Dear me, a music review. Whatever next?

Normally, of course, I don’t get asked to do such things, especially for classical music. I mean, what do I know? But this is a little different.

Back in 2009, Arthur B. Rubinstein and the Symphony In The Glen orchestra played a special concert at the Griffith Observatory near Los Angeles. The event was organized by the Friends of the Observatory, a non-profit support group, whose motto is, “Inspiring the Future, One Imagination at a Time”. They sound like our sort of people, right?

Since then Rubenstein and his team have been busy creating a version of the concert in studio conditions, and the resulting CD is now available from Intrada Records. I got sent a copy. Here’s my take.

The concert opens with a fanfare — the Toccata from Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. It is a lovely, stirring piece. Researching the music, I discovered that it sounds quite different played on period instruments (Wikipedia has a recording), but I must say that I like the drum-based arrangement that Rubenstein has produced (though I’m happy to be corrected by CN Lester who knows far more about Baroque Opera than I ever will).

Why this piece? Well the concert follows the developing relationship between mankind and the heavens. Monteverdi wrote the opera at around the same time that Galileo invented the telescope. There’s a theme.

Next up we have a selection of music from Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera, Castor et Pollux. We are now firmly in the stars, as these are the famous twins supposedly immortalized as Gemini. It is 18th Century music, which often sounds stiff and formal to me, though I acknowledge the mathematical beauty of much of what was done at the time.

Arriving in the 19th Century, we have another French composer, Henri Duparc. “Aux étoiles” (“To the Stars”). This is the 1911 orchestral work, apparently composed as an intermission piece (entr’acte) for a dramatic work that was never performed. It is a beautifully romantic piece, and well worth its inclusion despite being apparently quite obscure.

My favorite selection is the representative from the 20th Century. Yet again the composer is French. Darius Milhaud’s La création du monde is a short (20 minute) ballet which I’m sure at the time drew comparisons with Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, if only because of the equally outraged reception it received when first performed. It is heavily based on African folk tales (I’m guessing West African given the French connection). The ballet itself is rarely performed these days, but the music is quite popular and was recently featured by the San Francisco Symphony.

The African connection doesn’t end with the plot of the ballet. Milhaud wrote the music after returning from a trip to the USA where he was inspired by what he heard in New Orleans. If you are a lover of Gershwin, which I am, you will find several familiar themes in the music. But La création du monde premiered the year before Rhapsody in Blue. The works were both inspired by the music being played by jazz musicians at the time they were composed.

Dave Brubeck, who studied under Milhaud in Paris for a while, said:

Milhaud’s Création du Monde was the first and remains the best jazz piece from a classical European composer.

And who am I to argue with that.

Those pieces take up the first half of the performance. The rest is given over to a new work composed by Rubinstein especially for the concert. It is called “Observations”, and it follows the theme of the collection. There are two versions: the second is purely orchestral, but the first includes a narration by Leonard Nimoy that tells the story of mankind and the stars. I suspect that the anthropology of what Nimoy says early on wouldn’t stand up long under examination, but he has a wonderful voice and very professional delivery. It is a pleasure to listen to him.

“Observations” itself is designed to be the background to the narration, so it doesn’t work all that well alone, but it is interesting to be able to listen to it on its own. I’m sure that people who are more into the music than cosmology will appreciate the opportunity.

The album itself has no direct financial connection with the Observatory — that was just for the concert. However, purchase of the album does help support the free concerts that Symphony in the Glen puts on in Los Angeles, which is a wonderful thing.

Every so often someone will complain about the “silly name” of Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form, which “everyone knows” is “Best Movie”. Well, no. The Hugo category exists to reward any sort of dramatic presentation, and albums that are of interest to science fiction fans definitely come under that description. This one isn’t so much about fiction, but it is very much aimed at people like us. I suspect that many of you will enjoy it.

(By the way, if you do want to nominate it next year, you’ll need to get an exception for limited distribution granted in Reno, because the concert counts as first publication.)