The title of this release by the
Kansas City Symphony
and conductor
Michael Stern
is a little off; it is the music of
Brahms
that is reimagined, not the orchestrations, but this is an enjoyable and beautifully performed release with some unusual material. What is impressive is that the three works each offer a different approach to the orchestrator's art.
'
11 Chorale Preludes, Op. 122
, were the last things he wrote (in memory of
Clara Schumann
, who had died only a short time before). They were orchestrated in the 1950s by
Virgil Thomson
, who might seem an unlikely candidate, but he was always an eclectic-spirited figure. He makes the
11 pieces
into more of a single unit than
may have intended, setting each one with a different orchestral approach so that they display new textures as they proceed and seem to fall into a logical sequence. The chorales in this version seem to float by as passing ideas. The entr'acte is
Bright Sheng
's
Black Swan for orchestra
, a version of the
Intermezzo in A major for piano, Op. 118, No. 2
; despite the retitling, this is the most straightforward of the three orchestrations, although
Sheng
's orchestra is quite large. Perhaps the best-known item here, although it is hardly commonplace on orchestral programs, is
Arnold Schoenberg
's orchestration of
Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25
. This is also the most unconventional of the group, with percussion running wild in the finale, and
Stern
does well to give the whole piece a nervous, modern flavor; at times, it actually sounds as much like
Schoenberg
as it does like
. Doubtless, there will be listeners who feel that one shouldn't fool with
, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, arrangement and transcription were common ways of hearing his music, and
didn't feel he was doing something particularly unusual.
Reference Recordings
' sound from Helzberg Hall in Kansas City is clear and detailed, and this is a fascinating look at how composers from various periods have heard the music of
. ~ James Manheim