The Greatest Unsung American Symphony?

[Alan Howe]

Having just acquired it, my nomination would be Harold Shapero's Symphony for Classical Orchestra - a marvellous amalgamation, seemingly, of Stravinskian neo-classical principles with a Beethovenian concept of the symphony. Why it has only received two recordings, by Bernstein and Previn, I cannot imagine.

Any other nominations - or comments on Shapero's Symphony?

[febnyc]

Another nomination (although the Shapero is a fine work, this one appeals to me a lot more):

George Frederick Bristow (1825-1898) - Symphony in F# Minor.

Mendelssohnian in its overall feeling, Bristow's Symphony is a lyrical gem.

[febnyc]

One more, if I may:

George Frederick (I seem to be stuck on these names today) McKay (1899-1970):

Symphony for Seattle (Evocation Symphony)

This is a brawny work and teeters on the line between romanticism and neo-classicism.  It can be found on a Naxos disc which offers two other wonderful, tone poem types from McKay.  Greatest?  Nope, but quite unsung, worth knowing, and entirely entertaining.

[jerfilm]

I'm sort of fond of Mrs. Beach's Symphony in e.  Also, Henry Hadley's Symphony #2 - The Four Seasons.

[Josh]

That Bristow F-sharp minor symphony has downright incredible first and second movements, and the last two movements are outstanding, which is why it sprang to my mind right away.  But I might average out the four movements of Chadwick's #2 to just barely edge it out for the top spot as a total package.  Maybe.  To me, it's really hard to choose between those two.  The sheer tuneful memorability and flawless technical execution of the first movement of the Bristow is kind of hard to beat.

[jthill]

Alas, when you look at the performing repertoire of American symphony orchestras only a handfull of American symphonies get performed each year mostly Ives, Copland, Bernstein, Barber.  Check out the statistics at http://www.americanorchestras.org/knowledge_research_and_innovation/orr.html

When it comes to the recorded repertoire the field is much richer - given several choices I nominate: George Whitfield Chadwick: Symphonies 2 or 3, Walter Piston: Symphony No 3, Howard Hanson: Symphony No 6, and  Wallingford Reigger: Symphony No 4.  Let's hope that Naxos steps up to fill the empty spots in their American Classics series..

[edurban]

"...Mendelssohnian in its overall feeling, Bristow's Symphony is a lyrical gem..."

I'm the last one to rain on Bristow's parade, and certainly all his symphonies feature great tunes, lusty orchestration and a healthy outdoor spirit that strikes me as particularly 19th century American, but these symphonies as Bristow left them have structural issues.  Little real development, and lots & lots of repetition--often numbing amounts of the latter.  Jarvi has chopped away an acre of underbrush, and it's a good thing: the symphonies 2, 3 and to a lesser extent 4 would be unrevivable (imo) without such editing.  For the original state of these pieces, see Karl Kreuger in 2 & 3 (Krueger got more free handed in 4,) and the ms of #1.   The Chandos disc is all genuine Bristow, but I think it's best to come clean on one point: old G.F. was no editor.  So give Jarvi credit for 'saving' the f# minor for us, although I suspect it is no accident that Jarvi never did more Bristow...

David

PS. Now Horace Nicholl #2...that's a great 19th century American symphony

[Alan Howe]

I can imagine Bristow, Paine, Chadwick or Beach being candidates for nomination as the composer of the best Romantic American symphony, but for me none of them can hold a candle to, say, Copland (3) or Harris (3) overall - or, indeed, as I suggested Shapero's wonderful contribution. Ives, anyone? 

[eschiss1]

I'm out of the running here I think- my favorite American symphony is probably Roger Sessions' 4th.

Though I do like Harris' 7th, Piston's 4th (these two especially as conducted by Ormandy...), Barber's 1st, and quite a few others (Hanson's 3rd, Schuman's 3rd) very much.

[chill319]

There was a time, during the apex of academic serialism, when I knew at least two conductors who liked Shapero's symphony very much but were either unable or unwilling to be seen conducting it. Shapero's later career at Brandeis made a sad footnote to his early works. He deserves champions.

Ives 4 certainly does cosmic very well and is one of the great imaginative achievements among American symphonies.

The Albany recording of Harris 8 and 9 is entitled "The Great American Ninth." David Allen Miller makes a strong case for Harris 9, though the more vivid sonics of the Kuchar/Naxos version may win the day for most listeners.

For sheer originality and brilliance of conception, Gottschalk's 1859 Symphonie romantique (A Night in the Topics) occupies an honored place in American music. It doesn't try to go where Brahms and Berger go, of course.

Beach suffers when played like Mendelssohn (as does some Mendelssohn); her symphony gets short shrift in the Jarvi/Chandos recording, by which it should not be judged.

William Schuman went from strength to strength during the 1940s, his last -- and in my view best -- symphony of that decade being the Sixth. The Ormandy recording (mono) is outstanding. Starting in the 1950s Schuman tended to end fast movements with strident, sometimes bellicose rhythmic repetitions of triads that to my ears sound arbitrarily chosen (though no doubt they weren't). His Ninth symphony from 1968 is oppressive, as befits its subject matter, but I believe it rises (in Ormandy's performance at least) to the very high level of the 1940s works.

Representation of important American symphonies by the generation just before Copland is still spotty at best -- rather like the representation of Bax and Moeran in British catalogs during the early 1960s. Were that not the case, I would recommend Converse's Symphony 3 and Shepherd's Symphony 1  with its foretaste of Copland.

[John H White]

If it has to be a 20th Century work, I'd go for Don Gillis's Star Spangled Symphony. I find Copeland, Harris & Co. much too "advanced" for my tastes.

[oldman]

Not to be forgotten are the orchestral works of William Henry Fry. I particularly like his "Santa Claus" symphony, in spite of the kitschy title.

[eschiss1]

Representation of important American symphonies by the generation just before Copland is still spotty at best -- rather like the representation of Bax and Moeran in British catalogs during the early 1960s. Were that not the case, I would recommend Converse's Symphony 3 and Shepherd's Symphony 1  with its foretaste of Copland.

I don't know if they -are- important, but do the Pennsylvania Symphony by Cadman (or the Symphony in A "Virginia Symphony" by John Powell) count (actually, I'd have to check if the Cadman is recorded- well, there's a Coates reel-to-reel from the 1940s... which was reissued on Cambria tape in the 1980s... hrm!- maybe Naxos will soon..., and I still agree that representation is spotty... that was a case in point.) Defining generation as 20-odd years, there's the symphonies of Riegger, which used to have a slight foothold on recording. Sigh.

[chill319]

The Cadman symphony was recorded at its premiere -- link provided in another thread. The work follows the general outlines of Bloch's America: An Epic Rhapsody, summoning ancient Injun tomtoms at its opening, and ending with a paean to American industry and optimism. It's a fine, sincerely wrought work, lacking only Bloch's craft, invention, and intensity.

[ahinton]

Sessions 9 - and Carter's more recent Symphonia: Sum Fluxæ Pretium Spei; the former pretty much unsung and the latter certainly insufficiently sung (especially as one of its composer's finest achievements)?