Search - Frederick Shepherd Converse, JoAnn Falletta, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra :: Converse: The Mystic Trumpeter; Flivver Ten Million; Endymion's Narrative

A sensational orchestral feast

Martin B. Haub | Gilbert, AZ, USA | 11/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I bought this I had no idea what to expect. Happily, this has become one of my favorite disks in a 5000+ cd collection. This is powerful, heady stuff. The Mystic Trumpeter is superb -- why don't orchestras play this? It holds its own against R. Strauss, Liszt, and any other tone poem writer you can think of. It is played to the hilt by the Buffalo orchestra and its fine conductor. The recorded sound is sensational. The other two works are almost as entertaining. Buy this! Maybe that will encourage Naxos to record more scintillating music from this composer."

Wonderful Music, But Some Technical Difficulties

Timothy Dougal | Madison, Wi United States | 01/11/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After hearing an interview with JoAnne Falletta with brief exerpts from this CD on NPR last Sunday, I ran right out and bought it. Converse composed lush, romantic, Wagnerian/Straussian music in the early 20th Century U.S., and if you like that type of music, (and I do!), this is a real feast. Although the music is thoroughly grounded in Europe, it also clearly breathes American air. And the homages to Strauss, and more strikingly, Wagner, are often quite surprizing, even revelatory. Perhaps more importantly, unlike say, Szymanowski or Scriabin, Converse avoided slavish imitation. At a slight distance, the sound is gorgeous, but close up on the headphones there are frequent, irritating noises. Perhaps the recording was miked very closely and picked up a lot of the page-turning, or maybe my disc has a manufacturing defect. In any case though, this music is well worth hearing and having."

Interesting music, very well-played

Classic Music Lover | Maryland, USA | 05/06/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording is a joy from beginning to end. Not only are all three compositions highly effective and interesting, the interpretations by Maestra Falletta and the Buffalo forces are spectacular. The only question I have is why a few measures of music were cut from the final pages of the Endymion's Narrative? They are there on my recording by the Louisville Orchestra. But that's the only minor quibble with this otherwise exemplary program, and it thoroughly outclasses all previous recordings of these scores. Let's have more music by Converse and his contemporaries!"