Given the current state of world affairs, it seems a rather ambitious move on the part of Telarc Classics to release a CD entitled American Jubilee in any country other than the United States itself. While there is undoubtedly a place for patriotic music in the canon of any nation, the music's unique bond to the country of its birth can quite easily detract from its reception, an occurrence largely dependent on extra-musical forces. Quite why the record label chose to release these recordings now, after sitting on them for twenty years, is something of a mystery.
Having said that, history has shown music's ability to transcend politics, and modern-day politics should not be allowed to diminish this highly entertaining programme. The thirteen works presented here by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under Erich Kunzel can be classified roughly in three categories: arrangements of traditional melodies, orchestrations of works originally written for lesser forces, and works originally conceived for orchestra. It is generally in this latter grouping that the most musically stimulating material is found.
John Williams' Liberty Fanfare, though well performed, is fairly standard fare (pardon the pun), as are the famous 'Variations on a Shaker Melody' from Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring. However, in Morton Gould's American Salute - a theme and variations on 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home' - one finds a masterpiece of orchestration. Unfortunately, the composer's dexterous treatment of instrumental forces is hindered by Kunzel's somewhat mechanical reading. Pedantic and uninspired, it proves no match to Theodore Kuchar's rambunctious interpretation - in a more hospitable acoustic - with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (Naxos 8.559005).
More success is enjoyed in 'Jubilee' from George Whitfield Chadwick's Symphonic Sketches. At just over eight minutes, it is the most substantial movement on this disc as well as being the least overtly nationalistic. However, despite the composer's grounding in the Teutonic tradition of symphonic writing, the piece retains a distinctly American optimism in both the boisterous brass calls and the more solemn woodwind passages. Kunzel coaxes some beautiful and dynamic playing from his musicians - particularly the violins - in achieving a superb sense of the work's overall shape.
The music of Charles Ives makes a welcome appearance in the form of his Variation on 'America'. The members of the Cincinnati Pops bask in the glory of both the composer's adventurous harmonies and the ingenious orchestration of William Schuman. The three selections from Louis Moreau Gottschalk's Cakewalk also stand out as a trio of delicious lollipops, Kunzel's band selling them as convincingly as the owner of a candy store. Equally enticing is the very fine piccolo playing heard throughout this disc, particularly in Richard Hayman's arrangement of Yankee Doodle and in the wonderfully vivacious account of John Philip Sousa's The Stars & Stripes Forever.
The May Festival Chorus joins the orchestra for four of the more traditional numbers of this disc, their hearty voices adding to the patriotic fervour. Their almost unexpected entrance at the end of The Stars & Stripes Forever is enough to make the hairs on the back of one's neck stand up. They also display great sensitivity during the subdued opening of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, in which the resolute male voices are deftly offset by the countermelody of their female colleagues. God Bless America and America the Beautiful also receive attractively vibrant renditions from both orchestra and chorus (though the latter is marred somewhat by the tubular bell's errant tuning).
The acoustic of Cincinnati's Music Hall is adequate, if not entirely ideal, for this programme. Forceful tutti passages tend to make the venue sound a tad claustrophobic, and the strings can sometimes be overwhelmed. Nevertheless, this is a fairly minor caveat on what is otherwise an intriguing disc. If you are seeking an answer from across the pond to such works as Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance or Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Suite, there is plenty of agreeable music here on which the ear can feast.