Naxos’ ongoing series of Ned Rorem orchestral music recordings offers well-deserved recognition to a major American composer. This latest release is no less rewarding than the prior issues. The Second Piano Concerto dates from 1951 and shows the young composer writing with tremendous gusto. A large work (34 minutes) in the traditional three movements, its scoring is both vivid and at times a touch dense and “over the top”, while the work’s melodic generosity and rhythmic drive are undeniably infectious; its neglect must be counted a major mystery. Conductor José Serebrier’s notes make much of the music’s “American” qualities, particularly in the finale, but I was much more forcibly struck by Rorem’s much-advertised love of French music. Whatever the answer to the “influence” question, this concerto is without doubt a major statement, and it’s very impressively performed by Simon Mulligan, Serebrier, and the orchestra, who let the music speak with all of its delicious formal (in the first-movement cadenza) and textural excess.
Rorem’s Cello Concerto dates from 2002, and like many of his late orchestra works it abandons traditional form in favor of a series of brief movements given cute names that may or may not have anything significant to do with their musical content. Frankly, I find this habit unnecessarily coy and distracting, but others may simply be intrigued; and if the listener’s curiosity, once aroused, leads to giving the music more concentrated attention, then it’s all to the good.
The sequence of eight movements is laid out for maximum contrast, and I particularly enjoyed the seventh, a characterful waltz. Indeed, Rorem is such a fine melodist when he wants to be that you have to wonder why he feels the need to venture into more aggressively “modern” territory now and then. Perhaps he’s working a little bit too hard at being a “serious” composer. Never mind: this is a fine work, also strongly played by cellist Wen-Sinn Yang. Naxos’ engineers have judged the balances very accurately between both soloists and the orchestra, while the occasional opacity at the climaxes of the piano concerto seems more a function of the heavy scoring than a suggestion of technical inadequacy. A fine disc. [10/31/2007]
