Creston; Symphonies Nos 1-3

"Throughout, Kuchar draws solid, idiomatic playing from his Ukrainian forces, and the recording is clear."
- Time Out New York (SFV) March 29, 2001

"Spectacular sonics. Releases like this are what make Naxos great."
- STEREOPHILE (Sam Telling) April 2001

"Of the most-performed American symphonists of the 40's and 50's, Paul Creston has fallen furthest; his music goes unheard today. A Naxos CD of Creston's first three symphonies asks why. Perhaps this self-made Italian-American simply doesn't fit any usable niche. He is remote from the onetime Francophile mainstream defined by Copland and other apostles of Nadia Boulanger; he wasn't a rebel (though the rebellious Henry Cowell championed him).

"Creston's Symphony No. 2 (1944) remains a fresh experience, unpretentiously strong, unostentatiously original, a sunny American "La Valse" in two self-generating movements (Introduction and Song; Interlude and Dance), whose fluidly shifting rhythms and shapes mate with lush harmonies and tunes."
- "Old Sounds From the New World," New York Times (Joseph Horowitz) July 15, 2001

"Paul Creston was a relatively popular composer until the 60s, when, like many American romantics, his music was condemned as old fashioned.

"The largely self-taught Creston's best works - including these symphonies - are a strong argument that "modern" music can be immediately appealing. They are full of colourful orchestration, rich melodies, dance-like rhythms (almost any Creston score can be heard as a ballet), and tonal yet richly chromatic, almost breezy, harmony. (I have never played a tonal work with more accidentals than Creston's Fantasy for Trombone.) Creston's sound would be perfect for one of those big-city-at-night movies. He reminds me of Villa-Lobos, with a touch of Milhaud in the harmony (more chromatic than many Americans), and a foretaste of Leonard Bernstein in the rhythm. Think West Side Story in the latter case.

"Kuchar digs in to produce lively readings with clear textures, solid tempos, strong line, and a snap to the rhythms.

"This collection is a must-have for lovers of Creston and of the American music of his era - and not just because it has the only recording of the First Symphony. (Naxos expects to issue the last three in three years)."
- American Record Guide (Roger Hecht), September-October, 2000

"Paul Creston is another American name that deserves to be better known. Born to Sicilian parents in New York, Creston was a famous composer in his day before modernist fashion pushed his music aside. The first of his three symphonies fizzes with accomplished panache; the second, with its unusual two-movement design, forges ahead into more ambitious territory; and the third, subtitled 'Three Mysteries,' is an attractively realised symphonic portrait of the life of Christ. All three works demand a level of nimble expertise to which the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine rises very well under the direction of Theodore Kuchar."
- Classic FM (Malcolm Hayes), August, 2000

"Creston's music has always been full of lyrical melody and strong rhythms and thoroughly accessible to most listeners. Much of it has an exuberance and optimism that is not present in most modern music. This is especially true of the early First Symphony."
- Audiophile Audition, May, 2000

"Creston is another American romantic whose heroic symphonies emerged in the 1940s. The rarity here is No 1, premiered in 1941, given the New York Critics' Circle Award and recorded under Stokowski, but little known since.

"Creston became submerged by the 1960s and his music is now fighting back - and winning."
- Gramophone (Peter Dickinson), July, 2000

"The National Symphony of the Ukraine leaps in enthusiastically with Paul Creston's First Symphony-no lingering Cold War feet here. Conductor Theodore Kuchar, who spent several years in the States, marshals his troops well. The rich, colourful scoring of the three short symphonies presented here gives them plenty to get their teeth into."
- The Guardian (John Bolton), April 13, 2000