This disc is released in conjunction with Naxos’ issue on DVD of the original documentary films for which Virgil Thomson wrote these two scores. Thomson’s plain-spoken, unsentimental sort of homely Americana makes a perfect counterpoint to the visual imagery, and while the complete scores in both cases are about twice as long as the more familiar suites, they make satisfying listening as they stand on account of the predominance of satisfying musical shapes and the basic homogeneity of Thomson’s idiom. Certainly, it’s worth having the opportunity to hear them as he originally wrote them.
The only reservation I have about these performances is that the playing of the Post-Classical Ensemble (whatever that means) sounds a bit too careful. Thomson doesn’t give them many opportunities to show off, but movements such as “Blues” from The Plow that Broke the Plains could have had a sharper profile and a touch more sass. The recording also captures a large amount of extraneous noise, including some pretty horrendous squeaks from the guitarist early on in the same work. Happily it doesn’t last for long, and the remainder of the program is much better. For film music buffs, this will be self-recommending, as will the DVD.
