Diamond: Symphonies 2 & 4 / Concerto for Orchestra

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
If ever there was an American romantic composer, it's David Diamond. His music is strictly tonal, abounding with colors, contrasts, and surprising change of moods. Symphony 4 (1945) is more of a tone-poem, brief, to the point, filled with all kinds of changing harmonic structures. Concerto for Small Orchestra (1940) has curious Coplandesque flourishes that lead into more introverted passages, nonetheless nostalgic in temperament. His Symphony 2, composed in 1942-43, is a dark, turbulent work, perhaps reflecting a world at war; yet its strength is in its meditative character. Gerard Schwarz does an admirable job, but the Delos ambience could be sharper than it is. --Paul Cook

Diamond: Symphonies 2 & 4 / Concerto for Orchestra, Music, David Diamond, Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, 20th/21st Century Symphony, Classical, Classical Music, Concerto, Symphonic

David Diamond: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4
Average customer rating:

A pretty good recording

Nice to have, for two tracks

Valuable Reissue from the Schwarz/Seattle Diamond Series

David Diamond: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 4

Manufacturer: Naxos American
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Symphonies | Forms & Genres | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music
Modern & 20th Century | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Classical | Styles | Music
4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
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Roy Harris: Symphonies Nos. 7 & 9

Walter Piston: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 6

ASIN: B000260QEM
Release Date: 2004-06-15

Tracks:

Adagio Funebre
Allegro Vivo
Andante Expressivo, Quasi Adagio
Allegro Vigoroso
Allegretto
Adagio - Andante
Allegro

Album Description

"To me, the romantic spirit in music is important because it is timeless." These words by David Diamond capture the essence not only of the composer himself, but of an entire generation of American composers whose heartfelt music was born during the Great Depression and World War II. Symphony No. 2 begins with an elegiac slow movement whose textures recall the "American" sound of Copland as well as the lean beauty of the Adagio finale of Mahler's Ninth Symphony, countered by the optimism of the concluding rondo, based on a jaunty, unmistakably "American" theme. Symphony No. 4, dating from the final year of World War II, is a compact, probing work created at a time when Diamond was preoccupied with thoughts of mortality. It concludes, nevertheless, wth an assertive and exuberant finale which breathes the fresh air of the American outdoors.

Customer Reviews:

A pretty good recording.......2005-08-13

This is a pretty good recording of Mr. Diamond's work. Sounds a good bit like Copland in places (I don't know which came first).

Nice to have, for two tracks.......2005-06-19

Gerard Schwarz, the conductor and strong Diamond advocate, calls the Second "arguably the greatest American symphony." As a Believer, Schwarz makes the strongest possible case, performance-wise, for these works.

I was impressed with the first two movements of the Second Symphony, but the rest sounded like too much 40's-style notespinning. If you're looking for the Great American Symphony, try the Barber First, the Schuman Third, the Harris Third, the Shapero, or best of all but hard to find, Sebastian Currier's "Microsymph." If you're looking for good music of the period, subperbly performed, this recording can't be beat, and the price is right.

Valuable Reissue from the Schwarz/Seattle Diamond Series.......2004-06-27

"It is my strong feeling that a romantically inspired contemporary music, tempered by reinvigorated classical technical formulas is the way out of the present period of creative chaos in music...To me, the romantic spirit in music is important because it is timeless." -- David Diamond

Amen to that. This CD is a partial reissue of a Delos CD which came out in 1990 at the time of David Diamond's 75th birthday. The Delos also contained the 13-minute 'Concerto for Small Orchestra,' which I presume will be coupled with something else in this ongoing Naxos reissue of the whole series of Diamond recordings made by Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony from that time.

Symphony No. 2 reminds me of the comment Schoenberg made to Diamond when the latter asked about the possibility of study with him. Schoenberg said, 'Why do you need to? You're the new Bruckner...I never meant [the twelve-tone technique] for everybody." This symphony is surely Diamond's most Brucknerian, not so much in its sound as in its unhurried long-spanned structure. Indeed, I've always thought of this four-movement 43-minute work as really consisting of two long Brucknerian movements arranged so: 1 2 | 3 4, where 1 & 3 are elegiac and lyrical adagios leading directly to 2 & 4, which are vigorous allegros. Further, material from 1 reappears in 3, as material from 2 recurs in 4. The slow movements are threnodies; the symphony was written in 1942-43, during America's early days in the uncertainties of World War II. They contain much soft, slow-moving mostly string music with treading soft timpani, melancholy Coplandesque solo woodwind melodies and low brass interjections; the overall effect is that of hieratic elegies that occasionally rise to anguished or triumphant climaxes. The two fast movements share material that is distinctly American sounding and they display Diamond's expert manipulation of harmony (e.g., 'walking tenths' creatively re-harmonized) and energetic and inventive rhythms, the latter spiked by chordal brass interjections that surely were inspired by big band arrangements of the time. My only quibble with the Second Symphony is that is overstays its welcome somewhat, particularly in the second movement, which could have conveyed its optimistic message more concisely. The fourth movement, however, does that refreshingly. If you know the finale of Randall Thompson's Second Symphony you'll have some idea of the spirit of this fourth movement.

