Rouse, C.: Iscariot / Clarinet Concerto / Symphony No. 1

Album review

The pair of Christopher Rouse recordings by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is notable in terms of exposing this American composer to the rest of the world. True, conductor Alan Gilbert is also American, but the commitment on the part of a high-end Swedish label that has chosen its repertory with great care shows that Rouse, the original orchestral neo-Romantic, has made the transition from iconoclasm to international recognition. Either of the BIS albums could serve as an introduction to this composer, who draws inspiration from the late German Romantics (the Symphony No. 1 on the present release is especially influenced by Bruckner and quotes that composer's music) but somehow conveys a contemporary emotional landscape. The other release, containing the Symphony No. 2 and the gigantic Gorgon, with its massive battery of full-tilt percussion, may be the prime choice for those wishing to experience a team of crack engineers as it surmounts big challenges. But this album is equally good. The program is a balanced triptych, with the dark, carefully developed Iscariot (Rouse in his notes merely says that beyond the usual connotation of the name the work is "privately autobiographical" and not biblically oriented) and the Symphony No. 1 framing the zippier if not lighter Clarinet Concerto. That work, like the Flute Concerto on the other release, contains passages that push the soloist to the limit, and BIS' remarkable wind players spectacularly succeed in each case. Recommended for those interested in the pressing question of how to define the large symphony orchestra as a continuing institution. One wonders how the Berlin Philharmonic might do with Rouse, but really it's hard to imagine that they would substantively improve on this recording.

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