Aspects of America presents a fascinating collection of 20th- and 21st-century American orchestral music, ranging from “good old” Samuel Barber’s Souvenirs to pieces by esteemed living composers such as Sean Shepherd (Magiya), Sebastian Currier (Microsymph) and Christopher Rouse (Supplica). The centerpiece of this album is Portland-based composer Kenji Bunch’s Aspects of an Elephant, inspired by the timeless parable of six men who try to discern the traits of an elephant in a pitch-dark room, eventually discovering that only the sum of their perceptions encompasses the full truth. In a similar way, the pieces featured on this album constitute a rich panorama of the dynamism and diversity of contemporary American composition. Bunch’s piece is dedicated to the members of the Oregon Symphony, who release their fifth album with Pentatone, after Music for a Time of War (2011), This England (2012), Spirit of the American Range (2015) and Haydn Symphonies 53, 64 & 96 (2017). On Aspects of America, they again play under the spirited leadership of music director Carlos Kalmar.

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REVIEW:

This is a superbly played and astutely programmed disc covering just over sixty-five years of music from the tonal end of the spectrum, and all world-premiere recordings but one.

– The Arts Fuse (J. Blumhofer)

ELGAR Cockaigne, Op.40. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No.5. BRITTEN Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a and b • Carlos Kalmar, cond: The Oregon Symphony • PENTATONE 5186 471 (SACD: 77:29)


Carlos Kalmar and his Oregon Symphony continue to make valuable inroads into the British repertoire. Their previous disc presented “Music For A Time of War” (5186393) and included Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem and Vaughan Williams’s Fourth Symphony as well as John Adams’s The Wound-Dresser and Ives’s The Unanswered Question . This latest one takes an overture, a symphony, and an orchestral suite and passacaglia. Elgar’s Cockaigne is an overture in many ways as difficult successfully to bring off as his concert overture In the South . The question of tempo adjustment and relationships, extended incidents, and a binding together of the fabric of the music invariably recur in both, but the profuse episodes in Cockaigne can lead to a degree of sectionality if sufficient structural control is not exercised. Fortunately Kalmar has architecture in sight, though he also seems keen to wring every last drop of sentiment from it too, as he lingers over the music’s most luscious and lyrically inspired section with great fervor. He, like almost everyone—even Adrian Boult—is significantly slower than the composer himself, who left behind two recordings. The first was an early electric of 1926, followed in 1933 by one of his last recordings. Barbirolli’s EMI classic is no less idiomatic than Boult’s—doubtless as a Londoner (as Boult was not) Barbirolli felt an added kinship. But where Kalmar scores is in the vivid SACD sound where one finds, in particular, and spectacularly, that the bass drum really thumps and throbs.


Invariably the names of those two British conductors recur in a program of this sort. But Kalmar is very much his own man and I have a hunch, from the tempo relationships and shaping of the music, that he has listened to Vaughan Williams’s own off-air 1952 performance of the Fifth Symphony, preserved by Somm on CD 071. This invaluable document stands, with the composer’s visceral recording of the Fourth Symphony, as evidence of his conducting abilities in his own music. It’s only in the Romanza that Kalmar relaxes a shade more than the composer, thus vesting the music with an even greater sense of repose, and yet he’s careful not to relax as much as Vernon Handley with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic on EMI or Bryden Thomson with the London Symphony on Chandos, to cite just two of the other available performances. Mono sound apart, Boult’s first recording of the Fifth is unequalled in its sense of expressive balance but for outstanding sonics and a thoughtful and intelligent traversal of the score, Kalmar can be recommended. The Elgar and Vaughan Williams works were recorded on consecutive days during February 2012 while Britten’s Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes were taped over three consecutive days in May of the same year. These are projected with clarity and an evocative tension that suits the music very well. The Passacaglia is placed immediately before the Storm, thus allowing the program to end on a Presto con fuoco . The live recording is very fine though there are the inevitable corollaries, such as coughs and one very brief but unfortunate contribution via what I think is a cell phone. It’s a minor point. The performances themselves are very fine.


