American Place (An) / Eventide / Out of the Dark

Album review

Composer Kenneth Fuchs is nearing the age of 50 as Naxos American Classics series issues the first all-Fuchs disc that is all orchestral music as well. The key work here is An American Place, a movement lasting a little less than 20 minutes that Fuchs describes as "reflect(ing) the palette of musical sounds that developed in the United States in the last hundred years." The obvious reference point here is Copland with a dash of Hollywood scoring here, a pinch of Stravinsky and the employment of some minimalistic ostinati without going into full-bore minimalism itself. Apart from itemizing the influences that go into this work, An American Place is a very listener-friendly piece that would keep an average symphony audience quiet and attentive, rather than restless and bored, which is what symphony patrons dread the most about contemporary compositions. It is a fine piece of music as long as one doesn't get hung up on how much some of it sounds like Copland, and whether the "open"-sounding chords in "American vernacular" orchestral harmony truly reflects musical "Americanism," or is rather a broadly drawn cliché.
The slightly earlier Eventide is a concerted piece for English horn and orchestra that sounds very French; it is pleasant, although the wisps of melodic material employed do not constitute a true melody. The much earlier Out of the Dark is technically not concerted, but features a prominent solo horn part. This work is more like being back at the academy, with its twelve-tone rows and pitch class sets, although Fuchs' approach is a tad warmer than that description might suggest. Nonetheless, Out of the Dark is an odd disc mate for the other two works.
Former director of the School of Music at the University of Oklahoma and currently installed in the same position at the University of Connecticut, Fuchs has been in arts administration and teaching for 20 years. Composers holding down such jobs usually do not produce music that is entertaining in a broad sense, nor of lasting value. Kenneth Fuchs is at least trying to depart from this convention, and for this reason, American Classics: Kenneth Fuchs might be stimulating to expert ears; more general listeners should have no problem enjoying An American Place. Conductor Joann Falletta is a long-time champion of Fuchs and she does very well by him here. The London Philharmonic turns in a performance of such quality that many of Fuchs' colleagues among orchestral composers will be justifiably envious.

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