KENNETH FUCHS: United Artists; Quiet in the Land; Fire, Ice, and Summer Bronze; Autumn Rhythm; French Horn Concerto (“Canticle to the Sun”) – Timothy Jones, horn/ London Symphony Orchestra/ JoAnn Falletta, conductor – Naxos 8.559335, 64:00 ****:
Based on two Grammy nominations for the first disc of Fuch’s music that Naxos produced in 2005 with the LSO and Falletta, the company has apparently decided to see if lighting will strike twice in the same place. Based on what I hear here, it may, though not everything is of consistent quality. I have made no bones about my admiration for JoAnn Falletta, and the LSO is playing like the best orchestra in the world these days, so any disc will stand a chance of success with these two ingredients. Add to the mix the amazing first chair hornist of the LSO and a concerto that serves him well, based on the poem by Francis of Assisi (“All creatures of our God and King”, etc.), and you have a winning combination. This work is startling in its technical proficiencies, based on a four-note motif that is battered and transfigured endlessly (and deliciously, and even hints of Britten in places, particularly in the scoring), and has a flowing, graceful feel to the phasing. This is an important work, and horn players especially can be glad.
Quiet in the Land is scored for flute, English horn, clarinet, viola, and cello, and is a delightful meditation on the expanses of the Midwestern United States. Fuchs indicates it was written during the time of Gulf War II, and as such provides a needed and responsible respite from hyperbole while reflecting on the true spirit of this land. Fire, Ice, and Summer Bronze seems to me the weakest work here, though by no means negligible. It is the third work of the composer inspired by the abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler, and perhaps that is the problem; the music is seems disjointed without any sort of tangible connectedness. Nicely scored, but ultimately falling just short of the meaningfulness present in these other pieces.
Autumn Rhythm is for woodwind quintet, and successfully captures the spirit of the painting of the same name, by American iconoclast Jackson Pollack, whose fantastically beautiful “drip” paintings are among the collective genius of American art. This work is brilliantly scored for the perfect ensemble, as it seems like only winds could successfully provide both the lyrical and the spiky moments so needed for such a portrayal as this. United Artists is a work for orchestra inspired by the first recording sessions that Fuchs had with the LSO–it is an effective opener to this disc, broad spaced and nicely fanfare-ish in nature.
The sound is first class here, and Naxos has done a fine service by presenting more of Fuch’s muse to the public. A definite winner all around!
— Steven Ritter
