiked by chordal brass interjections that surely were inspired by big band arrangements of the time. My only quibble with the Second Symphony is that is overstays its welcome somewhat, particularly in the second movement, which could have conveyed its optimistic message more concisely. The fourth movement, however, does that refreshingly. If you know the finale of Randall Thompson's Second Symphony you'll have some idea of the spirit of this fourth movement.

The 16-minute, three-movement Fourth Symphony, possibly Diamond's most-played, was written at the end of the War and premièred by the young Leonard Bernstein, substituting for an ailing Koussevitzky. The three movements, Diamond tells us, are based on G.T. Fechner's notions of life and death: I - a continual sleep; II - the alternation between sleeping and waking; III - eternal waking, Birth being the passing from I to II and Death from II to III. (I am indebted to the booklet notes newly written by Steven Lowe for this Naxos reissue.) Be that as it may, the Second is an immediately emotionally engaging work that, if one doesn't know the 'program,' can be heard primarily as a superbly crafted, harmonically exciting, melodically attractive work whose movements are Allegretto - Adagio - Allegro. Diamond's admiration for the clarity of Ravel (and his early study with Nadia Boulanger) is apparent here. The form is crytal clear notwithstanding the soft edges of the music itself. One hears echoes of the blurry impressionistic orchestrations of Martinu, say, coupled with pastoral and chorale-like melodies. The third movement, with its jazzy brass and asymmetric 'urban' rhythms could not have been written by anyone other than an American, and they leave one invigorated.

These performances are not likely to be bettered any time soon. The lifelike sound on this release is virtually indistinguishable from that on the original Delos release which can still be found for purchase, but Naxos's budget price trumps the Delos alternative.

Recommended.

TT=59:19

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