It’s difficult not to enjoy Paul Creston’s elegantly proportioned, rhythmically vital music. The three works recorded here belong to an obviously strong creative personality. Janus takes the form of an “introduction and allegro”, the former lyrical, the latter typical of the composer in his athletic “dance” mode. Both the Violin Concerto and the Fourth Symphony partake of the same neo-classical aesthetic that informs the work of Piston, Pershichetti, Menin, and others of the American tonal school, in which shapely melodies judiciously spiced with dissonance strut their stuff in clearly constructed, traditional forms. If you enjoy these composers, then this release will be self-recommending.
Creston’s Italian heritage is particularly evident in the Vivace saltellante finale of the Fourth Symphony, which positively bubbles with good-natured energy–but then it’s all just appealing, honest, well-crafted music, fun to hear, and enthusiastically played by the Albany Symphony under David Alan Miller. In the Violin Concerto, Gregory Fulkerson is also his usual, impressive self, showing real confidence and conviction in a fine work that cannot have been all that familiar to him (or anyone). At times I might have wished for a richer presence from the strings; Creston’s scoring isn’t quite as “brass band” boney as it occasionally sounds here at the more rambunctious moments, but the sonics overall remain excellent.
