Ron Nelson: Fanfare for the Kennedy Center; Savannah River Holiday; To the Airborne

Review

Veteran American composer Ron Nelson is probably the only musician in the world to have his work recorded by both redoubtable Eastman-Rochester Symphony maestro Howard Hanson and pop group the Carpenters. Nelson has made his strongest mark in symphonic band literature, and he is regarded as a major figure in those circles, though concurrent recognition on mainstream classical disc releases has been slow in coming. In his seventh decade as a professional composer, Klavier's Ron Nelson: The Composer's Voice, featuring the Keystone Wind Ensemble under Jack Stamp, is nevertheless only the second all-Nelson disc to enter the catalog. However, it is worth the wait; Stamp and the Keystone's performances of the eight Nelson works here are crisp, focused, and polished, and Keith Young is vibrant and authoritative in the tricky solo part to Nelson's concerted alto saxophone piece Danza Capriccio (1985). Concert saxophonist Young, also featured in the only other recording of this work, made with piano only, pitches in again as soloist; saxophone players will rejoice that a version with full symphonic band is finally available.

Nelson's music hoes its own row, and that is not a { welve-tone} row. It touches on different, familiar-sounding avenues of contemporary American composition; cinematic gestures, a little bit of Broadway here and there, the high-flying Americanism of Copland and Richard Rodgers, not to mention the occasional gaggle of twisted up dissonance, or even utilizing sound effects, such as sheets of corrugated metal representing lightning bolts in Mayflower Overture, for good measure. Yet it doesn't sound written for a movie or a show; Nelson writes to commission from symphony orchestras and concert venues, and his music is clearly meant as concert music. Nor does it sound like Copland, Rodgers, or, for that matter, John Williams. It remains strikingly original, avoids pastiche, and remains strongly communicative within rather narrowly proscribed streams of stylistic endeavor.

At the end of the disc, there is a 20-minute interview with Nelson, which is highly interesting, informative, and sheds a good deal of light on his work, his roots, and preferences. One wonders if it might have offered more value to place this on Klavier's website and to include 20 minutes more music in its stead. Moreover, we are never told who the interviewer is, and the sound quality for this segment is far below that of the rest of the recording, though in itself the interview is clear and intelligible, though very canned in sound and low in volume. Nevertheless, this is a valuable entry in the Ron Nelson discography and brings us a bit closer to the man and his work than has yet been the case on most CDs. ~ Uncle Dave Lewis, All Music Guide

Tracks + Soundclips

Performances