EQUINOX

PETER DICKINSON listens to the music of Elliott Schwartz

<< Continued from page 4

And finally, close to the end, the more intense passges show Schwartz capable of grappling with large symphonic issues and embodying them in impressive swathes of orchestral texture [listen - example 6 - 'Equinox', track 5, 10:29 - 11:20]. This now sounds closer to VW than Sibelius and even places Schwartz in the American tradition of epic symphonies from Roy Harris to William Schuman as well as his own teacher Paul Creston, whose work has been gaining ground in the CD catalogue.

Finally, in introducing Schwartz to a British audience his recent books should be mentioned since they interpret the twentieth-century scene in such a convincing way. There's 'Music since 1945: Issues, Materials and Literature' (with Daniel Godfrey - a Schirmer paperback) and 'Contemporary Composers on Contemporary Music' (with Barney Childs - a Da Capo paperback). All this shows Schwartz's awareness of the current scene to which he has always contributed in such a distinctive way.

To listen to the aural illustrations in this review, you may need to download RealNetworks' realplayer G2.