American Masterpieces

Works by Ives, Barber, Bernstein, etc
Sony Classical
Budget Price/On-demand/MP3
Various Performers

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If nothing else, this disc allows us to salute Andre Kostelantz and Louis Lane, two underrated and excellent pops conductors. Actually, throw Eugene Ormandy into the mix and you have three underrated conductors on one disc. Louis Lane was a terrific conductor and the associate of George Szell for years. He eventually made a career for himself on Telarc. Kostelanetz is credited by some as literally creating the easy listening genre, and was associated with "his" Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic which both appear on this disc. And Ormandy built the Philadelphia band into a powerhouse, but is largely ignored today.

Now past the history lesson, on to the music we go. This "Essential Classics" album is actually still in print depending on where you look, and features some okay performances mixed with some very good ones. The Candide Overture for example, lacks the stunning power of Bernstein's New York version, but everyone's does. What I don't understand is why Bernstein conductor isn't featured here on a supposed disc of American masterpieces. Conversely, the Ormandy items are all nice to have and even the overplayed Barber Adagio for Strings is here lovingly shaped by those famous strings.

Louis Lane conducts most of the program with the "Cleveland Pops"; small American excerpts that are nice to have, and I'll admit it's fun to see Andre as opposed to Lenny at the helm of the NYPO. That said, I'm not as crazy about this disc as I was a year ago. The generous disc timing hides the fact that the space could have been used for actual masterpieces, and the whole project seems more of a hodgepodge than anything remotely essential. It's still a good and often very enjoyable program, but like many classical albums of the 90's, I have no idea who would actually buy it. That I think, is the real issue.