Antheil Orchestral Works

In this their third volume of orchestral works of Antheil, John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic present a collection of scores spanning the whole of Antheil’s compositional life. Written in the early 1920s, the First Symphony is full of Antheil’s enthusiasm for the mechanical, and takes strong leads from the prevailing sound of the jazz era as well as a nostalgic look back to its predecessor, ragtime. His ballet score Capital of the World dates from the mid-1950s, and was based on a short story by Hemingway.

The life story of the American composer and pianist George Antheil is the tale of a multiple taming. Almost a hundred years ago the young Antheil set out to conquer Europe with his 'ultramodern' piano compositions and soon came to regard himself as the enfant terrible of contemporary music. His early concerts created sensational public scandals; audience members laughed and exchanged blows when he performed, and the press corps polarized the public. The present production follows the winding path taken by this composer with four standout works exemplifying his various creative periods. Golden Bird (1921), an exotically instrumented miniature of »Chinese coloration,« is followed by the iridescent music for the ballet Dreams (1934), which Antheil wrote in response to a commission from the famous choreographer George Balanchine. The two Serenades (1947-48) show us a composer of digestible and easily graspable music who was searching for a genuine 'American tone' and during the course of his life learned that modesty can be a key to success.

With acclaimed recordings of the Symphonies and selected orchestral works, Cpo has gone some way in demonstrating this American composer was one of the twentieth century’s most important composers. Antheil wrote his one act opera The Brothers in 1954. The libretto, penned by Antheil himself, drew on the biblical story of Cain and Abel. Its setting is the working-class world of post-war America, and the four men and one woman presented by Antheil on stage are all damaged and traumatized.

Trade Mark "Bad Boy" - After all the experimental episodes the audience has faced in the field of New Music in recent decades, today the oeuvre of George Antheil will be welcomed with a great deal of sympathy and many a friendly smile. The American knew full well not only how to meet the expectations of an audience "prepared to protest", but also how even to challenge them more overtly. An excellent example is the Jazz Symphony, written in 1925, shortly after George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, that bursting the limits of the customary listening experiences of teh age in a similar way to e.g. Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps of 1913.