John A. Carollo: Symphony No. 3
Navona Records

The release of John A. Carollo's third symphony brings with it an intriguing backstory. In the late 2000s, English soprano Sharon Selman, with whom he'd connected via MySpace, asked him to write her a song cycle about nature and suggested William Blake's poetry as a source; acting on her suggestion, he composed Awake Humanity to Nature's Beauty! (two versions eventually created), which in turn led to the composer repurposing it a decade later into symphonic form. Though the third symphony is an instrumental creation (notwithstanding the presence of a wordless soprano in its third movement), Carollo conceived of the lyrical work as something of a love story that traces the interactions of a couple over the course of a single day.

The route leading to this Navona Records release was, as it so often is, circuitous. After dedicating his time since 1987 to a career as a mental health counselor and social worker with the State of Hawaii, Department of Health, Carollo retired from public service in 2006 to compose full-time. The release of his debut album Ampersand led to an association with PARMA Recordings and a series of recordings, including the company's 500th, The Transfiguration of Giovanni Baudino, in 2017 and Music from the Ethereal Side of Paradise a year later.

Recorded in early 2019 at London's Air Studios, Symphony No. 3 is treated to a stellar performance by the London Symphony Orchestra under conductor Miran Vaupotic's direction; in fact, a better rendering by another orchestra would be hard to imagine, so seemingly definitive is this one. With Carollo's music developing organically and flowing fluidly through the four movements, the symphony almost creates the impression of a single-movement work, albet one with a decidedly episodic design.

Opening with a romantic ode to the early hours, “To Morning” radiates a pastoral quality, the work's journey inaugurated by woodwinds and a mounting swell in dynamics and expansion in orchestral sound. With silken strings added, the playing achieves fullness without at the same time losing a sense of delicacy. The focus is more on mood and texture than on declarative melodic statements during this alternately dramatic and serene opening part. Agitation characterizes the opening moments of “Gestural Rituals,” with the full orchestra infusing Carollo's material with intensity; here, too, however, energized passages alternate with calmer ones, the playing exemplifying a powerful physicality in the former and a relative stillness in the latter. Piano and mallet instruments are prominently featured, which helps give the movement distinguishing character.

The work's romantic dimension blossoms noticeably during “In the Garden of Earthly Delights,” woodwinds, piano, violin, and soprano Emma Tring amplifying the emotional intensity of this adventurous third part. Carollo does something unusual here in treating the voice as another instrument (albeit a forceful one) in the orchestra rather than have it dominate as it customarily does. In keeping with its title, the contemplative closing reverie “Let the Evening Stillness Arouse” exudes a wistful, yearning tone as darkness approaches. The artistry of Carollo's writing and orchestration is perhaps most clearly evident in the quieter passages that wend through this quietly triumphant finale.

October 2019