Works By Charles Tomlinson Griffes

This is arguably the most important recording of Charles Griffes's music yet made, for the breadth of selections it offers, and the commitment of the artists to the project. "The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan," probably his most-recorded work, is splendidly played by the Boston Symphony under their music-director, Seiji Ozawa. The same forces support Phyllis Bryn-Julson in the unjustly neglected "Three Poems of Fiona MacLeod." As another reviewer has noted, this is the jewel of the disc. These are lovely, mysterious songs, in a tonal language somewhere between Debussy and Scriabin, but Bryn-Julson's gift of absolute pitch, her obvious affection for the pieces and her sensitivity to the lyrics, coupled with Ozawa's sympathetic accompaniment, make it unlikely there will ever be a finer recording. For the rest, Sherrill Milnes is captured at something near his prime in four early songs to German texts as well as the swaggering "Song of the Dagger;" Olivia Stapp delivers worthy performances of "Four Impressions," on French texts; and the CD concludes with intimate transcriptions of the piano-original "Three Tone Pictures," beautifully played by the New World Chamber Ensemble. The program notes have an excellent biography of Griffes. For anyone wanting a single-disc introduction to this important American composer, there's simply no better choice.

This CD is a treasure - - the recording of the *Three Poems of Fiona MacLeod* is a desert-island piece if ever there was one. Phyllis Bryn-Julson sings these songs with the desired mixture of vulnerability and voluptuousness, and Ozawa gets the perfect transparent sound from the orchestra. The other pieces on the CD are not as thrilling (to me), but are good examples of Griffes's impressionist-inspired music.