Recording: Ukraine National Symphony Orchestra
This is the first piece I've listened to previously for the blog. I've never really payed close attention to it however, having listened to it for the first time on the bus a month or two ago. I'm huge fan of Paul Creston and I'm sure I'll get to all five of his symphonies eventually. For those of you not familiar with his work, Creston is a self-taught American composer who eventually taught at Central Washington University (which I bring up as a WA resident). His work is generally very tricky rhythmically, but very approachable for listeners on a harmonic and timbral level.
His Symphony #1 is no exception. I'm not sure when this was written in his composing career, but it doesn't have the rough edges of the previous two symphonies I listened to that I assumed were due to inexperience. The first movement, "With Majesty," confirmed this for me as it contrasts complex rhythmic driving sections with long soaring melodies. The way he orchestrates in this movement reminds of a more tonally approachable version of Vincent Persichetti's music at times. A characteristic that will be present in most of the movements is his use of nimble woodwind solo lines.
Movement II - "With Humor" - is surprising to me in that I was expecting something more akin to the fourth movement here. It is a very restrained Scherzo movement, with a tempo slower than I was expecting. The humor instead derives from quick timbral shifts and more awkward metric shifts. There is a lush string section in the middle that forms a nice contrast in the movement.
I think it is the third movement, "With Serenity," is where I realized just how good Creston is at planing sonorities. It is also where I realized that the thing I admire the most about his metric language is that metric changes always seem in service of his melodies and not just there for the sake of complexity (a trait I try and use in my own music). The orchestration is excellent in this movement too, I especially liked his use of soft trombones as a base for the woodwinds towards the beginning of the movement.
The fourth movement - "With Gaiety" - is easily my favorite movement, but again, I'm a sucker for lively, witty music. This movement comes out of the gate swinging with some really tricky oboe and clarinet solos. There are more soaring melodies over rhythmic backgrounds reminiscent of the first movement and the angular string parts in the background sound like they are pretty crazy for the players. There is a wonderful bassoon solo about 2:30 in. I was thinking to myself during this movement that I can see why Creston may have picked up more traction with his wind ensemble pieces as this kind of rhythmic interplay and tight focused writing is more characteristic in that medium.
Overall, I would completely suggest this symphony, but I have only run in to one Creston piece I haven't been in to in the past, so that is hardly surprising to me. Also a spoiler alert: His symphonies get better from here!
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