Gallagher, Jack / Orchestral Music (London Symphony Orchestra)
| Album: | Orchestral Music (London Symphony Orchestra) | Collection: | Classical | |
| Artist: | Gallagher, Jack | Added: | Jun 2011 | |
| Label: | Naxos World | |||
Recent Airplay
| 1. | May 08, 2021: | Rebroadcast: Music Casserole
Symphony In One Movement: Threnody (21:36). |
4. | Jul 06, 2011: | consummate classical
Berceuse (5:19). |
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| 2. | Jun 20, 2015: | Music Casserole
Symphony In One Movement: Threnody (21:36). |
5. | Jun 29, 2011: | consummate classical
Sinfonietta, Intrada (5:18). |
|
| 3. | Jul 13, 2011: | consummate classical
Diversions Overture (10:07). |
6. | Jun 24, 2011: | Gilt: Cantan
Symphony In One Movement: Threnody (21:36). |
Album Review
Larry Koran
Reviewed 2011-06-05
Reviewed 2011-06-05
Gallagher, Jack / Orchestral Music
Label: Naxos
Larry K.
Reviewed 2011-06-03
Jack Gallagher is a composer mostly of orchestral, chamber, choral, and piano works, which have been performed in Europe and the USA. He is a professor of music at an Ohio college. He has an M.A. and Ph.D. in composition from Cornell, and took master classes with Copland, Crumb and Bolcom. He has an award from the Charles Ives Center for American Music, among others. All tracks except the last one make for quite pleasant listening. Melodies are lovely, harmonies are rich, orchestration full and attractive, and rhythms varied and inventive.
Diversions Overture (1986)
1. (10:07). A slow intro, then solo winds give way to a faster, tutti orchestral passage. Solo strings → brass chorale, then full orchestra and coda. Pleasant throughout. Springtime dawn at top of Grand Canyon, then bustling horseback riders and tourists make a brassy appearance à la Copland, move into the distance, where they move about actively, and become nearly inaudible before the dawn theme returns to close the piece.
Berceuse (1977) [“Berceuse” = a lullaby or cradlesong]
2. (5:19). Quietly lyrical in gently rocking 6/8. Eloquent; evokes the open prairie with the occasional tall cloud wafting by.
Sinfonietta (1990/2007)
3. Intrada (5:18). Fast. Pizzicato string motif based on octatonic scale (alternating whole tones and semitones), then lyrical 2nd subject. ABA form. Pulsating, pleasant, but not sing-able. Bursts of passagework.
4. Intermezzo (4:11). Slow. A plaintive arietta in 6/8. Beautiful melody enriched by 9th and 11th harmonies. Ravel’s sounds are here extended.
5. Malambo (6:27). Fast. Named after an Argentine dance. Syncopated fanfare motif in open 5ths. Exuberant strings over attractive horn arpeggios in a dance that races the viewer through sunlit jungle.
6. Pavane (4:59). Slow. Stately court dance in duple meter. Waves of melodies constructed of pleasant skips of 3rds, 4ths and 5ths are artfully harmonized in sounds reminiscent of Debussy.
7. Rondo concertante (5:50). Fast. Dance-like theme, then yearning 2nd subject. Joyful, syncopated, energetic, attractive.
Symphony in One movement: Threnody (1991) [“threnody” = lament for the dead]
8. (21:36). The track’s first half is marked by slow, bitter melodies and bitter harmonies. In the second half, the orchestra becomes maniacally active, as if a dreamer is jerkily sleepwalking through a darkened, storm-ridden, rock-strewn landscape. A harp briefly calms the atmosphere, but the jerky, manic activity returns. No happiness here.
Label: Naxos
Larry K.
Reviewed 2011-06-03
Jack Gallagher is a composer mostly of orchestral, chamber, choral, and piano works, which have been performed in Europe and the USA. He is a professor of music at an Ohio college. He has an M.A. and Ph.D. in composition from Cornell, and took master classes with Copland, Crumb and Bolcom. He has an award from the Charles Ives Center for American Music, among others. All tracks except the last one make for quite pleasant listening. Melodies are lovely, harmonies are rich, orchestration full and attractive, and rhythms varied and inventive.
Diversions Overture (1986)
1. (10:07). A slow intro, then solo winds give way to a faster, tutti orchestral passage. Solo strings → brass chorale, then full orchestra and coda. Pleasant throughout. Springtime dawn at top of Grand Canyon, then bustling horseback riders and tourists make a brassy appearance à la Copland, move into the distance, where they move about actively, and become nearly inaudible before the dawn theme returns to close the piece.
Berceuse (1977) [“Berceuse” = a lullaby or cradlesong]
2. (5:19). Quietly lyrical in gently rocking 6/8. Eloquent; evokes the open prairie with the occasional tall cloud wafting by.
Sinfonietta (1990/2007)
3. Intrada (5:18). Fast. Pizzicato string motif based on octatonic scale (alternating whole tones and semitones), then lyrical 2nd subject. ABA form. Pulsating, pleasant, but not sing-able. Bursts of passagework.
4. Intermezzo (4:11). Slow. A plaintive arietta in 6/8. Beautiful melody enriched by 9th and 11th harmonies. Ravel’s sounds are here extended.
5. Malambo (6:27). Fast. Named after an Argentine dance. Syncopated fanfare motif in open 5ths. Exuberant strings over attractive horn arpeggios in a dance that races the viewer through sunlit jungle.
6. Pavane (4:59). Slow. Stately court dance in duple meter. Waves of melodies constructed of pleasant skips of 3rds, 4ths and 5ths are artfully harmonized in sounds reminiscent of Debussy.
7. Rondo concertante (5:50). Fast. Dance-like theme, then yearning 2nd subject. Joyful, syncopated, energetic, attractive.
Symphony in One movement: Threnody (1991) [“threnody” = lament for the dead]
8. (21:36). The track’s first half is marked by slow, bitter melodies and bitter harmonies. In the second half, the orchestra becomes maniacally active, as if a dreamer is jerkily sleepwalking through a darkened, storm-ridden, rock-strewn landscape. A harp briefly calms the atmosphere, but the jerky, manic activity returns. No happiness here.
Track Listing