The eccentric Percy Grainger was well-known for his musical arrangements which ranged from works by other composers as well as arrangements of his own original and folk music settings. These arrangements form a body of work which is perhaps unique in musical history.
John Philip Sousa personified turn-of-the-century America—the comparative innocence and brash energy of an advancing nation. His ever-touring band represented America across the globe and brought lively and entertaining music to hundreds of American towns. Sousa’s name is eternally connected with famous marches such as The Stars and Stripes Forever, but his exceptional inventiveness also saw the creation of popular operettas such as El Capitan. This program also includes Sousa’s adaptations of humorous songs and popular ballads as well as his Good-Bye, based on the idea of Haydn’s ‘Farewell’ Symphony but with a modern twist.
The Power of Rome is a strange work – thoughtful and seemingly with a profound philosophical message. It has some weird pages such as the Holstian fog that is the section from 6:00 onwards. Children’s March in this version has parts for four tenors and four basses rather than the orchestra alone version neatly enunciated by Boult on Lyrita. This is a quick march before tiredness has set in and is as much a jiggy dance as it is a march. As usual with Grainger there are some surprises, skirls and expostulations along the way. Bell Piece is a salon farewell – a touch Puccinian - rather pleadingly sung by James Gilchrist who is caught very early in his career.
Works for Wind Orchestra I and II are performed by the RNCM wind ensemble conducted by long-time wind orchestra champions: Tim Reynish and Clark Rundell. Hill Song No. 2 is notable for its skirl and sway – echoing Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony more than once. Faeroe Island Dance is mistily haunting yet with a dancing pattern which is brother to Shepherd’s Hey and Molly on the Shore. The Lads of Whamphray March is irrepressibly cheery and seethes with fascinating invention. The tart windband flavour adds nicely to Shepherd’s Hey! All the favourites are here in new garb. It’s done with a snap and a clicking of the fingers. The slalom-ski runs, percussion ‘graffiti’ and anarchic instrumental slashes in Gum-Suckers’ March are well worth confronting. The punched out Lost Lady Found is the finale of the gamely youthful Lincolnshire Posy. It’s given a weighty punch here and the cross-cutting effects place it clearly in Holst windband territory.
Oskar Lindberg was a composer of popular organ and choral works. I have previously reviewed his Requiem, an impressive score of richly melodic bent. It is hardly surprising he veered towards these particular genres, as he was organist at the Engelbrekt Church in Stockholm for forty years. He also taught music at the city’s Royal College of Music. A homebird by inclination, he never strayed further afield. His orchestral music includes one symphony, two rhapsodies, four suites, five symphonic poems and six small orchestral pieces. Two of the works on this release, the Symphony and Fiddler Per, He Fiddled are receiving their world premiere recordings.