In reviewing the all-Creston CD played by the Cracow Philharmonic under David Amos (4/92) I placed the composer somewhere between Delius and Respighi as an American romantic—a ''brazen romantic'' as Arnold Bax described himself, and the comparison is a helpful one. Creston uses the same whole-tone harmonies and is also given to dithyrambic celebrations based on recurrent dance rhythms: his wife was a dancer. As part of his admirable pioneering activities, which have also included Diamond, Piston, Hanson and Schuman, Gerard Schwarz now gives us an authoritative and splendidly recorded group of works mostly unavailable on record for some 20 years or not at all.
This is a great step forward for Creston and it is clear from the interview in the CD booklet that Schwarz's advocacy is fuelled by his personal connection with the composer. It makes depressing reading to discover that Creston understandably felt bitter at being left out of things from the 1960s onwards—he died as recently as 1985—although he was regularly played before that. Schwarz was a pupil and confirms that Creston ''hated twelve-tone music: he thought serialism was a terrible and destructive thing, and believed that it would end up being unsuccessful''. That seems an overcorrection but times are changing rapidly! Creston parted company with Stravinsky's music after Agon, as we might have guessed.
The least interesting piece here is the early and routinely neo-baroque Partita, but the other three pieces exude confidence and command. Creston is a big composer: he could easily become as popular as Barber. In the Third Symphony (1950) he takes on three aspects of the life of Christ and bases a movement on each—the Nativity, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The themes sound as if they are plainsong melodies, especially the solemn bassoon passage after 6'28'' in the second movement. This comes back in the third movement at 2'06'' in 5/8 time, a hallmark of Creston. A pity that the CD booklet consists only of the valuable interview without more detail about the actual music.
Out of the Cradle (not dated here, not listed in American Grove, presumably not previously recorded) is one of a clutch of works based on Walt Whitman. The scenario of the poem ''Out of the Cradle endlessly rocking'' from Whitman's Sea-Shore Memories is the same as that for Delius's Sea Drift and the shared nostalgia of the two works makes for interesting comparison, although it is hard to tell how closely Creston has based his music on the poem. The work ends with a chord containing major and minor thirds to emphasise the bitter-sweet separation of the sea-bird couple.
Altogether this CD supplements Amos's very well and as the rough edges of this expansive and generous music become more familiar one can only wish Schwarz continued success in his Creston crusade.'