MacDowell: Suites Nos. 1 And 2 / Hamlet And Ophelia

There are several reasons why this CD represents a useful addition to the catalog. First, the "First Suite" is not otherwise available on disc, and while it is not earthshaking, it is a pleasant and competent late-Romantic piece. Second, the "Second Suite" is not available in modern digital sound, and it should be. Third, "Hamlet and Ophelia" shows the literary MacDowell at his (again, less than earthshaking) best, and this a side of the composer we don't often hear.

The "First Suite" as elements of the fairytale about it, especially in its first ("In a Haunted Forest") and last ("Forest Spirits") movements. The notes to the recording speak of the Mendelssohnian quality of the latter movement, but really MacDowell has a heavier hand about him, and despite delicate touches, the suite sounds more like Wagner and Liszt than Mendelssohn--typical MacDowell, that is. Pleasant though the suite is, it could just as easily have been penned by the likes of Raff, Goetz, Joachim, or Bruch (on a bad day) as by the American composer.

The "Second Suite," once highly popular, is meatier and sticks in the mind better. It purports to portray what MacDowell called "the manly free rudeness of the American Indian," though like Dvorak's "American" music, MacDowell's has as much of the Old World about it as the New. Here, that's not such a bad thing, as the level-headed German approach keeps the "Dirge" from sounding maudlin, as it might, and gives heft and profile to the "Legend" and "Village Festival," where the presumably authentic Indian melodies aren't as catchy as MacDowell hoped they'd be. Still, the suite is a fair piece of music and worth hearing whether you're a MacDowell fan or not.

"Hamlet and Ophelia" is interesting because it represents one aspect of MacDowell that isn't widely explored on disc or in performance. The piece started life as two separate character studies that the composer later pieced together. In this form, the work sounds like a minature character symphony a la Liszt's "Faust Symphony." MacDowell's Hamlet is a brash and daring fellow with a tender side, so his music is dramatic, a bit pompous. Ophelia's is about what you would expect--sweetly melancholy. "Hamlet and Ophelia" is a good Germanic tone poem as it stands, but since the ending to Ophelia's section is a quiet one, the piece almost cries out for a more dramatic close. If MacDowell were still around, I'd suggest he take a lesson from his friend Liszt and add a third section on Hamlet's antigonist Claudius, of course tossing in the final swordplay from "Hamlet" for thrills. Maybe even a choral apotheosis of Hamlet, a la Liszt.... But MacDowell isn't around, and probably the whole enterprise would sink of its own weight. So what we have of "Hamlet and Ophelia" will have to do, and it does its job well.

So do Takuo Yuasa and the Ulster Orchestra, an unlikely pair, especially in such German-American fare as this. But Yuasa's sense of drama keeps the music very much alive and, in the case of the "First Suite," even makes it seem better than it is. The players are with him every step of the way, and the recording is quite fine. I recommend this disc.

There is a tendency to put down the music of Edward MacDowell. The reason for this is partly historical. Throughout the early and middle part of the Twentieth Century, American musicologists and educators spent a lot of time discussing what represented "Americanism" in music. After a lot of fuss, the experts decided that jazz music sounded American and represented a truly national musical style.

That argument probably made some sense until rock-n-roll completely displaced jazz as the musical style of choice among ordinary Americans. That happened sometime in the 1950's and 1960's. Jazz has never recovered the foothold that it once held, and nowadays, jazz performers are about as hip as their symphonic musical colleagues.

The difficulty of trying to discover a national musical art form in America is that the culture is too large and the population is too diverse. Grieg, Dvorak, and Sibelius may represent truly nationalistic composers from their small, homogenous countries. Unfortunately, the United States, a place made up of almost every nationality on the planet, has many sub-cultures. Punk, hip-hop, rock, country, folk, and Broadway are all quintessential "American" styles. For that matter, so are Wagner and Puccini, since the U.S. has a sizeable population of Germans and Italians.

The point is that it is ludicrous to put down MacDowell because he does not sound "American" enough when we cannot even determine what sounds distinctively "American." MacDowell, of Scotch-Irish heritage, studied in Germany. Well, what of it? Virtually every 19th Century musician wanted to study there since Germany represented the musical nation par excellence. Yet MacDowell does not truly sound German. It is, in fact, unlikely that any German could have or would have written the "Indian" Suite. MacDowell's music sounds "American" in the way that Elgar's sounds "British." It is indefinable when you look at chords and charts yet distinctive when you listen to the rugged quality of the music.

My advice to music lovers is to just listen to this music. MacDowell was a melodist of the same rank as Schubert and Tchaikovsky. The "Indian" Suite contains some beautiful, moving moments as well as some terrifying ones. MacDowell seems to understand the tragedy of Native Peoples in the Americas. The melodies will move you if you let them. Admittedly, the other works are not as good because they represent MacDowell in a formative period, but the "Indian" Suite is worth ten times the cost of this recording.

Edward MacDowell could hardly be accused of being particularly original, but he was a skilled craftsman with a certain melodic gift. His music is staunchly romantic, more than anything reminiscent of European composers such as Raff, Mendelssohn and Grieg, only occasionally showing that he belonged to a later generation. The two suites comprising the main part of this disc was apparently rather popular back in the days. They are picturesque, sometimes idyllic and atmospheric, and rather unassuming - certainly they don't put any demands on the listener. Written in the 1890s they nevertheless contain little that ventures far beyond Mendelssohn.

The first suite contains five movements, "In a Haunted Forest", "Summer Idyll", "In October", "The Shepherdess's Song", and "Forest Spirits", and they are skillfully painted impressions exhibiting exactly the moods that the titles suggest (the haunted forest is hardly particularly ominous, though). The melodies are flowing and appealing, though rarely memorable, and if the music is rather predictable it is nevertheless quite lovely. The second suite consists of "Legend", "Love Song", "In War-time", "Dirge" and "Village Festival". This time around there is some evidence of looking into some Native American influences, though MacDowell never attempts to do more than scratch the surface - the music sounds overall more archetypically European than anything else. Nevertheless this is once again finely wrought, attractive music, sure to provide much pleasure and enjoyment.

To round off the disc we get the 13-minute tone poem Hamlet & Ophelia, which started life (apparently) as two separate tone poems that were later not quite successfully melded together. Once again there are some decent themes (the music attempts to portray the characters rather than tell any particular story), but the construction is loose and the music does occasionally seem to meander. The performances are at least pretty convincing - yes, the Ulster Orchestra under Takuo Yuasa stays on the safe side, but that is presumably the right way to do things in music like this, and at least the orchestral contributions are good - as is the sound quality. In sum, this is a pleasant, enjoyable disc, worth hearing if hardly having the potential to take anyone aback.