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George Antheil Symphonic series on Chandos

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cilgwyn
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« on: May 10, 2017, 10:50:37 am »

I think Antheil is a very interesting composer and I find some of his music quite fascinating. That said, the reason why his best symphonies are so interesting to people like me,who enjoy them,is because of the sheer fecundity of his imagination and brilliant ear for colourful,imaginative orchestration. In that respect it is no surprise that he was a successful film composer. I find some of his symphonies quite extraordinary for their vivid almost hallucinogenic orchestration. I would single out No's 1 & 6,in particular. I also enjoy his collage like approach to composition. Like A musical magpie incorporating allusions to other composers and,above all,his inventive assimilation of popular idioms and styles. In this respects I think Antheil is a fascinating and in his own way very original composer,and I think his music is fully deserving of more attention. On a more negative level,I would not regard him as a major symphonist because of his poor sense of structure. His collage like approach to the symphony almost works for me. He's almost like an American version of Brian in the way that he builds up his music through a process of allusion and his ideas are usually very good. He's almost like a conjurer in this sense. Making a rabbit appear magically from a hat;but you know it's not really the way it looks. It's all done by sleight of hand. In that sense he's not a good symphonist. But he's not really bad either;because he's so good at what he does. I could go so far as to class him as a sort of musical conjurer. Maybe,even to people like me,who enjoy his music,he's not really quite as good as he seems! More a David Copperfield,than a bad boy of American music. As to the Chandos series. I quite like the artwork and you'll get that big,boomy,somewhat reverberant ( somewhat superficially) spectacular Chandos sound. Apart from that,I can't think of one reason why I would want to invest in this when the Cpo cycle is so categorically superb. Much as I enjoy Antheil,I think this new cycle from Chandos is a complete waste of time,money,materials,power;and if I were to buy it,space as well! ::) ;D In this respect I agree with Dundonnell and Latvian. We've had totally unecessary duplication of a widely praised and totally satisfactory Atterberg cycle,duplications of Raff symphonies,already available in first rate recordings from Tudor,Vaughan Williams recordings which are unlikely to ever replace classic recordings in the publics affections,and I can confidently predict never will.......I could go on. Luckily,for everyone else,I won't!! Chandos certainly won't be getting a penny of my money until they wise up!! If they wanted to record a cycle of something that has already been recorded,I would have preferred to have seen a cycle of Tournemire symphonies. These have had some adequate recordings,and some really lousy recordings;and I have not quite made my mind up about the true value of some of them;but there is enough to arouse my interest and make me want to explore these ambitious scores via some really first rate recordings. He certainly has his own sound world and Timpani don't seem to be interested,so far. And there is so much more. We all have composers in mind,that we would like to see recorded. I find it difficult to believe that some of Piston's symphonies,for example,are only available in ancient old recordings. The absence of a really good modern recording of Harris' Fifth Symphony,one of his best symphonies,imho,is a shame. A Fricker cycle would be fantastic. Imagine hearing his best scores in state of the art digital sound? Even some Holbrooke would be preferable to this Antheil nonsense!! ;D Are there really hundreds of Antheil groupies waiting to pounce on this new recording? If they can have a slice of the pie,why not us Holbrookeians? Holbrooke was keen on popular music,too!! ;D

NB: I understand Gauk's point;but it does make you wonder what Chandos will be duplicating next? Yes,it may help to increase interest in this very worthwhile and entertaining composer;but
      the overriding impression I get out of is a record label that has run out of new ideas. It all feels a bit like the recording industry equivalent of those bbc remakes of old situation comedies.
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