Symphony No. 4; The Ocean; The Culprit Fay.

Hadley: Symphony No. 4; The Ocean; The Culprit Fay. John McLaughlin Williams, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Naxos 8.559064.

According to the booklet note, in 1933 the Musical Courier called John Kimball Hadley (1871-1937), "probably the most important composer in the contemporary American musical scene." He wrote five symphonies, numerous choral, piano, and operatic works, toured the world with various orchestras, and founded the Berkshire Music Festival. Such is the fleeting nature of fame that Naxos are left to revive him in their "American Classics" series of budget recordings.

The opening piece on the album is a tone poem called "The Oceans," written in 1920. It jumps right into the fray with a long, tempestuous passive expressive of a raging sea. The waters finally calm to a ripple, only to explode later into greater fury and then settle down once more. The tonal commentary here is reminiscent of the evocations of English composer Arnold Bax. The second piece on the disc is another tone poem, this one called "The Culprit Fay," 1908, based on a popular nineteenth-century poem. The music is about a fairy who loves a mortal maid, ...