A Copland Profile, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton, Conductor.

Although billed as the featured piece, Copland's Symphony for Organ, featuring British organist Wayne Marshall, is almost overshadowed by the powerful, though equally lesser known, pieces which precede it on the disc. Commissioned by Nadia Boulanger and premiered in 1924, this exciting work provoked unfavorable reactions from New York audiences who deemed it "modernist."

Copland's youthful writing skillfully integrates the organ into the orchestra, while allowing it brief passages of solo glory. The Scherzo, which is the core of the work, begins with a wonderfully lopsided rhythm and childlike theme building from a "call and response" between organ and orchestra to a thundering climax. Marshall's playing is consistently excellent, never overshadowing the orchestra, while "pulling out all the stops" when called for. The recording engineer deserves special acclaim for balancing the mighty sounds of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra with the power and brilliance of the Op.100 organ at Meyerson Center in Dallas.

Music for the Theatre is another early work from 1925, and unrelated to any actual work for theatrical performance. Fresh from his studies abroad, Copland was diligently attempting to define a musical language which would be his own, and as such, uniquely American in style and content. The piece begins with a clash of snare drum, piano and discordant trumpet fanfares which give way to a lush orcestral chorale, followed by an oboe solo accompanied by pianissimo strings. Soon, however, comes a glimpse of the more familiar Copland, rhythmic syncopation and drive foreshadowing El Salon Mexico followed by a Gershwin-like foray into orchestral jazz.

Interplay between clarinet and trumpet hints of the jazz cadenza to come in the Clarinet Concerto, yet it is a Copland we barely recognize, as if through a glass darkly we see the beginnings of the genius that was to blossom and burst forth upon the American classical music scene. Not only does Copland explore jazz rhythms, but by reducing the size of the orchestra he successfully emulates the sounds of a jazz band. Conductor Andrew Litton handles the balance of this reduced instrumentation skillfully, delivering a delightful performance of this work.

Copland's American folk-song style was already firmly developed when he composed the score for The Red Pony in 1949, the same year as his score for The Heiress, recently released in its entirety. From the first movement, "Morning on the Ranch," which is eerily reminiscent of Copland's Billy the Kid, through the final movement "Happy Ending," which brings elements of the first movement back again, this is a delicious slice of Copland Americana. All of the themes used in The Red Pony were uniquely the composer's and not derived from folk sources. Whether or not you have seen the film, every great American western you have seen will scroll back through your memory as you listen to this moving performance.

Andrew Litton and the Dallas Symphony have been steadily winning acclaim for their recorded efforts and this CD is yet another example of a well-matched conductor and orchestra.

My World, Songs From Around the Globe, Angela Gheorghiu, soprano, with Malcolm Martineau, piano. London 289-458-360-2, 1998.

In the eight years since Angela Gheorghiu was discovered at the Bucharest Music Academy, she has risen to an amazing level of success, partly due to her performances in La Bohème and La Traviata. Two years ago she married tenor Roberto Alagna who is enjoying an equally meteoric rise. Despite the fact that few artistic marriages survive when the individuals involved are in the same profession, their marriage appears to be thriving.

n her own words, Gheorghiu intended this disc to "reflect both my personality and the kind of life I live at the moment." In this veritable travelogue of art, lieder and folk song, this Romanian born opera star takes us to Italy, Spain, France, Norway, Germany, Austria, Romania, Bohemia, Hungary, Greece, Korea, Japan, Brazil, the United States, and then throws in a Sephardic lullaby for good measure.

She is obviously emotionally involved with each of these selections, which also feature Malcolm Martineau at the piano. One would hesitate to refer to Martineau as an accompanist in this instance, for this is truly a collaborative effort. Nuance for nuance, Gheorghiu and Martineau breathe together as a living entity, absorbed in and by the music. From the fiery Spanish rhythms in Canto Negro to the plaintive chanteuse melancholy of Les Chemins de l'amour to the lullaby strains of the Durme kerido hijico this is an ensemble recording of the highest caliber.

The final cut on the disc is Nicholas Brodszky's Be My Love. Angela Gheorghiu is in love with her art, and her performances on this CD will leave the listener equally in love with her.

A Release You May Have Missed . . .
Symphonic Poems, Siegfried Wagner, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester, Hamburg; Werner Andreas Albert, conductor. Sehnsucht, Scherzo, Glück. CPO (Classic Producktion Osnabrück) 999 266-2, 1996.

This release, the fifth in a series of orchestral music by Siegfried Wagner on CPO, was rated one of the top 100 CDs of 1996 by BBC Classical Music Magazine. But who is Siegfried Wagner? Well, imagine being the son of Richard Wagner, the grandson of Franz Liszt, the pupil of Engelbert Humperdinck, and heir to a legacy that would seem to be both inescapable and unsurmountable at the same time.

After two semesters studying architecture, Siegfried chose to follow in the footsteps of his father. Although many are of the opinion that it was only because of his last name that he was able to achieve any modicum of success, Siegfried deliberately chose compositional models that would be at odds with his father's influence, such as Verdi and Bizet. Working as his own librettist, he composed more operas than Richard. Many of these works explore German fairy tales, stories which are more along the line of the Brothers Grimm than that of the epic mythology the senior Wagner dealt with. It is for these works that he is best known.

CPO has chosen to explore the wealth of overtures, preludes, orchestral interludes and symphonic tone poems which Siegfried wrote, for the most part, late in his career. His first symphonic poem Sehnsucht, was based on a poem by Schiller. Although favorably received when premiered, the work soon dropped out of sight and was believed to be lost. It was not until 1979 that the composer's daughter Friedelind came across a score in a storage room at Bayreuth Festival Theatre where Siegfried served as artistic director from 1908-1930.

The Scherzo from 1922 carries the subtitle "And if the world were full of devils," attributed to the writings of Martin Luther, while the six-movement Glück is dedicated to English composer Clement H.G. Harris who had been a friend of Siegfried's since university days.

Siegfried Wagner's music is unashamedly romantic, yet Werner Andreas Albert's skillful direction prevents it from becoming trite or maudlin. Sensitive to the subtleties in each work, Albert brings forth an orchestral sound that is romanticism at its best. This recording is a wonderful place to begin exploring the works of this fairly unknown, yet worthy, composer.