Antheil: Symphony No. 3; Capital of the World; McKonkey's Ferry; Tom Sawyer; Hot Time Dance

COMPOSERS: Antheil
LABELS: CPO
ALBUM TITLE: Antheil
WORKS: Symphony No. 3; Capital of the World; McKonkey's Ferry; Tom Sawyer; Hot Time Dance
PERFORMER: Frankfurt RSO

Hugo Wolff
CATALOGUE NO: 7770402

In 1936, the versatile George Antheil



spent the proceeds of his column



of advice to the lovelorn in Esquire



magazine on a tour of the southern



and western United States. His



American Symphony was written



mostly during this trip, though it was



revised in the 1940s and remained



unperformed for some time even



after that. It’s effectively a travel



diary, mixing hymns, tangos, jazz



rhythms and down-home songs à la Stephen Foster with echoes of



Mahler, Sibelius and Shostakovich,



in what might politely be called an



episodic manner. Certainly, for all its



attractions along the way, it doesn’t



begin to hang together as a fourmovement



symphony.



In this latest instalment of CPO’s



Antheil series, it’s coupled with less



ambitious works from the 1940s



and 1950s. The overture McKonkey’s



Ferry, inspired by the famous



painting of Washington crossing



the Delaware, has uncomfortable



moments of Soviet-style tubthumping.



More successful is a



suite from the ballet Capital of the



World, based on a Hemingway short



story set in Madrid, which gains



in coherence from the consistent



use of Spanish colouring. The



performances are generally idiomatic



and confident, if occasionally a



little stolid; the recording, though



exaggerated in its front-to-back



perspective, is clear. Anthony Burton