Christopher Rouse: Symphony No. 5; Supplica; Concerto for Orchestra
Naxos American Classics

American composer Christopher Rouse passed away in September 2019, which means he wasn't alive to witness the formal release of this recording by the renowned Nashville Symphony conducted by music director Giancarlo Guerrero. But given that the three works were recorded in October 2017 and April 2019, it's very possible he heard the performances in their pre-released form. Regardless, one imagines he would have been delighted with the outcome: while no interpretation can ever be deemed definitive, these treatments collectively serve as both an excellent recorded addition to a distinguished body of work and a wonderful representative sampling of the Pulitzer-winning composer's music.

Born in 1949, the Baltimore-born Rouse initiated his composing career at a time when the writing of traditional orchestral music was considered passé in some circles; he turned that notion on its head by composing material of integrity that resonated with contemporary music audiences without pandering to them. He received for his efforts critical acclaim and popular success and saw his works regularly performed throughout his lifetime. There are many appealing things about this current release, among them sequencing. Two half-hour pieces, Rouse's fifth symphony (in its world premiere recording) and his Concerto for Orchestra, frame the gentler Supplica, which plays somewhat like a slow movement at the centre of two behemoths. That makes for an extremely balanced presentation that works strongly in the release's favour.

Every composer writing a fifth symphony can't help but be aware of Beethoven's looming presence, and Rouse is no exception; in fact, the first piece of classical music he was exposed to was Beethoven's fifth, which he heard at the age of six. Its impact was immediate and long-lasting, and in recognition of it Rouse decided that when it came time for him to write his own fifth, he would pay tribute by using a four-note rhythm at the start of his own creation. Rouse's parts ways with Beethoven's thereafter, however, when the material advances through multiple sections and wends between passages marked by consonance and dissonance. Though it's presented as a single-movement piece, separate parts within it are discernible, and Rouse himself refers to distinct movements within the work, even if he also notes that there is a “blurring of lines between movements in the traditional sense.” Consistent with that, the material unfolds fluidly, and agitated, blustery episodes rub shoulders with peaceful ones as the thirty-minute piece methodically develops. The mighty allegro that inaugurates the piece gradually gives way to a serene passage ten minutes in that follows shimmering strings with a plaintive horn spotlight, the episode tinged with mystery and entrancement as it slows to near-stillness and grows ever quieter. A satisfying structural design asserts itself in the return of a robust allegro that brings the piece to its dynamic conclusion.

The mood immediately changes with the advent of Supplica, an elegiac setting whose title is Italian for ‘entreaty' or ‘supplication.' Consistent with that, the twelve-minute piece is distinguished by an intimate, prayer-like quality that's amplified by the reduction of the orchestra to horns, brass, harp, and strings. Though serenity and peacefulness reign once more, it's disrupted when a central section sees dissonance-tinged strings swelling aggressively and joined by brass. Quietude reimposes itself, however, and a lone horn figure emerges against the strings, the gesture recalling Ives's The Unanswered Question.

In place of the standard concerto where a single instrument and soloist are featured, Rouse's Concerto for Orchestra is something of a ‘hyper-concerto' that allows multiple sections opportunities to shine. Rather than being an inelegant stitching together of solo parts, the concerto registers as an orchestral work first and foremost that includes within its episodes emphasizing specific instrumental groupings. De-emphasizing that ‘hyper-concerto' aspect even more, Rouse incorporates dramatic contrasts in tempo and dynamics. The full colours of the orchestra are called upon in a panoramic piece that, like the fifth symphony, balances moments of turbulence with ones of delicacy and grace. One comes away from the piece cognizant of the virtuosity of the musicians in the different sections but more engrossed by the work as a complete entity.

September 2020