Volume 2 of Anderson's Orchestral Bon-Bons

 

While the cover lists two of Leroy Anderson's more famous miniatures, of the 15 on this recording, it is the longer works which drive my interest.

The Harvard Festival is an Anderson-ian version of Brahms' Academic Festival Overture. The composer uses four  Harvard School Songs, with a terrific organ finale. It is  preceded by a short fanfare, where the two Eastern seaboard works go well together.

The other is the 12-minute Suite of Carols for String Orchestra, soon to be followed up in the other entries with Brass and Woodwinds. An arrangement of Handel's Where'er You Walk is deftly orchestrated by Anderson.

Like the first volume, Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Concert Orchestra work their magic on me most through the slower numbers - Forgotten Dreams and Horse and Buggy, as well as the oddly stark and modal Whistling Kettle. The rest are smiling gems, including both jazz works, the legato and pizzicato.

With the short timing, one wonders if Naxos' five volumes could have been condensed to four...

Review from 2024

Volume 2 of the Naxos Leroy Anderson series continues with a mix of the well-known amongst rarities of the composer’s orchestral miniatures.

The standout works are the longer works: the Harvard Festival, which contains an unexpected organ finale, and the Woodbury Fanfare which opens the program, and the Suite of Carols which close the program.

Everything in between is a lovely traversal of Leroy Anderson’s populous, picture-postcard gems. I might prefer the nostalgia-laden works, like Forgotten Dreams and Horse and Buggy, but each on the recording are Americana bon-bons of whimsy, wit, and sheer delight.

As always, Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Concert Orchestra give these works a plush, Romantic sound and plenty of personality.

Listen on YouTube

Works
A Harvard Festival (6:13)
Suite of Carols for Strings (12.27)

Performers
Alistair Young, piano
David McCallum, trumpet
BBC Concert Orchestra
Leonard Slatkin, conductor

Label: Naxos
Year: 2008
Total Timing: 54.51

 

All of these volumes will be a delight to listen to.

I really liked the first entry, and as long as there is a nice mix of the unknown with the well known, the rest should be a joy to visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find more Leroy Anderson recording HERE!