At last! The absence of a really good disc devoted to the music of John Alden Carpenter has long been one of the most glaring lacunae in the American classical music catalog. Individual works have turned up now and then (Sea Drift, the ballet Skyscrapers, or Krazy Kat), but never for very long, and certainly not to the extent Carpenter's musical gifts warrant. In what we can only pray will be the first of several discs devoted to this fine composer, Naxos offers two world-premiere recordings, plus the first new version of Adventures in a Perambulator since Howard Hanson's Mercury Living Presence recording made in the 1950s.


Carpenter's music achieves originality through a synthesis of various elements: a solidly traditional educational background (he studied with, among others, John Knowles Paine and Edward Elgar); a touch of French impressionism (especially in the orchestration); and reference to American popular song and dance modes, including jazz. These elements remain constant in varying degrees throughout his life. And so in Adventures in a Perambulator (a delicious view of the world from inside a baby carriage), we hear Debussy-like modal harmony and enchanting orchestration featuring ample use of harp, celesta, and glockenspiel, along with a touch of Irving Berlin, and a whiff of nascent rag-time. The two symphonies graft these elements onto a larger-scaled structure, but come off sounding no less fresh. The First Symphony employs a five-in-one movement form that's full of surprises, including a magical, fade-away ending, while the Second adopts a more traditional three-movement structure and features an especially jazzy finale. While neither lasts more than 20 minutes, they are still major works, tuneful and sophisticated at once, and reminiscent of no one else.


The National Symphony Orchestra of the Ukraine, as so often in Naxos' American Classics series, turns in fine performances of these three pieces under John McLaughlin Williams. At times in the Second Symphony's finale, you become conscious of the fact that the orchestra isn't quite comfortable with the syncopated rhythms, but then Carpenter's writing is frequently very exposed, and the problem is minor at best. Sonically, recordings from this source have been steadily improving, and this is one of the best. This delightful, important, lovable music belongs in every late-Romantic collection.
--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com