American Orchestral Works.(Sound recording review)

American Orchestral Works. Carlos Kalmar, Grant Park Orchestra. Cedille 90000 090.

This album of contemporary American orchestral works includes five relatively short pieces that are advertised as making their recording premieres. I must admit I didn't care overmuch for many of them, which may explain why they have never been recorded before, but I must also admit that there are parts of some of them that are distinctly worth pursuing.

Things begin with a kaleidoscopic affair by composer Barbara Kolb, a ten-minute morsel called All in Good Time (1994). It's supposed to represent a rhythmic development of time, and it does indeed stop and start quite a lot on its way to its end. Fortunately, there are a few cute surprises along the way and it makes for some fascinating listening. This piece is followed, though, by two rather gloomy works, Aaron Jay Kernis's Sarabanda in Memoriam (1997) and Michael Hersch's Ashes of Memory (1999). Call me a barbarian, but I found no solace, comfort, joy, or life in them whatsoever; maybe I wasn't supposed to, given their titles. I know the usual retort to such a criticism is to say that I simply ...