Leroy Anderson: Orchestral Music, Vol. 2

More of Leroy Anderson's Easy Listening Americana

When I was a kid I thought Leroy Anderson's music was the best there was. (This was, of course, before I discovered Bach, Beethoven and Brahms.) His music was omnipresent on the radio -- remember when classical music was everywhere on the airwaves? -- and somehow it represented all that was quintessentially American. Now that I'm a grownup and possibly a little more sophisticated I can hear Anderson's music for what it is: beautifully crafted light music drenched in simple values, patriotism and nostalgia. It is the musical equivalent of Norman Rockwell's illustrations. Anderson's music sold like hotcakes in the 40s and 50s but I don't think I've heard any of his music live for a good three decades; its fashion has passed. Still there is a place for it, and possibly not just for fossils like me.

This is the second of what will be a series of recordings of all of Anderson's music. And we're the better for that. (The first in the series is here: Leroy Anderson: Orchestral Music 1 - Piano Concerto / The Golden Years / Fiddle-Faddle - Jeffrey Biegel, Piano / BBC Concert Orchestra / Leonard Slatkin.) He wrote more than the familiar 'The Typewriter', 'Fiddle Faddle', 'Bugler's Holiday' and 'Blue Tango'. The Anderson family -- the composer died in 1975 -- have released a number of pieces for their first recordings. There are plenty of those pieces on this disc but it also includes such familiar entries as 'Horse and Buggy', 'The Waltzing Cat', 'Jazz Legato' and 'Jazz Pizzicato.' I was struck by the sweet 'Forgotten Dreams', the racing 'Home Stretch', the tango 'Girl in Satin', and devilishly intricate 'March of the Two Left Feet.'

Leonard Slatkin, for all his international renown, is as American a conductor as we're likely to find these days, and he's a perfect choice for these recordings. He conducts the spirited BBC Concert Orchestra. The pianist Alistair Young (featured in 'Forgotten Dreams') and trumpeter David McCallum (featured in 'Song of Jupiter') also deserve mention.

Recommended for those who have a taste for finely crafted, melodious, and beautifully orchestrated, consistently good-natured music.

Scott Morrison June 26, 2008

The lost world of Leroy Anderson

Three months after volume 1, here's volume 2 in Naxos's complete orchestral works; I think there's 3 (or maybe 4) more discs to come. This one offers 5 first recordings as well as more familiar fare such as The Waltzing Cat. I enjoyed volume 1, my fears that I would suffer an overdose of too-sweet light music proving unfounded. Importantly, Anderson's gift for a good tune was accompanied by great skill as an orchestrator, so there's always plenty of variety and the idiom doesn't pall. The music is very much of a particular time - to someone such as myself who was born around the time of the latest compositions on this album, Anderson's music always conjures up images of a fifties America that seems long gone. Those pieces from 1970, then, certainly don't sound like 1970 (the year of, for example, George Crumb's Black Angels and Philip Glass's Music With Changing Parts). Fortunately, music may change but popular taste isn't obliged to change with it, and I suspect there's a new audience out there now for a proper Anderson revival.
As for this volume, I find I enjoyed it even more than its predecessor. Why this might be, I'm not sure - there just seemed to be more highlights. Or perhaps the BBC Concert Orchestra were more settled in the idiom - these pieces were recorded a year after the first volume. Anyway, the highlights include some of the premieres, such as the nice bright Woodbury Fanfare that kicks off the disc, the oddly baroque-sounding Whistling Kettle, and the Lullaby of the Drums, which is guaranteed not to send anyone to sleep. Another gem is the March of the Two Left Feet, a manic dance with tricky off-beat percussion. The disc ends with 2 examples of Anderson's orchestrations of music not his own: Song of Jupiter is a version of Handel's Where'er You Walk, with trumpet, and the Suite of Carols is - well, you can probably work that out yourself (unusually for Naxos, the individual pieces aren't separately tracked here).
So, if you're already an Anderson fan there's no need to hesitate, and if you've not yet sampled the series, I'd recommend this ahead of volume 1 (which is also recommended!). April 29, 2008

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