Rose of Sharon – 100 Years of American Music 1770-1870 – Ensemble Phoenix Munich/ Joel Frederiksen – Harmonia mundi 902085, 71:45 ****:
As a well-organized and finely considered concept album, this one pretty much defines the term. It is a lot to bite off though—American music in this particular hundred years period is actually a lot vaster and more expansive than can possibly be caught on one well-filled album—but as an introductory sampler, this is really good stuff. One hopes that it won’t stop here, and that Frederiksen and company can talk Harmonia mundi into another outing. That might depend on public reaction to this one, which should be positive.
It is a sampler, conveniently divided into six different categories, loosely chronological from the American Revolution to the Civil War: The Battle for Freedom, The Father of American Choral Music (Billings), Shape notes and Singing Schools, Shaker Spirituals, Music from the Civil War, Revival Meetings and Spirituals. All of the selections are fairly short in nature, save Billings’s colossal God is the king, which runs about nine minutes. And one is able to discern a “scarlet thread” running through a lot of this music that links the varied times and places of composition and usage, something no doubt unintended in the selection, but present and making a very important point anyway.
That point would be the very discernible European origin of much of this music in terms not only of style but also of literalness as well—several of the tunes bear remarkable similarities to European folk songs and ditties, no doubt lingering in the back of the minds of every composer on this continent at the time. But the modalism and melodic turns in a lot of it are uniquely of the American country, doing what every country does when inheriting a musical language from another place—keeping the foundational material and adding the twists and turns that are special to the particular locale. Hence much of the Shaker music sounds especially Appalachian in nature (whatever we determine that to be) while the music of Billings, even though essentially self-taught, bears a resemblance to a more cosmopolitan style undoubtedly learned in the crossroads city of Boston. Billings, but the way, died in poverty and his music faded from public hearing for many years, though the last century saw a huge revival which has continued until now, and he was even inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
All the performances here are noteworthy, very idiomatic, and passionately sung with a great deal of enthusiasm. Hard times come again no more can’t quite match the EMI version on the “American Dreamer” album with Thomas Hampton and company, and I must admit that the four voices we hear on this album cannot beat a full choir when belting out some of the shape note and Billings music (which can be found on other Harmonia mundi recordings), so I can’t say it would be my preferred mode of presentation. But the connection among these styles is fascinating, and Frederiksen and his Ensemble Phoenix Munich, singers and players, are very fine indeed. An easy recommendation for everyone interested in this music, and that should be just about everybody.
TrackList:
White, BF: Lay me low; Carey: The Morning Trumpet; Phile: He comes, the hero comes!; Anonymous: The President’s March; Anonymous: The Death of General Wolfe; Anonymous: Jefferson and Liberty (The Gobby O); Billings: America; Billings: God is the king; Billings: I Am the Rose of Sharon; Anonymous: The Gentleman Soldier; Anonymous: Leander; Anonymous: Drumdelgie; Ingalls: Northfield; Anonymous: Captain Kidd; Walker, W: Wondrous Love; Anonymous: Come life, Shaker life; Anonymous: O love, sweet love; Anonymous: Now, my dear companions; Anonymous: Who will bow and bend like a willow; Anonymous: My carnal life; Anonymous: Stubborn Oak; Anonymous: Tis the gift to be simple; Anonymous: The Army of the Free; Anonymous: Maryland, my Maryland; Webster, JP: Lorena; Emmett, DD: Dixie’s Land; Wood, A: Dance me a Jig; Foster, SC: Hard times come again no more; Anonymous: Sinner Man; Warner, MM: Hear, O Lord, when I cry
— Steven Ritter