GEORGE ANTHEIL : Symphony No 3 »American« (Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt · Hugh Wolff) (2004) Two Version | APE + FLAC (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

Here Hugh Wolff leads the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in the third volume of a series surveying the orchestral music of George Antheil. It's hard to imagine how Wolff and his crew are going to be able to top this one, as it brings together some of the cream of this repertoire in flawless, sharply etched performances that are big-boned and relentlessly exciting. Antheil's Symphony No. 3 "American" is a great American symphony, easily qualified to take its place of honor alongside the "Third" symphonies of his contemporaries Roy Harris and Aaron Copland. By the end of the 1940s Antheil was the third most frequently performed American composer in concert halls after Copland and Samuel Barber, but this exalted reputation did not survive his early death in 1959. In listening to the "American" Symphony one wonders why not, as it has all of the necessary hallmarks; big city complexity, open prairie landscapes, memorable tunes, and nervous, incessant rhythms derived from jazz. Everyone who loves the "American vernacular" style of the 1940s should hear this work. Antheil's Third was premiered under conductor Hans Kindler in 1945, but this CPO disc represents its first appearance on any kind of issued recording.

Likewise making their bow are two equally solid and enjoyable "vernacular" works, Antheil's delightful Tom Sawyer Overture and the rousing Hot-Time Dance. Both McKonkey's Ferry Overture and Capital of the World have been recorded several times, but they have never sounded better as they do here.

The only complaint here is about the notes by Eckhardt van den Hoogen. They are highly informative, but gossipy, and deal in great detail with aspects of Antheil's life that are not relevant to the music at hand. Perhaps van den Hoogen is afraid CPO will not be taking the series beyond this volume, and is trying to get in all the material he can, but most of it is more appropriate for a full-length biography of the composer and not a set of liner notes. Nonetheless, everything else about this CD is just simply great, and it should be your first choice for the orchestral music of George Antheil. Uncle Dave Lewis  

GEORGE ANTHEIL (1900-1959)
Symphony No 3 »American« (1936-39/rev. 1946)    (25:02)
Tom Sawyer »California Overture« (1949)    5:25
Hot-Time Dance (1948)    4:24
McKonkey's Ferry Overture (1948)    9:03
Capital Of The World - Suite In Three Movements (1953)    (17:08)
Credits :    
Conductor – Hugh Wolff
Orchestra – Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt

GEORGE ANTHEIL : Symphony No. 3 'American' · Symphony No. 6 'After Delacroix' · Spectre Of The Rose Waltz · Archipelago · Hot-Time Dance (BBC Philharmonic · John Storgårds) (2019) Tree Version | WAV + FLAC (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

The fortunes of American composer George Antheil declined after his daring Ballet Mécanique, an accompaniment to a Dada film by Fernand Léger. He wrote film music, which shows up as an influence in the music on this release by the BBC Philharmonic and Finnish conductor John Storgårds. And he flirted with jazz and with major classical styles of the day, never quite finding a fully original voice again but always maintaining an appealing level of ambition. Storgårds is the latest of a diverse group of conductors (including Eugene Goossens) to champion Antheil's orchestral music, and he's not as unlikely a champion as he might seem. Finns have always been enthusiastic programmers of Russian music, and Antheil's models here are Russian: Shostakovich, principally, and to a lesser extent Prokofiev. This is true even in the case of the Symphony No. 3, subtitled "American," whose sound collages suggest that Antheil was familiar with the music of Ives by this time, but whose finale is pure Prokofiev. The Symphony No. 6 ("Delacroix," referring to programmatic inspiration by that painter's Liberty Leading the People) brings several Shostakovich symphonies to mind, which is hardly surprising: Shostakovich appeared on the cover of Time during the war and was an extraordinarily popular figure in the U.S. Probably the strongest pieces are the short ones. The opening Archipelago is in the vein of Milhaud's Brazilian pieces but is lush, with harp glissandos and a bit of everything else, where Milhaud is concise and brisk. The little Hot-Time Dance (the reference is not to Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight but to an old election-night custom) offers a Shostakovich-like clarinet theme, but here Antheil is economical and treats the little tune in a bewitching way. The BBC Philharmonic keeps up with detailed, difficult parts and what was likely unfamiliar music. This album can be recommended to anyone with an interest in American symphonic music. James Manheim
GEORGE ANTHEIL (1900-1959)
1.    Archipelago    (6:01)
2-5.    Symphony No. 3 'American'    (24:47)
6.    Hot-Time Dance (American Dance Suite No. 1; Election Dance)    (4:33)
7-9.    Symphony No. 6 'After Delacroix'    (26:12)
10.    Spectre Of The Rose Waltz    (4:53)
Credits : 
Conductor – John Storgårds
Orchestra – BBC Philharmonic

