Ballard
The Four Moons; Devil’s Promenade; Fantasy Aborigine, No. 3 ‘Kokopelli’; Scenes from Indian Life
Forth Worth Symphony/John Jeter
Naxos 8.559923 57:11 mins
Louis Wayne Ballard (1931-2007) has become known as ‘the father of Native American composers’, and with good reason. Born to a Cherokee father and a Quapaw mother, this composer, teacher and administrator, a graduate of the University of Tulsa, filled his compositions with Native American folklore, themes and rhythms, while also finding room for global modernist practices whenever he felt the need. One of his own teachers was Darius Milhaud, and in pieces like Devil’s Promenade (the name of his Oklahoma birthplace) the listener may detect echoes of Milhaud’s delight in making busy and noisy merriment by hurling multiple elements into the same pot. Or, in a word, overkill.
Other works, all captured in world-premiere recordings, include a compact suite extracted from his 1967 ballet The Four Moons, the more sprawling Kokopelli (inspired by Hopi culture) and Scenes of Indian Life, three comic miniatures from 1963 unwisely partnered with a more garrulous fourth written 30 years later. Throughout, restlessly shifting time signatures, reflecting a Native American musical habit, may catch some listeners off-guard, though everyone should be able to relish the quantities of exotic percussion, from the Seneca cow-horn rattle to the Hopi rasp stick resonator and Dakota drum.
Conductor John Jeter and his Fort Worth Symphony sail through this colourful fare with a professional sparkle and good cheer. But it’s often when the forces slim down to a soulful cello, a clarinet-trombone duet or a ringing bell that the heart is most touched and the ear most pleased. Geoff Brown