LEO SOWERBY (1895-1968): String Quartet in D Minor, H172, Serenade for String Quartet, H137, Tramping Tune for Piano and Strings, H122c (Winston Choi [piano], Avalon String Quartet), Synconata, H176a, Symphony for Jazz Orchestra “Monotony”, H178 (Andy Baker Orchestra; Andrew Baker).

Description: It seems extraordinary that there are still gaping holes in the recorded and performance legacy of as major a figure as Sowerby, the Pulitzer-winning "Dean of American Church Music" whose compositions under that rubric were published and receiving multiple performances almost before the ink was dry on the manuscript. It is especially puzzling, given the widely acknowledged quality and consistency of his invariably approachable, tonal works that put him firmly in the company of the like of Hanson, Creston, Gershwin, Barber, Copland and Thomson; not to mention the major figures who championed his symphonic music before WWII. A handful of orchestral works, including the Second Symphony (an exceedingly fine example of the American symphonic tradition; the only one of his six to have been recorded to date) made it to disc 20 plus years ago, but there’s been nothing since. This excellent, hugely enjoyable disc plugs two major gaps in our appreciation of the young Sowerby; the mentorship and influence of Grainger, and his flirtation with jazz - something that was very much in the air around that time - which led to the Paul Whiteman commissioned works here. These are a very individual take on the "Roaring Twenties" jazz age in concert music, and quite unlike the many other examples of composers attempting this early form of "crossover" style. Synconata is great fun, and brilliantly written, with the resources of the hybrid "orchestra" explored with the utmost originality and sense of colour. What it is stylistically is less clear. A kaleidoscopic compilation of episodes in different jazz styles, it is nonetheless a satisfyingly thorough and ingeniously worked essay in sonata form, and overall gives the impression of a lively concert overture in jazz vernacular. Hugely successful when Whiteman performed it, had it been taken up by standard concert organisations it would have probably have enjoyed wide currency ever since; but it wasn’t, and consequently languished in obscurity until now. The 4-movement Symphony for Jazz Orchestra, written the following year at Whiteman's request after the success of Synconata, is much larger, more ambitious, and more sophisticated. The basic premiss is similar; a compendium of memorable jazz ideas skillfully dovetailed into four symphonic movements with masterly contrapuntal and developmental technique, the whole a witty and engaging work of symphonic proportions. There is no good musical reason why it shouldn’t have enjoyed similar concert success as An American in Paris or Second Rhapsody, if not quite the ubiquitous Rhapsody in Blue, and if it lacks the sublime profundity of Sowerby's best works, that is not remotely what the composer was aiming for, and what it does show is the effortless assimilation of, and expressive ability in, an idiom that wasn’t really his. Unfortunately the composer unwittingly sabotaged his own work, resulting in its descent into concert oblivion. He applied a detailed programme to it, based on Sinclair Lewis’s best-selling 1922 novel, Babbitt, which characteristically lampoons materialism and philistinism in American society. Fair enough, as far as it goes; the strongly characterised music unquestionably reflects the subject matter, and this is far from the first or last programme symphony in history. But then it was saddled with what seems to have been a thoroughly silly and entirely unnecessary staging at its premiere, and worse still, it was given the title "Monotony". The level of naïveté involved in throwing this juicy a bone to the critics, who were sharpening their knives even before hearing the piece upon realising that the finale satirised them, leaves one shaking one’s head in stupefaction. Anyway, the music transcends all that, and the Symphony emerges as one of the most pitch-perfect portrayals of the jazz age with all its optimism, injustice, materialism, and strenuous gaiety. Tramping Tune shares a Graingeresque title and character, and was written in 1916-17, coincident with the arrival in Chicago of Grainger, who became an important mentor to the young Sowerby. The 1917 Serenade also has a connection to Grainger, who was responsible for Sowerby's introduction to Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. Alternately garrulous and pensive, this genial work occasionally recalls Grieg and folk music, undoubtedly filtered through the influence of Grainger. The substantial - nearly half-hour - 3-movement quartet of 1923 came from a prolific period in the young composer’s life; already at Op.164, he composed 19 more works of considerable substance during a three-year European fellowship, of which this work was one. The quartet is serious and eloquent in tone, but not at all heavy, with more French influence than German. Elements of jazz and folk music flavour this classically proportioned composition, as Sowerby was tending to do at the time and which helped draw him to Whiteman's attention. The first movement has a sombre, melancholy introduction followed by a steady, rather obsessive main section with blues chords and a foxtrot rhythm. The slow movement is plaintively melodic, with a central faster pastoral "scherzo", while the finale is impetuous and energetic, with a main theme that possesses a distinctly Native American character (although the composer claimed that he heard it in Rome). A pensive slower section leads to the broadly sonata-form movement's development and its emphatic conclusion.