Naxos 8.559722
Adolphus C. Hailstork
is featured at
AfriClassical.com
is featured at
AfriClassical.com
Audiophile Audition
ADOLPHUS HAILSTORK: ‘An American Port of Call’ = Symphony No.
1, Three Spirituals, An American Port of Call, Fanfare on ‘Amazing
Grace’, Whitman’s Journey: 1. Launch out on Endless Seas – Kevin Deas,
bar., Virginia Sym. Chorus, Virginia Sym. Orch., JoAnn Falletta – Naxos
Records 8.559722, 59:08 [6/26/12] ****:
Adolphus Hailstork is truly one of this country’s most important and
respected composers and if you have never heard of him or his music;
this album is a very good place to start.
I first became familiar with his music with his landmark orchestral work, Celebration, nearly forty years ago and, again, with his Symphony No.
2 from the Detroit Symphony in 2006. He is a graduate of Michigan State
University and one of the long list of very talented people who studied
composition with the iconic Nadia Boulanger among others. He has been
Professor Emeritus at Virginia Dominion University for many years and
continues to teach.
His music is tonal, exciting, sometimes brash; very “accessible” and
sounds quite ‘American.’ This collection of works illustrates the point
very well, indeed.
His Symphony No. 1 dates from 1988 and follows a standard
four-movement symphony form. This is a very fine work with wonderful
section writing and wind solos throughout and has a very distinctive
sound. It will remind some of Schuman or Piston in places but Hailstork
has a melodic thesaurus that draws upon American folk and traditional
materials without ever directly quoting anything. I found every bit of
this piece to be attention-getting and very rewarding but I especially
enjoyed the subtle, elegant and somewhat “Copland-esque” Adagio. The final Rondo: Vivace bears some of these same traits. This is a strong vibrant work that – just like his Symphony No. 2 – deserves to be played more often.
The Three Spirituals for Orchestra are just what the title
implies. This is a buoyant and uplifting concert suite of arrangements
of three traditional American spirituals; originally set as an organ
work. The songs in question are “Every Time I Feel the Spirit”, “Kum Ba
Yah” and “Oh, Freedom.” This is a very pleasant and uplifting work and
treats the song material in a fairly straight forward work with
orchestrations and a feel that recall Gershwin, including a lovely
English horn solo at the beginning of “Kum Ba Yah.”
An American Port of Call is a brief highly energetic work
that was written for the Virginia Symphony in 1985. It exists in the
same sonata-allegro form as many of Hailstork’s works and effectively
evokes the bustle, crowdedness and occasional risks of work in a large
American port; like Newport, Virginia (which I have visited and it is a
fascinating place.) The vocabulary is tonal with some dramatic use of
stridency and some very attractive blues and jazz-inflected solos
throughout.
Similarly, the Fanfare on ‘Amazing Grace’ is a
brief and engaging exploration of the title work. I have heard many of
the composer’s band and wind ensemble works, too, and he does excel at a
wide variety of fairly succinct and very attractive concert works.
This very rewarding disc concludes with the broad, solemn and moving Whitman’s Journey – Launch Out on Endless Seas
for chorus, baritone soloist and orchestra.
...
It is a wonderful work performed quite well here with
special commendation to the tight harmonies and diction of the Virginia
Symphony Chorus and to the big warm sound of baritone Kevin Deas.
...
I strongly recommend this disc! What a great way to get to know a
composer, an orchestra and a conductor who all deserve to be known even
more. Kudos again to Naxos for making such music available!
—Daniel Coombs
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