Reuben Blundell and the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra: American Romantics III

The Australian-born conductor Reuben Blundell continues to make splendid use of the Edwin A Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music at the Free Library of Philadelphia, whose holdings include thousands of familiar and neglected works. In 2016 New Focus Recordings released ‘American Romantics’ (10/16), the first result of Blundell’s exploration comprising little known music by late 19th- and early 20th-century composers born in the US or drawn to their adopted homeland. It is now followed by ‘American Romantics II’ (featuring, as on the initial release, the Brooklyn-based Gowanus Arts Ensemble) and ‘American Romantics III’ (with Blundell leading the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra, a community ensemble in a suburb of Philadelphia).

The word ‘American’ in these discs’ titles must be taken with a dash of salt. Whatever its provenance, most of the music sounds distinctly European, with hints of Dvořák, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and any number of beloved Romantics. But what Blundell and colleagues offer is never less than appealing and accomplished, and certainly worthy of the occasional appearance on chamber and orchestral programmes.

‘American Romantics II’ begins with a favourite by the disc’s only household name, Stephen Foster: an arrangement of ‘Old Folks at Home’. The composers of the remaining pieces are remembered mostly for contributions to American academic and church life. Among them are such significant figures as George Whitefield Chadwick, represented by the charming Intermezzo, and Arthur Foote, whose bucolic Theme and Variations is an affecting and vibrant creation in the mould of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings.

More signs of New World influences – Native American elements and folk tunes – can be heard on ‘American Romantics III’, especially in Charles Wakefield Cadman’s Thunderbird Suite and two richly coloured scores by Carl Busch, Minnehaha’s Vision and The Song of Chibiabos. For swashbuckling allure long before Korngold seized attention in Hollywood, there’s David Stanley Smith’s Prince Hal overture. And anyone wondering how deeply Wagner inspired others should hear Ludwig Bonvin’s Festzug.

Blundell leads shapely, animated performances with both ensembles. The 10 Gowanus string players bring bountiful finesse to the repertoire, while the Lansdowne Symphony, a group of volunteer musicians, face their assignments with fine commitment.

Yet a new batch of American Late Romaticism deriving from the fabulous archives of Philadelphia’s Fleisher Collection library but this time for full orchestra instead of the string ensemble used for the first two releases. Busch (1914 and 1916) is inspired by Longfellow’s Hiawatha poem while Cadman (1918) takes his inspiration directly from Native American music while Smith (1915) and Bonvin are stylistically in the prevailing European mold. Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra; Reuben Blundell.

This is the third volume in Australian-born conductor Reuben Blundell’s series devoted to premiere recordings of works by American (or American based) composers of the late 19th and early 20th-centuries. The first two discs featured the ten-piece Gowanus Arts Ensemble, but here Blundell conducts his Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra. All written immediately prior to or during World War I, the works are steeped in the European style – though Carl Busch and Charles Wakefield Cadman draw on Native American ideas. The disc opens with David Stanley Smith’s Prince Hal, An Overture based on Shakespeare’s character, while Busch’s Minnehaha’s Vision and The Song of Chibiabos find their genesis in Longfellow’s epic The Song of Hiawatha. Cadman’s colourful Thunderbird Suite – written for a play based on Native American mythology – is the most compelling work, taking Blackfoot Indian melodies as the basis for its three central movements.

Other highlights include Gena Branscombe’s A Memory, a lush work for strings and harp (originally a salon piece for violin) while Edward Macdowell’s At an Old Trysting Place and Cecil Burleigh’s At Sunset are pleasant but tend towards the saccharine. The disc’s blazing finale is Swiss-born Ludwig Bonvin’s bold and brassy Festzug (Festival Procession).

With some fine performances by the orchestra, this is well worth a listen if you’re looking for something off the beaten track.

This is the third volume and by far the best in New Focus’s explorations of romantic Americana. David Stanley Smith (1877–1949) was a respected musical educator. His Prince Hal Overture (1915) is a superb piece of symphonic writing. He prefaces the score with the famous quote from Shakespeare’s Henry V, “my thrice-puissant liege is in the very Maymorn of his youth, ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises” then proceeds to write 13 minutes of music with that very exuberance. Its themes are apt and memorable—there’s even a melodically interesting fugue subject—with splendidly accomplished orchestration. This work can hold its own with some of the best symphonic character studies. I could name several American works from back then that are considerably inferior to it.