The 16-minute, three-movement Fourth Symphony, possibly Diamond's most-played, was written at the end of the War and premièred by the young Leonard Bernstein, substituting for an ailing Koussevitzky. The three movements, Diamond tells us, are based on G.T. Fechner's notions of life and death: I - a continual sleep; II - the alternation between sleeping and waking; III - eternal waking, Birth being the passing from I to II and Death from II to III. (I am indebted to the booklet notes newly written by Steven Lowe for this Naxos reissue.) Be that as it may, the Second is an immediately emotionally engaging work that, if one doesn't know the 'program,' can be heard primarily as a superbly crafted, harmonically exciting, melodically attractive work whose movements are Allegretto - Adagio - Allegro. Diamond's admiration for the clarity of Ravel (and his early study with Nadia Boulanger) is apparent here. The form is crytal clear notwithstanding the soft edges of the music itself. One hears echoes of the blurry impressionistic orchestrations of Martinu, say, coupled with pastoral and chorale-like melodies. The third movement, with its jazzy brass and asymmetric 'urban' rhythms could not have been written by anyone other than an American, and they leave one invigorated.

These performances are not likely to be bettered any time soon. The lifelike sound on this release is virtually indistinguishable from that on the original Delos release which can still be found for purchase, but Naxos's budget price trumps the Delos alternative.

Recommended.

TT=59:19

Tracks:

Symphony No. 4: Allegretto
Symphony No. 4: Adagio-Andante
Symphony No. 4: Allegro
Concerto for Small Orchestra: I. Fanfare - Prelude And Fugue I
Concerto for Small Orchestra: II Prelude And Fugue II - Interlude - Transition
Symphony No. 2: Adagio funebre
Symphony No. 2: Allegro vivo
Symphony No. 2: Andante espressivo, quasi adagio
Symphony No. 2: Allegro vigoroso

Amazon.com

If ever there was an American romantic composer, it's David Diamond. His music is strictly tonal, abounding with colors, contrasts, and surprising change of moods. Symphony 4 (1945) is more of a tone-poem, brief, to the point, filled with all kinds of changing harmonic structures. Concerto for Small Orchestra (1940) has curious Coplandesque flourishes that lead into more introverted passages, nonetheless nostalgic in temperament. His Symphony 2, composed in 1942-43, is a dark, turbulent work, perhaps reflecting a world at war; yet its strength is in its meditative character. Gerard Schwarz does an admirable job, but the Delos ambience could be sharper than it is. --Paul Cook

Customer Reviews:

full many a gem.......2003-06-13

An ideal introduction to the music of David Diamond (b. 1915), this CD served, at least for a time, to bring attention to a neglected American master.

Diamond's music blends Romantic and neo-classical elements; it is superbly crafted, distinctively personal, readily accessible, and universal in appeal--a welcome relief from the noisy, chaotic offerings of many of his contemporaries. If you like the music of Walter Piston, Howard Hanson, Roy Harris, Randall Thompson, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and William Schuman, odds are you will also like Diamond, who merits a distinguished position in the pantheon of American orchestral composers. Like Hanson, Thompson, and Barber, the specifically American elements in Diamond's musical language are subtle, and like Piston, Harris, and Schuman, Diamond is first and foremost a symphonist. This disc presents excellent recordings of perhaps his two finest symphonies.

The Second is a grand war-time piece, lasting nearly 43 minutes. It's an epic symphony, in the tradition of Bruckner and Shostakovich (two composers who might come to mind as you listen to this work). Whereas most great American symphonies strike one as being relatively "busy" and compact, Diamond's utterance here unfolds at a leisurely pace, ushering one toward genuinely sublime pinnacles of expression. Its impact is immediate and deep. When the Boston Symphony Orchestra finished rehearsing it for the first time, the players broke into spontaneous applause. I honestly can't think of a more expansive and ambitious symphony by an American composer--perhaps only the "Thirds" of Hanson, Schuman, and Copland approach it in this regard.

The Fourth is a much more compact and perhaps even more assured and personal work. It's a scintillating, gem-like study in contrasting moods with a magical, atmospheric opening. The Concerto for Small Orchestra makes a very fine bonus work, in which lively fanfares alternate with introspective contrapuntal passages.

Unfortunately, Delos has apparently gone out of business. The good news is that Naxos is now reissuing some of their recordings. One hopes that they will pick up where Delos left off on this cycle of Diamond orchestral recordings by the incomparable Schwarz/Seattle.

An Overlooked American Composer.......2000-07-15

I am so pleased that the Seattle Symphony has released this series of CD's with music by composer David Diamond. There is something distinctively American about Diamond's style but without sounding like Copland. The 2nd and 4th Symphonies are very accessible for neophyte Art Music listeners yet they are sophisticated enough to make one wonder why we don't hear more or know more about this National Treasure. I hope that Seattle continues to record and release these works: they well deserve attention.

Track Listings:

Track Listings

Polka Dots & Moonbeams

Live Licks [Import]

Wild Child [Import] [Original recording remastered]

You're The Reason I'm Living/I Wanna Be Around [Import]

Weber - Spohr - Crusell: Clarinet Concertos / Emma Johnson

White Trash Christmas

Welcome to the St. James' Club

Vitalogy

Viva Palmieri [Import]

Ya No Soy un Iracundo [Enhanced]

Just Jimmy Reed

Heroes