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DO.GMA #2: American Songbook

DO.GMA #2: American Songbook

Audiomax  912 1717-6

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical


David Diamond: Rounds for String Orchestra, Arthur Foote: Suite in E Op. 63, Samuel Barber: Serenade for String Orchestra Op. 1, Adagio for Strings Op. 11, William Schuman: Symphony No. 5

do.gma Chamber Orchestra
Mikhail Gurewitsch

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Review by John Miller - January 17, 2012

Despite the seemingly cryptographic nature of the disc's title page, this is a well-thought out and welcome programme of North American string music mainly from the 20th Century. "do.gma" (in lower-case) are a 16-strong Chamber Orchestra founded by Mikhail Gurewitsch in 2004. These are young players, and with Gurewitsch at the helm as Concertmaster and Music Director, they plan to release a series of volumes of string music centred on various locations or times.

The music chosen here covers some well-known favourites as well as pieces and composers little-known outside the USA. David Diamond (1915-2005) was one of Americas best-known "classical" composer and an important member of the country's musical Establishment. His popular "Rounds for String Orchestra" (1944) utilises the 16th Century English practice of 'rounds', canonic tunes which were passed from person to person. There are three movements, the first and last being based on a round-tune of some four bars length, ingeniously developed and with virtuosic display from the strings. The theme is notably jazzy, providing a generally happy atmosphere. A central Adagio is more romantic in style, with a winding impressionist and conversational melody of some intensity emerging from high and low pairs of strongly dissonant chords. These pillars serve as an introduction and appear less assertively at the close of the movement. The Finale, an Allegro vigoroso is a robust, vividly stamping country dance with infectious syncopated rhythms, evidently relished by the orchestra.

Arthur Foote (1853-1937) was hitherto unknown to me; he was an older colleague of Diamond and a lover of the music of Johannes Brahms. His deeply romantic idiom may have been somewhat out of date in musicological terms, but his work remained very popular with American audiences. He was distinguished by having attended the first Wagner Festival at Bayreuth in 1876. The Suite in E major for String Orchestra, Op. 63 (1894-95) is in 3 movements, beginning with a gently tender Prelude which bursts into a passionate climax (to my ears it has a nodding acquaintance with Wagner's Siegfried Idyll). Foote's string writing is first class, and gets an affectionate response from the do.gma players. The second movement has a capricious pizzicato section, interposed with sighing bowed string melodies; I felt there were some evident references here to Tchaikovsky's pizzicato Scherzo in his Fourth Symphony. The Suite is rounded off with a fine Fugue, vigorous but not too rigorous. It is not a patch on Elgar's fugue in the Introduction and Allegro for Strings, but striking and entertaining non the less, the do.gma basses and cellos particularly making their mark.

Although Samuel Barber (1910-1961) is one of America's most internationally revered composers, I hadn't come across his Serenade for String Orchestra, written at the age of 19 for the Composition Class of the Curtis Institute, which he entered at the remarkable age of 9 years. At the time of writing, he had met fellow-composer and ultimate life-partner Gian Carlo Menotti. It is a charming and even then an idiomatic work of some maturity. Gurevitsch and his players find the right vein of wistful songfulness and complex harmonies representative of Barber in the first two movements, and also the outgoing country boy (of Irish-American origin) portrayed in the joyful dance of the last movement.

Perhaps the highlight of this disc is William Schuman's Fifth Symphony, a short (under 20 mins) work for strings. Its date, 1943, is often said by critics to mark a period when the composer was exhausted by the War, this new symphony being outclassed by his Third Symphony. Nevertheless, for audiences, this is the most popular of his symphonies. It is given a very powerful performance here, not at all inferior to the larger string battalions of Bernstein's NYPO. Schuman has a lot to say, and the do.gma players certainly give voice for him. The assertive, vigorous and loud first movement sums up Schuman's character; it takes no prisoners, with lacerating chords which remind us of the wartime experience. The Larghissimo movement is tonally warmer but deeply anguished: wandering melodies, darkly subdued, progress over a steady pizzicato tread. This leads to a great climax, lashing out with bleak fury. A frantically bustling Presto ends the Symphony with kaleidoscopic stomping rhythms, pizzicato playfulness and swiftly passing jaunty tunes.

Last on the programme is Barber's famous Adagio for Strings (what else?). Originally the slow movement of his string quartet, this music has taken on a life of its own, as Barber made a version for string orchestra and for chorus (Agnus Dei). It regularly appears as music for national mourning or in times of deep solemnity, as does Elgar's Nimrod from the Enigma Variations. In Gurewitsch's hands, it unwinds its melodic core with a flowing, but heartfelt simplicity, which outdoes more lavishly syrupy performances from some big orchestra string sections. Indeed, the relatively ascetic sound of the smaller group is closer to the texture of the original quartet version, and is well worth hearing.

I have to say that I am impressed with this outing of do.gma, but I'm still irritated by their name, which is a typographic aberration. Such "trendy" combinations of lower-case letters and interpolated punctuation (or symbols) was a fortunately abandoned conceit of some musicians of the 1970s and 80s. How does one pronounce it, with the full stop placed non-syllabically? It is also irritating to type or write, and disturbing to the visual flow of type which makes for good reading. Also, to me, "dogma" means unyielding application of ideologies, which throughout History have had catastrophic affects on humanity. I suppose it is too late for the ensemble to change its name, but I plead for it to be considered.

The Dabringhaus and Grimm recording is as usual first class, with all sections of the orchestra sharply depicted and located, with good front-back perspective. While there is no particularly distinctive acoustic signature (I'm limited to listening in 5.1 multichannel mode instead of 2+2+2), there is certainly air around the strings, allowing them to develop their tone, and great clarity of textures and articulation.

I'm very impressed with the musical aspects of this disc, and welcome the American programme which boosts the rather meagre representation of North American music available on the SA-CD format at the time of writing. Very enjoyable and worth acquiring.

Copyright © 2012 John Miller and HRAudio.net

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Comment by Scott A. - April 4, 2018 (1 of 1)

I think that's supposed to be "American Stringbook," not "Songbook," should you be searching for it elsewhere.