Christus Apollo


Telarc (0089408056000)
Telarc (0089408056024)
Musical | Fecha de estreno: 26/02/2002 | Medio: CD
 

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# Pista   Duración
1.Music for Orchestra8:16
 
Christus Apollo
2.Part I7:57
3.Part II9:07
4.Part III17:18
5.Part IV10:02
 
Fireworks
6.Fireworks8:52
 61:31
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Christus Apollo - 08/10 - Crítica de Tom Daish, Publicado en (Inglés)
In all the years that he has been writing some of the best film music in Hollywood, Jerry Goldsmith hardly ever left time to write just for his own pleasure. Unless I'm very much mistaken, this album constitutes the entire of his concert hall compositions. After being available on an appalling sounding bootleg for years, the almost mythical Music for Orchestra and Christus Apollo finally make it to CD in the newest sound format available - 6 channel SACD - but also on regular CD as reviewed here. It also features a new concert work, Fireworks written for a celebration of LA. One can't help but wonder if John Williams was too busy, but given the number of fanfares and ceremonial pieces Williams has contributed to the American repertoire, it's a refreshing change to hear something from somebody else.
My instant reaction to the album was that it would divide Goldsmith fans down the middle. Those who loved his uncompromising earlier style will get a huge thrill out of Music for Orchestra and Christus Apollo, but find Fireworks far too much of an easy listen. Those happy to hum along to Supergirl will probably find the first two pieces too difficult and love just being thrilled by the easier orchestral, well, fireworks of the finale piece. True to form, I split the vote find pleasure in all three, but would readily confess that for sheer fun and easy repeat listening value, Fireworks is the obvious choice.

Both Music for Orchestra and Christus Apollo are written in dodecaphonic form - the 12 tone system of composing. In this instance, they both take the form and turn it into a fairly unnerving experience. Music for Orchestra is a turbulent and quite wild ride that brought out Goldsmith's own turmoil and pain in a year he was going through a divorce and when his Mother was seriously ill. You can certainly feel the vibrant - I hesitate to say it, but that is the most apt description - aggression through even the more introspective middle section.

It would not be unreasonable to describe Christus Apollo as a mixture of The Omen and Planet of the Apes, both quite uncompromising in their own way. After the opening to the narration - superbly intoned by no less than Anthony Hopkins, the music starts with nervous orchestral twitching and then creeping choral murmuring. It seems surprising that Goldsmith has admitted to requiring some advice with the choral arrangements for The Omen some years after this was written since he seems totally in control of the medium. Ray Bradbury's text itself is quite disturbing and Goldsmith, as Bradbury notes, makes it fly higher which in this instance makes it more unnerving than it would be if only spoken. Mezzo Soprano Eirian James gives a superb performance with what is difficult music and an irregular libretto.

Fireworks takes a huge change in pace, compositional style and is nine minutes of orchestral fun. On a technical level it is undoubtedly less accomplished, but has a large measure of instant enjoyment. The odd time signature (7/8 if my counting is correct) gives it an urgency that similar style Williams pieces lack, together with a somewhat cleaner and crisper orchestration. Goldsmith goes for bouncing strings and unison horns, largely avoiding the florid brassy decoration of John Williams.

It seems unfortunate that Goldsmith's purely concert hall legacy will remain as this fairly small collection, especially when many of his contemporaries - notably the growing number of John Williams' concertos appearing - are releasing concert albums with increasing regularity. Then again, Goldsmith's film music suites are so good that maybe his musical legacy can remain almost entirely from the cinema. Hearing his superb suites from Planet of the Apes or The Blue Max makes one realise that films do not necessarily constrain composers, but inspire them. That is not to say Christus Apollo or Fireworks are not inspired and as a new dimension to Goldsmith's vast catalogue offer a new non cinematic insight into one of cinema's greatest composers.


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