The Slipped Disc daily comfort zone (53): Boston’s finest
mainA memento of the short-lived Irving Fine (1914-1962), a pal of Copland’s and Bernstein’s who neatly straddled serialism and neo-classicism.
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I wish I could hear Goode in a recording of Fine.
It might be the best performance on record.
I think the ideal concert program would be Fine and D’Indy.
It’s Richard Burgin, by the way. One of my earliest conducting mentors. I was at this concert!
Irving Fine’s “Toccata Concertante” is a fine work. Great fun to play, and too seldom heard.
Indeed! Anyone curious should dig up the Leinsdorf BSO RCA recording circa 1966. It was written as a showpiece for Koussevitzky.
Yes indeed, Brian! An addendum to my earlier comment: the pun in dubbing it “a fine work” really was not intended!
Yes! Brilliant work.
Too seldom? How about “never”, alas!
Norman, thank you for posting this. Another neglected mid-century American masterpiece. I have loved it for decades. Listening to it again, it sounds like a missing link between Stravinsky and Bernstein. The Stravinsky influence is powerful, but is absorbed by a uniquely elegiac musical personality. It is the American Sound, blooming under an oak-leaved shade.
One of my favorite recordings ever is of the Greg Smith Singers (who was a big fan of Fine) is a heart melting version of works from Alice in Wonderland….I cry every time I hear Fine’s musical setting of “You are old father William” and “I saw a man sitting on a gate.”
https://www.amazon.com/Choral-Irving-Fine-Gregg-Singers-Odyssey/dp/B00GJD7JRO/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Gregg+Smith+singers+Irving+Fine&qid=1588932930&sr=8-1
He should also be remembered as a skilled academic who, among other activities, created the School of Creative Arts at Brandeis.
A pleasant day to all. Cheerio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM_MF5V-qe8&list=RDR4cm584JgD8&index=2
He was fortunate to have a widow, Verna Fine, who dedicated herself to keeping his name alive. Another composer, who did not have that, after also dying young, was Nicolai Berezowsky. He is due for a major revival of interest…
I think, rather than endless new commissions, there would be real value in an orchestra exploring the unknown post-war repertoire for gems and playing them in their concert season. I would be far more interested in going to concerts that did that rather than hearing another token premiere that neither orchestra nor conductor intend ever to play again.