FRY: Santa Claus Symphony / Niagara Symphony

This CD has rightly received lots of critical attention and just about as much critical praise. And who is William Henry Fry? A contemporary of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, he was the first native-born American to write music for large orchestra. In his own day he was probably most esteemed as a music critic for major papers and as an opera composer, though his work is derivative. (Belini is said to have been his primary inspiration.) As an orchestral composer, he was known through tours of the Julien Orchestra, which gave the Santa Claus Symphony and The Breaking Heart hearings before appreciative audiences. It's not hard to understand why: The Breaking Heart is just what a 19th-century audience from the swites wanted to hear. It is an extended salon piece that happens to be scored for full symphony orchestra, and though it has all the saccharine and sentimental qualities of its genre, it is beautifully scored and shows genuine craftmanship.

This is true as well of the dramatic Macbeth Overture, written in the last year of Fry's life and apparently never performed. While it, too, has sentimental touches supplied through what sounds like ballet music from one of Belini's operas, it also has some impressive writing for winds, especially the trombones, which give it an especially demonic quality.

The Niagra Symphony, also probably unheard in Fry's day, makes a glorious noise with its battery of eleven timpani and cascading strings and winds, but it is a one-trick pony compared with the other music on this disk, most notably the Santa Claus Symphony, whose program, though naive, provides some truly memorable music. If you're not a fan of the orchestral music that Belini and Verdi supplied for their operas (and I'm not), the opening fanfare and march to celebrate the birth of Jesus may sound unredeemably hoked-up to you. But the jaunty music that Fry supplies for the family Christmas party, for Santa's arrival (complete with sleigh bells and whip), and for Christmas morning around the tree has all the countrified charm of a Currier and Ives print. Fry's metamorphosis of Adeste Fidelis into the grand peroration of the "finale" ends this "symphony" (symphonic poem, really) on just the right celebratory note. Along the way there are some colorful contributions from the strings (the snowstorm, in which a doublebass solo represents a lost and freezing traveler!), the soprano saxophone (a lullaby), and the high bassoon (Santa's music). The Scottish orchestra turns in some very fine playing in all this highly pictorial music, and Tony Rowe conducts with just the right emotional balance so that the composer's naive charm doesn't devolve into bathos.

The recording is excellent too. It conveys a large acoustic admirably without cloudiness: Every bit of coloristic detail is crystal clear. This is music, and music making, that you'll be happy you came to know.

William Henry Fry's "Santa Claus Symphony" is actually one movement made up of several mini-movements, or whatever. In the absence of a program, your ears will be confused by the start/stop nature of the "symphony." Luckily, the notes tell us most, or much, of the story that is illustrated by the music--a snowstorm, a party, Santa's arrival, etc. All the listener has to do is know where he or she is. I, myself, started reading the notes somewhat past the double bass solo, so I was as lost as the guy in the snowstorm.

The "Niagara Symphony" needs no program--and what would that be, anyway? ("Water falls. Water continues to fall. Etc.") This music is static in form and therefore eminently easy to follow. It is also superbly majestic and evocative. Even without knowing the title in advance, the listener will guess he is hearing something epic being described. ("Water. I see water. Lots of it.") Orchestrationally, this piece is the 19th century's answer to Ferde Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite."

But the killer track is the "Macbeth" overture, a superbly dramatic work almost in a league with Tchaikovsky. And "The Aching Heart" is a beautifully-written light piece not nearly as maudlin as its title. It is deceptively simple in the best Viennese tradition.

Listeners as impressed as I am by this composer might want to check out the Fry piano work on "The Wind Demon and other 19th Century Piano Music" CD (on the New World label).

This disc is not what I thought it would be...and I am glad for it! Release from the Royal Scottish National Orchestra is composed of four delightful orchestral tone poems. Each is fun in its own way.

Yet the Santa Claus Symphony was not what I was thinking it would be. It is amazing how much my expectation of music about Santa has been shaped by twentieth/twenty-first century commercialism. This music was a great antidote to my biases. I enjoy its inventiveness and its palpably felt joy. The carol motif at the end is especially wonderful.

The best of the other three pieces is the Macbeth overture. It is really a great piece that probably deserves a broader audience. Hopefully this disc will win it one.

If you want some great, original music, you could do worse than this disc (especially at Naxos prices). I recommend it wholeheartedly.