John Knowles Paine (1839 - 1906) was an American composer teacher and organist. He was the first American to win recognition as a serious classical composer of orchestral works, was the first guest conductor for The Boston Philharmonic, and was the first music professor at Harvard University. He was part of The Boston Six; and no, that isn't some underworld criminal gang, but a group of six like-minded composers who met regularly to discuss, collaborate and share.
Paine studied in Europe, and that is more than obvious from listening to this symphony. There is nothing here to suggest the USA in any way. If I hadn't have known the composer then I could just as easily have attributed this work to early Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schubert or Schumann. All Paine's European contemporaries and their music is very similar in style, orchestration, development, themes etc.
This symphony - on this recording played by The New Yprk Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta - is a bright, brash, and elegaic work full of lyricism and bonhomie. Tuneful, dance-like, and conforming to the compositional rules of the day. My one criticism is that there wasn't enough in the way of volume changes, it wasn't dynamically very satisfying sadly. It is music simply for music's sake, and is instantly forgettable. Mind you, I would say the same about a lot of the aforementioned Germans' music too. They were all great with harmony, melody and tunefulness, which was the modus opperandi in 1875 when this symphony was written, but most of their ouevres are lacking substance. (a purely subjective opinion I'l grant you!)
Reviewer - Chris Benchley
on - 22/5/20
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