Randall Thompson

*  The Testament of Freedom
*  Frostiana

New York Choral Society, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra/Richard Auldon Clark
Total Time: 49:24
Koch 3-7283-2

Summary for the Busy Executive: One bona fide masterpiece in a good
performance.

The American composer Randall Thompson made a point of suiting his music
to the circumstances of a commission and, if lucky, to transcend them.
Although one finds pieces in his catalogue written for purely private
reasons (eg, "Bitter-Sweet," the first three Odes of Horace, and Mass
of the Holy Spirit), these count more as exceptions.  A broad streak of
savvy practicality ran through Thompson, and his craftsmanship (he studied
with Bloch and Malipiero) was so great that I suspect he relished the
limitations he imposed upon himself, just for the pleasure of overcoming
them.

Thompson's music has faded from the scene of serious discussions of
American classical music.  On the other hand, community choral groups
continue to perform him, and often.  The dichotomy stems from Thompson's
musical conservatism.  He never broke new ground.  On the other hand, the
quality and inspiration of his work rises higher than many a wilder and
more fashionable composer.  Critics find it easier to talk about new
techniques than straight applications of older ones.  Thompson eludes most
professional talkers about music.  Because he leaves them with little to
say, they leap to the erroneous conclusion that he himself has little to
say.  I must admit that I don't particularly care for The Testament of
Freedom or understand why it has received at least three commercial
recordings (Hanson on Mercury, Abravanel on EMI, and now Clark on Koch).
It comes from a guy who knows his stuff, but, excepting the first "big
tune" of the opening movement, "The God who gave us life" - expansive and
rousing - I don't see much memorable in it.  Thompson himself regarded it
as an occasional work, although that's deceptive, since almost all his
work was written to very specific commission.  Thompson wrote the work
during World War II, to texts by Thomas Jefferson.  Thompson had a
marvelous eye and ear for texts, obviously read a great deal, and found
these Jeffersonian treasures well off the beaten path.  Obviously, somebody
likes it more than I.  For me, too much just goes by, like the scenery in
downstate Illinois, away from the big river.  There are people who grew
up with it, love it, and see its distinction.  So much is homophonic
declamation, all voices marching in rhythmic lock-step, like the
"execution" movement in Thompson's Americana.  It works for a movement, but
not for four.  I suppose I'm just a tourist looking for the cheap thrill of
Niagara.  Thompson, I suspect, knew what he had, since he refers to the
"big tune" in every movement of The Testament when he wants to jack up the
emotional level.

On the other hand, Frostiana, written for the Amherst, Massachusetts,
bicentennial, warms like a fireside.  Frost and Thompson knew and admired
one another's work.  Again, Thompson chose well - not only favorites like
"The Road Not Taken." "Stopping by Woods," and "The Pasture," but the
relatively obscure like "The Telephone" and "A Girl's Garden." "The Road
Not Taken" and "The Pasture" sport two marvelous tunes, both modally
inflected in a way that may remind some listeners of Vaughan Williams.
"Come In" has some gorgeous chord changes and a tasty solo flute imitating
a thrush.  "A Girl's Garden" and "Stopping by Woods" both sing folk-like
melodies ("Stopping" has the family look of "Greensleeves").  Overall, the
work is a miracle of inspired economy.  Thompson makes his points directly
and simply, which not only allows a group of amateurs to succeed but courts
the most obvious and humiliating artistic failure.  If the materials fail
to come up to the first-rate, you'd know it immediately.  Instead, we get
seven gems, the most intricate of which is the last, Frost's complex
"Choose Something Like a Star," which Thompson sets just about perfectly,
apparently without breaking a sweat.  This kind of simplicity is, to my
mind, the hardest art to achieve, since you can't cover up your lack of
inspiration by getting fancy.  Vasari's Lives of the Painters reports that
Giotto competed for a prestigious commission by drawing a perfect circle
free-hand, as evidence of his skill.  He got the job.  Thompson does pretty
much the musical equivalent here.  Frost, present at the premiere, liked
it.  When the last bars of the music had died away, he shouted, "Sing that
again!"

Clark and his forces do a good job.  They recognize that the key to
success in both works is to make the texts intelligible.  Rhythm and
diction, for the most part, are clear to the point that you probably won't
need the texts in front of you.  Clark does better with the orchestra than
with the chorus, however.  He manages to bring out in The Testament the
thematic links between movements with greater clarity than in the other
four versions I've heard.  The New York Choral Society is a well-trained
group, but the sound is a little raw, particularly from the men, and
intonation occasionally gets slightly unstuck.  More important, the group
doesn't trade much in subtlety of phrasing.  Whoever trained them missed
several opportunities.  Nevertheless, this is the only commercially
available recording of Frostiana, and Clark certainly keeps things moving,
a real plus in The Testament of Freedom.  In Frostiana, we have one of the
jewels of American choral music.  David Francis Urrows's informative liner
notes are pure lagniappe.  I didn't know, for example, that Thompson was
born Ira Randall Thompson.  Kudos to Koch for allowing us to explore this
repertoire.

Steve Schwartz