FANFARE: Jonathan Woolf

Whether it's a confident swagger or a balletic grace, a beguiling folk-melody or a quicksilver rondo, there is always something new to discover in the endlessly inventive symphonies of Haydn, especially in these firm favorites played by the Oregon Symphony under Carlos Kalmar in this new release. While Haydn wrote only one "surprise" symphony, there are surprises to be enjoyed aplenty here. From the bewildering Largo in Symphony No. 64 with its unexpected turns and derailments, to the ceremonial elegance and ear-tickling melodies of Symphony No. 53 or the mock-heroics and propulsive rhythms of Symphony No. 96, Haydn's irrepressible and dazzling ingenuity constantly delights and astonishes. "There is no one who can do it all," wrote Mozart, "to joke and to terrify, to evoke laughter and profound sentiment - and all equally well, except Joseph Haydn." This is Carlos Kalmar's fourth album for Pentatone with the Oregon Symphony. Their album Music for a Time of War, earned two Grammy nominations and was widely praised by music critics. Gramophone said of their album This England "Kalmar's Oregon performance certainly pulls no punches...a total success, gripping in mood and hot on specific instrumental detail," adding, "sound-wise, you couldn't ask fo rmore; nor could anyone expect finer recording from Pentatone." And in 2016, their critically acclaimed album of 20th century American orchestral works The Spirit of the American Range earned a Grammy nomination for Best Orchestral Performance. Carlos Kalmar, a Uruguayan national, is in his fourteenth season as Music Director of the Oregon Symphony. He is also the artistic director and principal conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. His Carnegie Hall debut in May, 2011 with the Oregon Symphony, was noted by New York critic Alex Ross as "one of the most gripping events of the current season".

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

The Oregon Symphony under Carlos Kalmar performed this striking program titled "Music for a Time of War" on their Carnegie Hall debut. These profound and moving works spoke musically directly to the audience and made an indelible impression.

"A vivid, often wrenching program." - New York Times

Music for a Time of War, a PentaTone Classics album featuring the Oregon Symphony under Carlos Kalmar, brings together four powerful, moving compositions that in some way were inspired by war, conflict, and strife. While many albums bring together the wealth of music written during or immediately following the Second World War, Kalmar's program is more varied and is made quite successful because of it. The disc opens with Ives' solitary, isolating Unanswered Question, which, though not directly brought about by a war, nevertheless addresses conflict within the score. Walt Whitman's wrenching account of his medical duties during the Civil War is set to great effect by John Adams. Baritone Sanford Sylvan's performance here is as gripping as Whitman's words: deep, resonant tone, clear diction, and a seamless blend with the orchestra characterize Sylvan's singing. More directly inspired by specific military events is militaristic and evocative Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem. The program closes with Vaughan Williams Fourth Symphony which, though completed in 1931, the composer denied it being any sort of depiction of military buildup. Perhaps in retrospect we find things in the sometimes savage, frenzied score that remind us of the events of the time. Throughout the disc, Kalmar and the Oregon Symphony prove they can easily stand alongside the world's great orchestras. Their sound is powerful and engaging, their technique is polished and effortless, and the intricate control of balance makes listening quite enjoyable. This is certainly a disc worth investigating.

- Mike D. Brownell, All Music Guide

This live recording was produced in honor of the 20th anniversary of Gospel Christmas with the Northwest Community Gospel Chorus and the Oregon Symphony.

Once considered an unlikely marriage of musical genres, gospel music with symphony orchestra has now established itself as a tradition. While blues, hymns, and spirituals are typical sources of inspiration for gospel music, the song selections are inspired by many centuries of sacred music. These selections reflect the transformative nature of gospel music itself - from classical music to Latin flavors, R&B, canticles and carols from the first century, the art of the film score, and a bounty of musical traditions that do not compromise the reverence and soulful export at the core of the musical substance. The visceral communication is not dissimilar to that of opera, where voice and orchestra align, but today's gospel music with symphony orchestra has uniquely established itself as an art form all its own.