A British Account of Recent American Music

Cover of the Orchid Classics album being discussed (from the Presto Music Web page)

Last month, after about a week’s delay from the original plan, Orchid Classics released Midsummer Light. Michael Poll conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, but what piqued my attention was that all three of the composers on the album were American. The most familiar of these was Samuel Barber, the only composer no longer living. Violinist Jack Liebeck was the soloist in a performance of Barber’s Opus 14, his only concerto for violin and orchestra. The “overture” for this “program” was “Midsummer Music” by Byron Adams, born in 1955. The concluding “symphony” was the “Sinfonietta for Classical Orchestra” by Adams’ contemporary, David Conte.

Many readers probably know that Conte is based here in San Francisco, teaching composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Sadly, I have had few opportunities to experience his music in performance in spite of that proximity. In fact, it has been almost exactly a year since I last encountered a performance of his music when the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus performed the second movement from his “Elegy for Matthew Shepard” at Davies Symphony Hall.

As might be guessed, the “Sinfonietta” is more abstract with less of an “agenda.” The middle movement has the title “Elegy;” but Conte’s notes for the program book do not indicate any connection to his choral elegy. Rather, they dwell in his approaches to interplay among the different instrumental sonorities. As a result, “Sinfonietta” serves as a companion to Barber’s concerto, which also explores different sonorities to provide “context” for the violin soloist.

It is also worth noting that the booklet included in the album provides its own explanation for how the overall program was organized:

Midsummer Light brings together three works that explore lyrical expression within American modernism. Rooted in a neo-romantic tradition that nonetheless embraces 20th‑century harmonic innovation, formal clarity, and lyricism, these pieces stand in deliberate opposition to the hyper‑rationalism of mid‑century serialism and the stark minimalism that followed. These composers cultivate rich tonal palettes, transparent orchestration, and emotional directness that assert a distinctly American voice.

Those that read my account of last night’s performance of “Rewilding” by Gabriella Smith by the San Francisco Symphony may wonder if I am more comfortable in the last century than I am in the present. Granted, the two living composers on this album are old enough to have been Smith’s teachers. Nevertheless, I feel I have had a healthy share of music from the last few decades; and those experiences have balanced perfectly well in the context of the past century. Personally, I am just glad to have the opportunity to experience several contrasting generations of living composers!