Carl Busch (1864–1943) was a Dane who spent most of his musical life in Kansas City. He became interested in using American Indian music. The tone poems here, Minnehaha’s Vision (1914) and Song of Chibiabos (1916), were inspired by Longfellow’s Hiawatha epic. Both are very attractive. Busch skillfully blends his Indian themes into even Delian harmonies without any serious musical disjunction. Unlike in Coleridge-Taylor’s oratorio, Chibiabos’s song here is not gentle, but violent and tragic.

Cadman’s Thunderbird Suite was originally for a Norman Bel Geddes play. Geddes in his youth had lived with Indians and admired their culture. Cadman’s use of Indian themes—mostly Blackfeet here—is picturesque. His scoring is imaginative, comparatively free of later Hollywood cliches. This sort of cultural crossing has lately come under fire from the PC fascists of academe; Cadman wrote an excellent essay refuting this rubbish back in 1915.

The other works are orchestrations of salon pieces, but fine examples of the genre. For example, A Memory by the Canadian composer Gena Branscombe was written for the American violinist Maud Powell. It’s essentially an elegant slow waltz, framed by a poignant melody as both intro and coda.

With repertoire this rare and good, it’s assuring to have the music played and conducted well. In addition to his sympathetic interpretations, Maestro Blundell also contributes excellent program notes. I’m earmarking this for one of my best of the year list and hope there are more in the series to follow.

-Don O'Connor, 8.23.2018, American Record Guide

Lovely melodies and evocative tone-painting fill the first and third volumes of the American Romantics series created by conductor Reuben Blundell. Together these two CDs present first recordings of 19 pieces by 14 mostly forgotten late-19th- and early-20th-century composers born or active in the U.S.

In the first volume, Blundell leads the Gowanus Arts Ensemble, ten string players who also perform on American Romantics II, reviewed in The WholeNote this past February. In the latest release, Blundell appears as music director of the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra, a professional-sounding community orchestra in Philadelphia.

Two composers, Ludwig Bonvin and Carl Busch, are featured in both discs under review. Swiss-born Bonvin (1850-1939) emigrated to Buffalo, where he served as music director of Canisius College. He’s represented by the hymn-like Christmas Night’s Dream for strings and the very Wagnerian Festival Procession for orchestra. Busch (1864-1943), from Denmark, settled in Kansas City, finding inspiration in North American Indigenous melodies. Volume I contains two movements from his Indian Tribal Melodies: Four North American Legends; Volume III includes two richly coloured, dramatic tone poems, Minnehaha’s Visionand The Song of Chibiabos, both based on Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha.

Another composer who wrote many works on First Nations subjects was Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881-1946), one of the few recognizable names in the American Romantics series. His five-movement Thunderbird Suite, said to incorporate Blackfoot melodies, is, at 21 minutes, by far the longest work on these two discs. The highly cinematic Suite dates from 1918, well before sound arrived in Hollywood, but it’s not surprising that, in later years, Cadman moved to Los Angeles where he would indeed go on to compose music for films.

Gena Branscombe (1881-1977), the only woman and only Canadian on these discs, was born in Picton, Ontario (not PEI, as the notes state) but left for the U.S. as a teenager to pursue her musical studies. There, she composed prolifically in all genres, founded and conducted the Branscombe Chorale, and commissioned and performed works by many other women composers. Her brief, bittersweet waltz, A Memory, a miniature Valse Triste, was originally for violin and piano; it’s heard in an arrangement for harp and strings.

Like A Memory, all of the predominantly short pieces on these two CDs are well worth hearing, though they tend to fall into the Easy Listening category. This series is obviously a labour of love for conductor Blundell and I hope he continues his pattern of one release per year. I look forward, however, to hearing more extended, substantial yet unfairly forgotten works by these unfairly mostly forgotten composers.

-Michael Schulman, 9.26.2018, The WholeNote