Fanfare Reviews
from July/August 1996

Reviews: Maslanka

MASLANKA: A Child's Garden of Dreams. Symphony No. 2. Malcom W. Rowell, Jr. conducting the University of Massachusetts Wind Ensemble. ALBANY TROY 171 [DDD]; 65:22. (Distributed by Albany.)

David Maslanka's five-movement suite A Child's Garden of Dreams is a fascinating work. It was played by the Cincinnati Wind Symphony on a Klavier disc (Fanfare 15:4, p. 418); see that review and one of his Symphony No. 3 (17:2) for background information. The UMASS players are even more precise and accurate than the Cincinnati ensemble, and the Albany recording is clearer than the Klavier one; nevertheless, the earlier performance and recording have a more atmospheric feeling and better capture both the wild imagination of the piece and its dreamy aspects.

Maslanka's Second Symphony is a three-movement work lasting over thirty-five minutes. The relaxed opening Moderato and the closing Allegro molto are in sonata form; they each have a strong dose of minimalism, along with the harmonic blandness that implies. The central movement is called Deep River, after the traditional Afro-American melody. The whole symphony strikes me as being rather derivative; sections of the finale are ringers first for Glass and later for Shostakovich. Still, this is eminently likable music, with a mixture of homespun charm and vitality; no one will ever mistake it for a masterpiece, but it is pleasant listening once or twice. Again the playing and recording are exemplary.

James H. North

Copyright © 1996 by Fanfare, Inc. Reprinted by permission from Volume 19, No. 6 (July/August 1996), pages 235-236.

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