With the demise of its longtime home, the Telarc label, the
Cincinnati Symphony has decided to go it alone with its own Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Media label. On Telarc the orchestra was known for splashy audiophile recordings of symphonic favorites, and the graphics here, with American flag and the
American Portraits title, might lead you to expect a group of patriotic favorites, perhaps including
Copland's Lincoln Portrait. But look more closely: this is an innovative release by the orchestra and outgoing music director
Paavo Järvi, featuring contemporary music. The only composer who is anything close to a household name is Pulitzer Prize winner
Jennifer Higdon, represented by a vigorous Fanfare Ritmico. All the music has been previously performed; this represents
Järvi's effort to identify music that might stand up to repeat performances. Much of it is programmatic, and perhaps the most pleasing of the bunch in Michigan composer
Carter Pann's SLALOM, explicitly designated as "a taste of the thrill of downhill skiing." It opens with the timpani strokes of the Scherzo of
Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, and, according to the composer, lasts "precisely the amount of time I need to get from Storm Peak (the peak of Mount Werner, Steamboat Springs) to the mountain base." The two works by
Cincinnati Symphony-associated composer Charles Coleman are both representational; Deep Woods is inspired and closely connected to a painting by Charles Yoder. Jonathan Bailey Holland's Halcyon Sun is a mood piece commissioned for the opening of Cincinnati's National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Only
Higdon's piece and Kevin Puts' lightly minimalist Network are more abstract. Will releases like this stimulate the creation of an established repertoire of contemporary American works? There are promising signs here, and
Järvi and the
CSO are to be commended for realizing that you'll never know until you try.