As anyone following Marco Polo’s enterprising discs of Aaron Avshalomoff’s orchestral music knows, his style combines the colorful nationalism of the Russian school of Rimsky-Korsakov with the folk music of his adopted country, China. He’s at his absolute best in slow movements, where cool pentatonic melodies float on a bed of quiet strings and mysterious percussion. Both the Piano Concerto and the Second Symphony contain classical examples of this lovely sound world. The quicker movements, while more formally conventional, contain plenty of good tunes adroitly arranged, though the finale of the symphony may strike some listeners as too much of a good thing despite its outrageously vivid orchestration. Nevertheless, the Piano Concerto is at least as appealing as, say, Khachaturian’s, and the Symphony has more than enough appealing invention to sustain its modest half hour length. The composer’s son and grandson do yeoman work on behalf of their more famous progenitor, and David Avshalomov’s “Elegy” is a highly attractive and sensitive work in its own right. Do investigate this very rewarding and delightful series of recordings.
