JENNIFER HIGDON.  CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA; CITY SCAPE.  Atlanta Symphony,
Robert Spano cond.  Telarc CD80620.  TT 66:17.  (Also available on SACD.


This was an eagerly awaited recording for me, after having heard a live
performance of the Concerto for Orchestra last September by the Milwaukee
Symphony Orchestra under Andreas Delfs, and after the tremendous success
of that work in many locations, since its premiere in Philadelphia on
June 12, 2002.  Higdon has been enormously successful with performances,
commissions and recordings.  (I previously reviewed her Blue Cathedral,
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/t/tlc80596a.html.) City
Scape, Atlanta's first commission under Spano, and premiered there on
November 14, 2002, was an added bonus on this release; I had not heard
of it prior to the recording, though I knew that the concerto was to be
released on disc this year.  Like the concerto, it is a major work running
over a half hour.

When I heard the live performance of the Concerto for Orchestra, the
first movement seemed more than I could take in.  Indeed, it begins with
a clang, and sets out at a furious pace, and the whole orchestra gets a
workout.  That is true of the concerto as a whole, also.  Each section
is featured and there are quite a few solo opportunities.  Higdon says
she composed the first movement last, and the central movement (of five,
like Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra) first.  There is considerable
variety in dynamics, pacing, instrumentation, and general intensity,
particularly in the opening movement.  There is some soft playing by the
percussion as well as the woodwinds.  Rapid scurrying is relieved by
some slower, smoother playing by the brass.  The movement ends quietly;
in fact it dies away.

The second movement is for strings alone, and begins with a very satisfying,
lively and extended pizzicato passage.  This is followed by a bowed
violin solo, with other players than gradually taking up their bows also.
Some quiet playing contrasts with intense and contrapuntal passages.

The ten and a half minute central movement is not described, only numbered,
like the others, but Bartok might have designated it misterioso.  It has
short, quiet percussive phrases.  The following passage is more reminiscent
of Copland, though, with melodic writing for woodwind, strings, and soft
brass.  Intensity and loudness increases by the middle of the movement,
with some sharp attacks by the strings, with drums and syncopated rhythms.
Woodwinds, brass and strings play and there is a brief bass solo and
violin solo.  Some soft quiet playing that struck me as perky and even
wispy yields to a major climax with syncopated rhythms that I find
thrilling.  The ending, like the beginning, is quiet.

Movement IV is for percussion (and harp) and it is a splendid tour de
force for that section.  Beginning very quietly with what I take to be
playing on water glasses, there is then gentle tapping, chiming and
rattling, with an Asian tinge to the sound.  The last couple of minutes
feature some really loud syncopated drumming..

Without pause, the finale begins with strings slashing through the
drumming, followed by woodwind trills and a skipping melody. It builds
to a furious pace with something like a brass fanfare at one point.
Some of the driving rhythms here reminded me of the Stravinsky of Sacre.
There is a tremendous amount going on towards the end, which arrives
with a thump.

CITY SCAPE has three named movements, "Skyline", "river sings a song to
trees," and "Peachtree Street." The commission specified that each might
be programmed individually.  As it happens, the middle movement is by
far the most substantive, and longer than the others put together, at
17:39.

"Skyline" is fast and loud, a good curtain raiser.  It hurries and
scurries, with dancing, thrusting and perky melodic phrases.  It also
has some gentler moments.

The "river sings a song to trees" section begins and ends very softly,
with mysterious, tinkly sounds that can be heard as wind-like.  There
are murmuring strings and quiet pauses.  The flute and lower woodwinds
play quietly.  Only after four or five minutes does the music become
loud, and then there is an intense climax, followed by a return to quiet
strings, woodwinds and muted brass.  There is a Coplandesque quality
here (the Copland of Quiet City, perhaps, but recall that some of that
is quite intense).  There are some nicely interwoven melodic lines.
Rising and falling intensity displays a wide range of instrumentation
from soft woodwind to loud drumming against the brass and a shrill flute
or piccolo, as well as horn calls.  The last couple of minutes in the
movement are quiet and peaceful.

"Peachtree Street" is lively and the pace is lively, even headlong,
sometimes skipping along.  Some of the rhythmic momentum reminded me
of Martinu.  Again here Higdon allows the whole orchestra to shine.

Nick Jones, in his note to this recording says that "having begun as
a flutist, Jennifer Higdon tends to think in terms of melody and color
when she composes, rather than thematically.  The listener's ear is not
drawn to themes and their development, but to bright patches of color,
exuberant rhythms, and fascinating shifts of texture." I agree with that;
her rhythmic gifts and skills at orchestration are tremendous, and for
me this is enough to find her music enormously exciting and satisfying.
Accordingly I recommend this disc highly.

The recording, from "Direct Stream Digital" masters is fine.  I was
tempted to invest an extra $5 in the SACD as a demonstration disc, even
though I don't have the equipment to make the most of that; I'm sure
that those who have such will want to do that.

Copyright 2004 by R. James Tobin