GEORGE ANTHEIL (1900-1959): Symphony No. 4 “1942”, Symphony No. 5 “Joyous”, Over the Plains*. * - First Recording.

Catalogue Number: 06S062
Label: Chandos
Reference: CHAN 10941
Format: CD
Price: $18.98
Description: If the fourth symphony (released on Naxos in April of 2000 and on cpo in December the same year) made Antheil sound like the American Shostakovich, a classic "war symphony" from beginning to end, the first movement of the 1947-48 Fifth will call to mind the racing music of the scherzo to Prokofiev's Fifth from just a few years earlier. However, the ensuing adagio molto is a lovely, dreamy work which breathes peace and contentment while the finale takes off again in the style of a Shostakovich scherzo although with a touch less acidity. Over the Plains is a seven-minute piece of Americana (even alluding to cowboy music) from 1945 which puts one in mind of Don Gillis.