Review: Fascinating Fry and Bristow Symphonies on Bridge



Bristow: Symphony No. 4 “Arcadian”
Fry: Niagara Symphony
The Orchestra NOW, Leon Botstein (cond.) Bridge Records

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9 thoughts on “Review: Fascinating Fry and Bristow Symphonies on Bridge”

  1. Dave, I up-loaded the three Bristow symphonies to YouTube from my old LP recordings several years ago. It is wonderful that we now have new recordings
    of all three of these delightful American symphonies.

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  2. I only knew Bristow through the (deep breath) Society for the Preservation of the American Musical Heritage under Karl Krueger. He made me think of Schumann, especially the Spring Symphony.
    Fry and Santa I know, can't wait to hear Niagra.

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  3. ferde grofé with ''niagara suite''made a good description of this place with a big orchestration….one piece of this suite call ''the honey-mooners….'',little piece like a walz.he have a good recording on naxos with william stromberg

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  4. Niagara is a remarkable work, all the more so for a piece composed in 1853. The Naxos version was a discovery (and very well recorded). What a perfect concert opener it would make, perhaps a candidate for one of your concert programmes?

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  5. I attended the performance of the Bristow symphony at Bard, and it was a very fine effort. The score had been given a scholarly restoration. Those early American symphonists like Fry and Bristow, including the Boston based Chadwick and Paine, wrote expressive works that are generally neglected, unfortunately.

    More recently, Botstein and The Orchestra Now performed (and recorded) Hugo Kauder's Symphony No. 1 (dedicated to Alma Mahler), which had not been performed since its premiere in the 1920s. That too is a potent symphony with a most attractive adagio. One can hear this concert on The Orchestra Now's YouTube channel, where the video is titled "The Lost Generation." A CD release is upcoming. Kudos to Botstein and his fine players for performing and recording fascinating and unusual works!

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