Interplay [Import]

There was a time when Morton Gould (1913-1996) was a household name. He popped up on classical and pop concerts in concert halls, on radio and on television, and his own efforts as composer, conductor and pianist were ubiquitous. But in the past twenty or so years he and his music have become virtually unheard. A damn shame. He was one of the composers whose music, like Gershwin's, was immediately accessible to classical and popular music aficionados alike. His was truly crossover music of the highest sort. It is with great pleasure, then, that I welcome this release by conductor David Alan Miller and his Albany Symphony Orchestra.

Probably his most popular work is the so-called 'American Symphonette No. 2' (1938), so popular that it has often simply been presented as 'American Symphonette' without the number. But there were four of them and indeed on this CD we get not only the Second but also the Third. Each of the symphonettes (awful name, isn't it?, although interestingly we never react negatively to the Italian equivalent 'sinfonietta') is a short, multimovement work that combines elements of 1930s jazz -- that's when they were written -- and standard symphonic orchestration. In the very beginning of the Second Symphonette we know we're in for something different when the drum kit is heard and swing rhythms and blue harmonies burst forth. The most familiar of all of Gould's music is probably the second movement of the Second Symphonette; it has been arranged for all manner of ensembles (I would be surprised if there is an arrangement somewhere for kazoo and koto). You may think you don't know it, but you've heard it, I guarantee. A shame that Amazon has not, as of this review, added sound clips. When and if they do, listen to it -- it will be listed as 'Pavanne' -- and you'll immediately recognize it. The Third Symphonette (1938) is very similar in style and although it doesn't have its own 'Pavanne' is does indeed have catchy, beautifully composed music.

'Concerto for Orchestra' (1944) was written only a few months after Gould heard the première of Bartók's own Concerto for Orchestra. As in Bartók's work, the impetus for the piece is the opportunity for each of the sections and their principals to shine. And shine they do. All of it has a jazzy elements, juxtaposing 'blue' or 'dirty' jazz figures with more conventional and dignified classical passages. Percy Grainger said the work has a 'wild beauty.'

'Interplay' (1943) is the name of a ballet that Jerome Robbins fashioned to the music of a tiny (15-minute) piano concerto originally entitled (groan) 'American Concertette No. 1'. Robbins had heard the broadcast of the work's première and immediately asked for permission to choreograph it. The work, sans, dance, has come to be known by the ballet's title, 'Interplay'. It is a flashy, jazzy piano concerto written expressly for José Iturbi and played here with pizzazz by Albany pianist Findlay Cockrell.

The CD concludes with an early work, 'Chorale and Fugue in Jazz' (1934), which was recorded with major cuts by Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and here presented for the first time in its original form. Although it follows the format of a standard chorale and fugue, there are jazzy passages (including a downward clarinet glissando reminiscent of the upward gliss in Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue'). It also features two pianos, probably because at the time he wrote it Gould was part of a two-piano team, Gould and Shefter, employed by NBC Radio. The fugue is easily the equal of the similarly jazzy fugue in Milhaud's 'Création du Monde', full of energy and syncopated rhythms.

This is a marvelous disc and I recommend it unreservedly.

Scott Morrisonon

Collecting Morton Gould's "serious music" is quite a challenge. This collection has now made that difficult task much easier, because this truly has to be the best collection of his orchestral music ever recorded. (And generous at 75 minutes total time). And *half* of the recordings are world premieres!

Extremely original music (mostly from his 'peak period' from the 1940s), top-notch performances, and world class sound. Need I say anything more? If you like music for the mind that's highly individual, and is in the classical-jazz style (think, a more highly sophisticated George Gershwin), then this CD is for you!

I could go on and on, pouring on the positives, but no one likes to read l o n g reviews - so let me finish and just say, get this CD! (From a Morton Gould fan, Geoffrey Chandler.)

Morton Gould, as Leroy Anderson, for me is associated with light classical or popular orchestral music, being brought up with TV's pre-PBS The Bell Telephone Hour, Voice of Firestone, the Boston Pops, and other popular classical shows. Pavanne, the second movement of American Symphonette No. 2, is, for example, forever etched in my neuro-circuits. This album of Gould's exciting popular and some very serious music is performed with spunk by the Albany Symphony Orchestra, and it is a shining gem. Gould, who was everywhere--on radio, composing for theatre, ballet, cinema, and conducting orchestras--was influenced by jazz and then such avant-garde classical composers as Bartók, whose Concerto for Orchestra enticed Gould to write his own similar score. There is no European jaggedness here; Gould's Concerto for Orchestra is full of melody and touches of American blues and boogie-woogie jazz. The contemplative middle movement gives way to the final propulsive nightclub romp. That American Concertette No. 1, aka Interplay, was adapted for dance and readily accepted by the public is no surprise, as it is playful, happy, rhythmic, and captures the then American bravura and confidence. The Gavotte was often played as an encore piece, and the Blues would have made George Gershwin smile. American Symphonette No. 3 lacked tunes that could be called a hit, as with the No. 2, but it, well, flirts, smiles, twinkles, spins, and suggests a cinematic comedy. The final work of the album is Chorale and Fugue in Jazz, composed deep in the heart of the Jazz Age, 1934. Performed in its entirety for the first time here, the work includes two pianos and saxophones and is Hollywood romantic with a Baroque wink. One can easily summarize this delightful album as, That's Entertainment!