Lloyd: Symphony 12 & The Serf Suite

 

Symphony no. 12 lies more in a nostalgic vein, rather than a heroic one. If this symphony is generally more introspective, there is still plenty of scurrying and big climaxes for Lloyd lovers.

As with many of the composer's longer symphonies, there is a lot of variety across its three-sectioned, one-movement, 40-minute runtime. In the first 15-minute section of the Twelfth Symphony, listeners get the long lines, alongside twee marches, perky scherzos, and big brass moments.

As I have seen the trend in these later symphonies, Lloyd is centrally concerned with orchestral color here. With each portion of this opening section, there exist the Romantic strings, the celebratory brass, the impish winds, and the unusual casting of percussion, particularly those which require mallets.

The middle, 12-minute Adagio slows things down and focuses on the strings and wind solos. This section, as might be expected, is emotionally wistful, expertly crafted, with a beautifully paced  overall dramatic arc.

While Symphony no. 12 is generally untroubled, it is the 14-minute third movement which attempts to insert mischief amongst the orchestral calm. The finale contains a wonderful musical argument, where Lloyd is particularly cogent in saying goodbye to his listeners with thrills and thematic ideas. Here, the composer sends the listener off on a gentle note instead of a burst of energy, the latter of which can be typical of Lloyd.

As with each of George Lloyd's twelve symphonies, the composer leads his own works on recording with strength, feeling, and vision. The Albany Symphony Orchestra is incredibly receptive to the composer and his music, and I doubt he could hardly ask for better advocates at his disposal.

On the Lyrita set of Lloyd's Symphonies 7 -12, the Twelfth is paired with the orchestral suite from his opera The Serf. I have not heard the source material from which this suite was extracted, but apparently the composer was quite adept at operatic settings in his early career. This recording lists this work as Orchestral Suite no. 1, so I can only surmise there is an unrecorded Orchestral Suite no. 2 somewhere? Let's get on that!

In any case, Lloyd has taken excerpts from various Acts of The Serf, where I assume any singing lines have been ported over to the instruments. The movements Woodlands and Sicily are the only two portions which were meant as orchestral preludes, so it may be safe to assume what we hear in the concert suite is what we would hear in the opera.

After listening to Lloyd's entire symphony cycle, it is interesting to hear the composer working within short movements, each maybe 3-7 minutes in length. He certainly gets right down to business, where musical ideas are explored with immediacy, and any dramatics are taken care of in short measure. This isn't a criticism, but where his symphonies and orchestrated choral works are conceived on such a larger scale in comparison, it is now interesting to hear Lloyd working within a frame of musical efficiency.

Of course, hearing this music out of its frame of reference from a story and its natural development isn't as intended, it seems to work just fine. The Deciso movement contains the most of Lloyd's orchestral personality, at least in my opinion, while the final two movements offer light, colorful modernism. Otherwise, I can't say I am overly taken with this music, but there are many lovely portions to speak of.

The Serf Suite is the only moment in the aforementioned Lyrita set where a conductor other than Lloyd himself is leading his music. In this case, it is David Alan Miller, a stalwart champion of Americana on record with the Albany Symphony Orchestra and its Albany Records label. They do fine work here, and it is always a pleasure to hear this team exploring music together.

 

 

 

 

Works
Symphony 12 (41.01)
The Serf: Suite (37.39)

Performers
Albany Symphony Orchestra
David Alan Miller, conductor
George Lloyd, conductor

Label: Albany
Year: 1990-2001

 

 

 

 

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