Anderson, L - Orchestral Works, Vol 1 [CD]

Before getting this disc I knew a handful of Anderson's works but nothing here. This album is the first in a projected series of his complete orchestral works, with some premiere recordings promised (on this volume, the Sousa-like Governor Bradford March). My test of a good "light music" disc is, if by the end I don't feel a desperate need to listen to something like Reger's solo viola music then it's a good one. This went down a treat. My own preferences are for the quirkier pieces, the quirkiest of all being The Classical Jukebox, complete with needle-stuck-in-groove effect (which the booklet notes point out will not have any meaning for listeners below a certain age - thanks, make me feel old, why don't you!). But everything is enjoyable here. I didn't warm to the piano concerto at first, largely because I felt Anderson had strayed a bit from his strengths - not out of his depth or anything, just that when you think "piano concerto" the competition is rather strong - but having it on in the background a day later it fitted in nicely with the rest. Unless you really want to get all of Anderson's best-known pieces on one disc, I guess this is as good a place as any to start hearing this entertaining music.

This and the following four Naxos (vols 2,3,4 &5) Cd's were recorded so as to form a Tribute to Leroy Anderson in time for his centenary in 2008.
Leroy Anderson is a rare species,a truly unique composer.
Where Mahler and Bruckner can take up to 2 hours,and Wagner even longer to expound their musical themes, Anderson does it all in about 5 minutes,and often much less.I think you could call them "condensed symphonies" containing as they do such lyricism,invention and above all gentle humour.
The 5 CD's in this release contain ALL Andersons orchestral compositions.They are played here with affection, but above all heart felt conviction by the BBC Concert Orchestra,conducted by that Anderson champion Leonard Slatkin.
I leave others to review individual tracks, a hard job when there are 5 CD's!
I would urge you to buy all 5,and given the bargain price that they are selling at it's not difficult.
Once you have heard them you won't want ever to be without them again.

To those of us of a certain age, the music of Leroy Anderson represents the ne plus ultra of American light symphonic music. From the mid-1930s on Anderson was encouraged and his music was played frequently by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. It wasn't long before his music was being played by practically every ensemble in the country. One of his pieces, 'Blue Tango', even topped the popular hit parade for almost four months in the early 1950s. This CD is said to be the first in a series that will present all of Anderson's extant works, and it contains not only such familiar pieces as 'Fiddle-Faddle', 'Bugler's Holiday', 'Belle of the Ball', 'Blue Tango', and 'The Classical Jukebox' but others that are almost completely unknown, including his only essay in extended form, the Piano Concerto.

Not so well known are 'The First Day of Spring', a delicate dreamlike piece featuring a lovely horn melody, or 'Clarinet Candy', one of a set of pieces (including 'Fiddle-Faddle' and 'Bugler's Holiday') singling out a soloist (or soloists) from the orchestra. The 'Governor Bradford March' is the least Anderson-like piece here; it is a fairly straightforward Sousa-esque march written in honor of a Massachusetts governor in 1948; this is its first recording. 'The Captains and Kings' and 'The Golden Years' are mildly nostalgic (and perhaps ironic) celebrations of time gone by. 'China Doll', 'Arietta', and 'Balladette', those less known, are obviously on first hearing from Anderson's unmistakable pen.

The Piano Concerto, played here by pianist Jeffrey Biegel, has not had much play since its première by Eugene List in 1953. Anderson withdrew it as he was dissatisfied with its first movement. (I frankly think the jazzy fugato in that first movement is one of the best things in it.) He talked of revising it but never did. His widow released it for public performance in 1989 and it has had a few airings since that time. Like all Anderson's music, it is melodic and distinctly American. Slatkin, the BBC Concert Orchestra and Biegel give it a fine performance.

For those of us who have known and loved Anderson's music these past fifty or more years, this CD is self-recommending. For those who are unfamiliar with it, the music here will be ingratiating.

Scott Morrison