It’s not British but…George Antheil’s Orchestral Music

This present CD does not display the revolutionary side of George Antheil. This music would not cause riots in the Parisian salons or New York’s Carnegie Hall. There is nothing of the ‘bad boy’ in these five interesting pieces. They are all from the last two decades of Antheil's life and reflect a rapprochement with more conventional sounds. To understand where this CD fits into the oeuvre it is necessary to give a brief outline of his life, works and influences.

Antheil's most famous (or certainly most notorious) composition is the Ballet Mechanique; this may be the most important example of modernism from the 1920’s.  The composer wrote in his autobiography that ‘he played in Paris for the first time…rioting broke out almost immediately. I remember Man Ray punching somebody on the nose in the front row. Marcel Duchamps was arguing loudly with somebody else in the second row.’  

The Ballet Mechanique was scored for an outré ensemble that included a small aeroplane propeller, a large aeroplane propeller, gongs, cymbal, woodblock, triangle small and large electric bells etc. I listened to it again as a part of my thoughts for this present review. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since its first performance on that fateful night in Paris; no longer seen as being extremely avant garde, it is quite obviously a tour de force of its time. A suitable reference point for all the music that was to follow.

George Antheil was born in Trenton, New Jersey on 8^th July 1900 although he was of Polish descent. After studying with Ernest Bloch at the Philadelphia Conservatory, his early career was that of a concert pianist in Europe. He wrote several pieces for inclusion in his recitals; the most famous of these are the Airplane Sonata, the Sonata Sauvage and Mechanisms. At this time his work was regarded as being avant garde and certainly, considering the cultural context of the early twenties, it must have seemed ‘ahead of its time.’  

Antheil fitted well into European society at that time. He was friends with virtually everyone that mattered. The list is impressive – James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Ernest Hemingway. He received support from Eric Satie and Igor Stravinsky. At this time, he lived in Paris above the Shakespeare & Co bookshop which had recently published Joyce’s Ulysses to considerable controversy.

His entire catalogue includes more than 300 compositions including six symphonies, lots of chamber music, film scores and operas. Most of these have not yet entered the popular repertoire. But the reason is not his dalliance with the extreme avant garde.  One of the strange things about Antheil is the fact as he got older his style changed- and in a more conservative direction.  In the mid 1930’s he left Germany and returned to the United States. There he adapted his music to a neo-romantic and loosely neo-classical style. It is to this part of his career that the works on this present CD are from.

I am not sure that we can regard the Third Symphony as a masterpiece. For one thing the form itself is a little loose. It is easier to regard it as a collection of four tone poems played end to end than as a unified symphony. In fact, the third movement, the Golden Spike was successfully excerpted from the symphony in 1945 by Hans Kindler and the National Symphony Orchestra. Yet, on the other hand it is not fair to condemn it because it may lack a little cohesion.

It is quite definitely an American composition. Antheil assures us that it is not backward looking; here we find no slaves singing across the waters by the orange groves (Delius) or cakewalks in Kentucky or old-time renditions of Moody and Sankey. This is modern America - the land of opportunity, skyscrapers, steel, freeways, and broad horizons. The third movement epitomizes the mood of the work. The Golden Spike is not a mythical or legendary artifact - it is a symbol for the ‘American Dream.’ It originates in the spike that was driven into the track on the completion of the trans-American railway. But Antheil's imagery is more Route 69 than Casey Jones! There are four movements: Allegro, Andante, The Golden Spike and Back to Baltimore. This last movement is the most interesting from a musical point of view. Quite neo-classical in its form, it refuses to jump onto any kind of jazz or swing bandwagon. It is full of lively and powerful tunes that drive the music on relentlessly. Yet, it is this last movement that makes me most feel that the symphony lacks stylistic consistency. That said, it is quite clear that this symphony is a fine work that will stand against much that has been composed over the last hundred years so. It has an exuberance that excuses any minor defects in formal construction.

