Reuben Blundell and the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra: American Discoveries
New Focus Recordings

As he did with the three-volume American Romantics project, Reuben Blundell shows himself to be as much archeologist as conductor with this presumed inaugural chapter in the American Discoveries series. Once again the Manhattan-based Music Director of the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra (LSO) has unearthed previously unrecorded material from the Fleischer Collection in Philadelphia, for this recording orchestral works by three female composers, Priscilla Alden Beach (1902-70), Linda Robbins Coleman (b. 1954), and Alexandra Pierce (b. 1934). One imagines Blundell's already assembled a short-list of candidates for the next instalment, given that the Collection currently boasts more than 22,000 titles.

Any one of these well-crafted works would be a rousing and energizing addition to a symphony's concert programme, and they collectively benefit from the LSO's exuberant handling. The two single-movement pieces, Beach's City Trees (1928) a four-minute scene-setter and Coleman's For A Beautiful Land (1996) an oft-rhapsodic ode to her home state of Iowa, are joined by Pierce's Behemoth, in five short movements (1976). While the works span nearly seventy years, they form a complementary trio, the result a pleasingly cohesive presentation. The three were recorded at the Upper Darby Performing Arts Center in Drexel Hill, Philadelphia between November 2019 and February 2020. As the accomplished performances suggest, Blundell has built a strong rapport with the LSO, which he has led as Music Director for seven seasons.

Written in an A-B-A form, Beach's City Trees frames its heroic central section with languid episodes. A peaceful pastoral scene is evoked at the outset before the music rises majestically, with the orchestra's horns, strings, and woodwinds giving luscious voice to the composer's writing. Opening with a fanfare, Coleman's For A Beautiful Land celebrates the richness of Iowa's land and people with rhapsodic music that, similar to Beach's, conjures images of nature in all its resplendence. Allusions to birds appear when woodwinds intone against a backdrop of strings, but For A Beautiful Land isn't a one-dimensional portrait: turbulent moments also arise during this rather Copland-esque creation, as do waltz sequences in 6/8 that infuse the homage with a careening, Bernstein-like feel.

Drawing for inspiration from The Old Testament's "Book of Job," Pierce's five-movement Behemoth distills timeless questions about human existence and struggle into dramatic musical form. Consistent with text that describes a creature as having bones “as tubes of brass” and limbs “like bars of iron,” the music is sometimes powerful and darkened by ominous chords and aggressive percussion gestures. The short second movement lightens the mood with a scherzo-like rumination, percussion heavily featured as strings and woodwinds establish a querulous tone, after which the tremulous central movement emphasizes the timbral richness oboe, French horn, and harp bring to an orchestral arrangement. The brief fourth part features percussion prominently, with flourishes of timpani, cymbals, snare drum, and temple block laying the ground for the final movement, which is both predictably agitated and robust and unpredictably tinged with burlesque character and irreverence.

Admittedly, one aspect of the recording does puzzle: at thirty minutes, the release is more mini-album than genuine full-length and could easily have accommodated the inclusion of another work by a fourth female composer. Regardless, multiple parties clearly benefit from American Discoveries, starting with Blundell and the LSO: in pursuing such a project, the conductor instantly distinguishes his ensemble from others; the composers naturally benefit in having their works rescued from obscurity; and the listener is gifted with heretofore unfamiliar material entirely deserving of attention.

June 2021