The All Star Orchestra cond. by Gerard Schwarz, Programs 11 & 12 (2015)

by | Jul 23, 2016 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

The All Star Orchestra, Programs 11 & 12 (2015)

Music: RICHARD STRAUSS, W.A. MOZART, SAMUEL JONES
Director: Habib Azar
Producers: Gerard Schwarz & Paul Schwendener
Studio: Naxos (9/11/15)
Video: for 16:9 screens
Audio: PCM stereo
Language: English, no subtitles
All regions
Length: 114:00
Rating: ****

A very rewarding addition to a very important series.

The American conductor Gerard Schwarz completed an unprecedented twenty six year tenure as music director of the Seattle Symphony in 2011. During that time, he took that ensemble from being one of the many quite good, but largely unknown, city orchestras in the country to what is still seen as one the nation’s best. I have seen Schwarz conduct and he is an unassuming but highly gifted interpreter and communicator.

Therefore, it does not surprise me at all that the performances here are top notch. We get a very fine rendition of the Richard Strauss Ein Heldenleben as well as that of Mozart’s “Posthorn” Serenade, K.320 featuring horn soloist David Bilger. I was also very pleased to discover that each of the programs in this series does feature one or two “core” classics, carefully chosen by Schwarz, as well as a world premiere. In the six DVDs that comprise this wonderful series there are first performances of pieces by Bright Sheng, Philip Glass, Ellen Taafe Zwilich, Richard Danielpour, Samuel Jones, David Stock, Augusta Read Thomas, Bernard Rands and Robert Beaser. Jones is represented twice, having served a composer-in-residence period with Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony. His Violin Concerto, heard here with the amazing Anne Akiko Myers, is a very fine piece and an excellent addition to the already rich contemporary violin concerto repertory.

A word about The All Star Orchestra. This – along with this splendid educational performance series – was Schwarz’s creation and was literally his next big project since stepping away from Seattle. This whole project was constructed as a week-long festival series in live performance in New York and a subsequent television series. The members of this orchestra (and to quote the narrated introductory track) are indeed “some of the country’s greatest musicians.” Members come from quite an array of organizations including the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the ‘Mostly Mozart’ Festival orchestra to name but some with multiple representation. I am guessing by looking at the roster that, for most of these fine players, there is a connection to Gerard Schwarz in some way and, for them, this wasn’t just a ‘gig.’ The quality attests to the same.

I am embarrassed to admit that I was not aware that this series existed but I am highly motivated to go seek out the rest. This makes for either a very enjoyable listening experience or – better yet – an educational ‘great works’ survey for high school or college. I was also very impressed that most of the commentary and “explaining” that the introductory footage to each program provides is done by some of the orchestra’s principal players (such as “what exactly is a ‘posthorn’?”), not solely by Schwarz (how refreshing!)

I choose not to do a comparison thing with the works recorded here and pick my brain and my collection trying to say what the ‘definitive’ version of Ein Heldenleben or the “Posthorn” Serenade may be. That goes against the very splendid purpose of this entire amazing series and suffice it to say, the performances here of all three works; as well as the works themselves, are excellent and well worth your while. Highly recommended!

[Amazon has the earlier volumes of DVDs available, but not this one yet at time of writing…Ed.]

—Daniel Coombs