Santa gets a Symphony

The news here is the relative rarity of the very early American composer William Henry Fry.

Fry falls in line around the time of US composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Each portray their own brand of early Americana adventurousness, even if they sound a mite old-fashioned and less inspiring than their European counterparts from the same Era.

His music is very pictorial, except perhaps for The Breaking Heart, a work which, along with the Niagara Symphony, does a lot less for me compared to the rest of the program.

Macbeth and the Santa Claus Symphony, on the other hand, are a riot however, even if the music lays on the conservative side. Fry does toy around with musical structure, and he is fairly successful at melodic ideas.

A review from 2015:

William Henry Fry’s dates are probably closest to that of Robert Schumann, composing firmly in the romantic era, but in America. It is this comparison that makes Fry’s music all the more remarkable, for he certainly has a singular compositional voice that, while based in the romantic European style, deserves a nod of recognition which this recording of four of his programmatic works provides. While The Breaking Heart and Niagara Symphony seem to be the lesser of the program featured here, Niagara in particular, looks ahead to what Richard Strauss will do with his Alpine Symphony and what Berlioz was innovating in his orchestrations. Fry’s Christmas Symphony and Macbeth Overture are certainly more successful, with Macbeth dramatic and tuneful, and Santa Claus encapsulating the programmatic tone poems of Liszt, Mendelssohn , and Strauss, although Fry gives his own Euro-American bent. For these two works, this recording is worth its price in gold!

Tony Rowe and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra play with spirit in these world premiere recordings, giving some rare American works a fair shake. While the brass was sounding a little rough and the strings a little less than full (Berlin Philharmonic they are not), the performance is still great and the occasion of performing these rare works seems to buoy the Scottish orchestra’s energy and Rowe’s direction is certainly fine.

 Listen on YouTube

Works
Christmas Symphony (26.14)
Macbeth Overture (10.33)
Niagara Symphony (13.39)
Breaking Heart (10.48)

Performers
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Tony Rowe, conductor

Label: Naxos
Year: 2000
Total Timing: 61.13

 

This is a strange addition, but worth a listen.

Fry is both conservative and forward looking, even if this program is not particularly impressive as a whole.

Find more Fry music HERE!