OLIVER DANIEL
updated: 01/23/2006

Seven Fragments from Shelly. w/ the Roger Wagner Chorale.

Valentine Waltzes. Composer at the piano.

Two Pieces for String Orchestra. Izler Solomon; MGM Chamber Orch. [Very early (1928) and now almost forgotten Copland works, these are surprisingly gentle and lyrical. One would guess, oh, I dunno, Arnold Bax or somebody! Well worth getting to know.]

Rounds for String Orchestra. Golschmann; St. Louis Symphony

" " " " . Izler Solomon; MGM Chamber Orchestra

Sinfonia Pacifica. Carlos Surinach; MGM Chamber Orchestra.

Three Gymnopedies. " " " " " [It took some chutzpah to compete with Erik Satie/Maurice Ravel when it came to writing "gymnopedies", but Ms. Glanville-Hicks – who looks, on the cover, like the sternest, hatchet-faced bull-dyke ever to wield a ruler in one of those S & M "girls’ school" English classes once so common in the classier variety of porn literature –had plenty of it. While nobody, I think, would describe her as a "major composer", everything I’ve heard by her has a distinct and very quirky personality; a rather French penchant for elegant surfaces and emotional reticence, with periodic forays into self-consciously madcap parody and intentionally heavy mannerisms. Her Etruscan Concerto bubbles along merrily, presenting the listener with one surprising turn after another. These two pieces reinforce that those impressions, and as this was the first recording of them I’ve heard (indeed, it may be the only recording ever), I have to shout it into the Void: the Gymnopedies are every bit as stately, mysteriously evocative, and hypnotically beautiful as Ravel’s orchestrations of the famous Satie piano trifles that inspired them. Surinach, as usual, leads sturdy, dedicated readings, and MGM, as usual, almost sinks them in one of the driest, most lifeless acoustics to be heard since the desiccated early period of Studio 8-H, where Toscanini flogged the NBC players into terrified life-or-death intensity, totally oblivious to the ugliness of the sound RCA was preserving on their recordings. But never mind the sonics – this is terrific music.]

String Quartet (1952). The Julliard String Quartet. [Another splendid example of Fine’s richly-colored, highly accessible brand of neo-classicism; he died too soon. His reputation today might equal that of Copland, had he lived another decade or two.]

Poem for Flute & Orchestra. William Kinkaid, flute; Ormandy; Philadelphia Orchestra [I can’t imagine a more exquisite performance of this lush and confident tone poem than the one Willy Kinkaid delivers here. Sheer virtuosity coupled with opulent tone and lovely phrasing.]

Four Pieces for Orchestra ("Over the Pavements". "The Unanswered Question", "Hallowe’en", and "Central Park in the Dark, Forty Years Ago"). Vladimir Cherniavsky; the Polymusic Chamber Orchestra.]

Sonata No. Two for Violin & Piano. w/ Elliot Magaziner, violin; Frank Glazer, piano.

Trio: Largo. w/ Magaziner; Glazer; and David Weber, clarinet.

The Hollow Men. Sidney Baker, solo trumpet; Izler Solomon; MGM Chamber Orchestra

Music for Strings. Izler Solomon; MGM Chamber Orchestra. [Lovely & inventive score, as are most of Mr. Porter’s works. Why doesn’t this guy show up on concert programs? I know, I know…sigh…]

Hollywood Carnival. Composer conducting the MGM Chamber Orchestra. [MGM’s hard-working "house" conductor here displays some pretty zany chops as a composer, throwing every movie-music cliché he can think of into a blender and swirling the mixture around into a heady froth. Quite enjoyable. Audiences, unless composed entirely of brain-dead businessmen dragged to the hall by their wives, would eat this up.]