I have always been a fan of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. So, it came as a pleasant surprise to discover this attractive overture based on the young lad’s exploits.  If only I had known about this work 50 years ago it would have added magic to my explorations of Mark Twain’s remarkable stories. As it is, this overture is full of a kind of ‘all American’ sound. Lots of interesting melodies and rhythms topple over each other as this exuberant overture unfolds its merry and slightly mischievous way. One melody in particular asserts itself in an almost Ivesian way. Great stuff – it should and could be an encore at any orchestral concert. It shows Antheil at his approachable best.

The Hot-Time Dance is reputed to be the only surviving movement of the American Dance Suite written in 1948. This attractive ‘rhapsody’ was premiered in 1949 by the Boston Pops Orchestra. It is just a romp from start to finish. Lots of slightly jazzy riffs and rhythms underscore this tightly formed score. If ever there was any doubt about Antheil's ability to write for orchestra, then listen to this sparking score. Echoes of da Falla and Enescu are probably coincidental.

For a good bit of ‘Americana’ the overture McKonkey’s Ferry is hard to beat. It is based on George Washington’s heroic crossing of the Delaware on Christmas Night 1776. This was composed in 1948 and is one of a series of concert overtures on American historical or literary themes. There are allusions to the Tom Sawyer Overture and listeners who know the 6^th Symphony will see similarities in the use of ‘vigorous motor rhythms.’ An attractive piece that has in places all the iciness of that fateful day all those years ago.

The Capital of the World is the last work on this CD. It is a ballet based on the depressing story by Ernest Hemingway about the life of a young man called Paco who is determined to go to the big city, Madrid and become a bull fighter. There he meets several people who challenge his view of the heroism of the toreadors. Unfortunately, Paco is killed in an accident in the kitchen of a hotel where he is temporarily employed. The Ballet was a huge success. It is best summed up in the words of Virgil Thomson. “[I have] rarely heard music for dancing with so much real energy in it. It is no mere accompaniment to dancing; it generates physical activity on the stage, moves the dancers around. It is colourful, too, bright, and dark and full of contrasts that are Spain. Its tunes are broad and strong; its harmonic structure is clashingly dissonant…it is the most powerful American ballet score with which I am acquainted.” There is not a lot to add to this. I was amazed at the sheer power of this score. The themes just seem to tumble over each other. I have rarely heard such invention. If this was the only work to have been composed by George Antheil it would have entitled him to a huge reputation. Do not spend time looking for influences and contrasts with other works of the period; it is quite eclectic whilst having a satisfying unity of its own. Nonetheless, a nod to Bernstein or Khachaturian may be worth keeping in mind. It was composed in 1952 and received its first performance a year later. Interestingly, it was transmitted live on television.

As always with CPO I cannot fault the presentation of this disc. There is an impressive closely written ten-page essay by Eckhardt van der Hoogen. This is extremely illuminating and essential bearing in mind that there is comparatively little available to better understand Antheil’s music. The disc itself has superb sound quality that allows us to hear every nuance of these fascinating works. Hugo Wolff and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra are powerful advocates of this largely undiscovered repertoire.

The cover picture is by Californian post-impressionist Alfred Richard Mitchell and is entitled ‘La Jolla Cove.’ It is a well-chosen picture that somehow seems to sum up the neo-classical and neo-romantic mood of the music.

George Antheil is a distinguished American composer. That said, he will never compete with Copland, Barber, and Bernstein in the public imagination. Yet for sheer inventiveness, interest, musicality, variety, and often sheer fun he cannot be bettered.

I feel that with the CPO symphonic cycle and Naxos contributions on the ‘American Classics’ series we have the basis for a major reappraisal. To be honest, I enjoy George Antheil’s music as much as that of the above-named ‘greats.’ He may not have been the promised genius, but he is certainly a major composer and a master craftsman to boot.

Track Listing:
George Antheil (1900 -1959)
Symphony No.3 “American” (1936-39/revised 1946)
Tom Sawyer Overture (1949)
Hot-Time Dance (1948)
McKonkey’s Ferry Overture (1948)
Capital of the World Suite (1953)
Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt/Hugh Wolff
rec. 3-6 July and 28 August 2001, Sendesaal, Bremen
CPO CDs 777 040-2