If you’re looking for music that offers the style of, say, Gershwin, but in larger forms, then Don Gillis is your guy. His first two symphonies, both in three movements and lasting a bit more than 30 minutes apiece, are bold, tuneful works saturated with the melodies, rhythms, and harmonies of American popular song of the 1930s and ’40s. They are wonderfully enjoyable; Gillis stands in the same relationship to American music as, say, Vaughan Williams does to English. You may find his style a little too easy, or too lacking in traditional symphonic development, but there’s no denying the fact that he’s comfortable in his own shoes and solidly grounded in his own time and place. And that, of course, as with Vaughan Williams, is the source of his distinctiveness, and hopefully is the most important factor contributing to his music’s long-term prospects.
Symphony No. 5 1/2 for years was the only work by Gillis that kept his name alive. I have to confess I’m a bit puzzled by its inclusion here. Gillis himself recorded it in England, superbly, and that version is available from Dutton. Albany made a more modern recording with its eponymous orchestra that was just about as good, and on the whole superior to this newcomer. Ian Hobson’s interpretation, as with most of the performances in this series, is certainly stylish and well played, but the warm and soft-grained orchestral style, arguably suitable to the two larger works with their long-breathed lyricism and wealth of beautiful string music, doesn’t suit a work that begs for a dry, crisp, snappy delivery. The brass in particular need more brashness, and the tempos could press forward more relentlessly in the quick movements. Still, with 78-plus minutes of music and with generally fine sonics, this disc earns an easy recommendation for the first two symphonies, both of which are premiere recordings.