GEORGE ANTHEIL : Symphonies 4 & 5 (Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt · Hugh Wolff) (2000) Two Version | APE (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

"The symphony is probably the most complete musical depiction of an American circus that has ever been written. There is everything in it: the music of a military band, waltzes, sentimental ditties, a Red Army song, eccentric dances - every kind of joke, acrobatic allusions and glamorous monstrosities. It is brilliant, hard, noisy, pretentious, effective and incredibly real. And all its melodies are memorable," said Virgil Thompson after the premiere of George Antheil's Symphony No. 4, subtitled "1942", in February 1944. While this review is certainly enthusiastic, the work is far more impressive and serious than it would have us believe. In reality, it is a symphony that could only have been written in this way during the Second World War and which, in Antheil's own words, expresses his feelings during this war. An equal sibling work to Shostakovich's Seventh and Eighth Symphonies. Antheil's 5th Symphony is the exact opposite, as its title "Joyous" suggests. Playful, sarcastic, full of musical irony: an orchestral bravura stroke without equal. Hugh Wolff delivers brilliant interpretations with his Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. jpc.de
GEORGE ANTHEIL (1900-1959)
Symphony No 4 »1942« (1942-43)    (33:26)
Symphony No 5 »Joyous« (1947-48)    (22:10)

Conductor – Hugh Wolff
Orchestra – Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt

GEORGE ANTHEIL : Bad Boy's Piano Music (Benedikt Koehlen) (1995) APE (image+.cue), lossless

 
 

GEORGE ANTHEIL : The Lost Sonatas (2003) APE (image+.cue), lossless

Pianist Guy Livingston has brought his considerable talents to bear on the "bad boy of music" in the Wergo disc George Antheil: The Lost Sonatas. Livingston attempts to reconcile George Antheil's late "populist" music with the clangorous early piano compositions that have become Antheil's calling card to posterity. In the process Livingston uncovers a host of masterworks from both periods, proving that in his piano music, Antheil was neither a publicity hound, a "fake" futurist, nor a slavish imitator of mid-century trends hoping to graze from the same gravy train as Copland.
In a sense, of the three late piano sonatas heard here, Sonata No. 4 has never been "lost" so much as terribly neglected; it was duly published by Weintraub back in 1951 and has been recorded a few times. However, the others, save Sonata Sauvage, have not been played in five or more decades. The Piano Sonata No. 5, which opens the disc, is a real gem, particularly the concluding Allegro, which seems to bring boogie-woogie stylings into the orbit of Prokofiev. The melting lyricism of the Adagio movement of the Sonata No. 3 may surprise some listeners, but it is not so astonishing if you understand the milieu of the short second movement of Antheil's "Airplane" Sonata.
George Antheil: The Lost Sonatas' great strength is not so much in that it introduces so many works never heard before as it shows us how much Antheil's later music is like his earlier music. Hopefully this will bury for all time the criticism of "stylistic inconsistency" that has dogged Antheil in posterity and has contributed to his neglect. Wergo's recording is perfect, picking up the piano's full range, from intimacy in the Sonata No. 3 to the blistering loudness of the Sonata Sauvage, reproducing it all faithfully. The task of playing Antheil's piano music well is in itself quite a feat. It requires the stamina and agility of a boxer tempered with the sensitivity of a poet and a mathematician's sense of logic. Livingston is the champion on all counts, and this is the best compact disc of George Antheil's piano music ever.  by Uncle Dave Lewis