COMPOSERS: Grofé/Ives
LABELS: Decca Phase Four
WORKS: Grand Canyon Suite; Orchestral Set No. 2
PERFORMER: London Festival Orchestra/ Stanley Black, LSO & Chorus/Leopold Stokowski
CATALOGUE NO: 448 956-2 ADD (1963/70)
It was Ferde Grofé who orchestrated Rhapsody in Blue for the young George Gershwin, and the experience he gained found an outlet in the colourful sonorities of the Grand Canyon Suite – a stunning portrayal of natural scenery with minimal intrusion from man. It’s American through and through, as, in its own way, is Ives’s (partly choral) Second Orchestral Set. You cannot go wrong with this disc. The music is fascinating, the playing magnificent, and the ‘wide screen’ sound gives it a gripping immediacy. Wadham Sutton
GrofŽ/Ives
It was Ferde Grofé who orchestrated Rhapsody in Blue for the young George Gershwin, and the experience he gained found an outlet in the colourful sonorities of the Grand Canyon Suite – a stunning portrayal of natural scenery with minimal intrusion from man. It’s American through and through, as, in its own way, is Ives’s (partly choral) Second Orchestral Set. You cannot go wrong with this disc. The music is fascinating, the playing magnificent, and the ‘wide screen’ sound gives it a gripping immediacy. Wadham Sutton
Our rating
5
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:06 pm