Priscilla Alden Beach (1902-1970): City Trees (1928)
Linda Robbins Coleman: For A Beautiful Land (1996)
Alexandra Pierce (b. 1934): Behemoth, in five short movements (1976)

It's always nice to see the appearance of one world premiere recording. But three on the same CD is highly unusual. It's the equivalent of winning a trifecta or scoring a hat-trick in hockey. And we might get more of the same since this is part of the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra and conductor Reuben Blundell's ongoing project to promote previously unrecorded orchestral works salvaged from the archives of the Edwin A. Fleischer Collection in Philadelphia, the world's largest collection of orchestral scores. It boasts over 22,000 titles including many out-of-print works by 20th century American composers.

Like tall, immovable, silent sentient sentinels, the trees watch over a city and its denizens. From the waking calls of birds at dawn, through the hustle and bustle of the city's business, to when darkness beckons all to sleep once again, the trees are always present providing beauty, shade and shelter. This is the image evoked by the delightful, arch structured tone poem City Trees by Priscilla Alden Beach (not to be confused with Amy Beach). Composed while she was a student at the Eastman School of Music in 1928, it retains the elaborate, romantic orchestral textures of the late 19th century.

On the other hand Linda Robbins Coleman's For A Beautiful Land sounds more like typical American "big sky country" music. For something written as recently as 1996, it certainly seems to offer a respectful 'tip of the hat' to earlier composers who pioneered the "American" sound, like Aaron Copland for example, but with its own cinematic feel and gestures anchored in tradition.

The most progressive work of all three is the 1976 Behemoth by Philadelphia born Alexandra Pierce. Its many contrasts and colors, percussion driven rhythms, and slightly jazz tinged final movement lend it an edgy, Central European sound reminiscent of Bartok for example. It won first prize in two separate Music Composition events in 1977 and 1986.

Founded in 1946, the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra is one of the oldest community orchestras, located in the Delaware County suburbs of Philadelphia. This is currently conductor Reuben Blundell's seventh season as Music Director of the LSO. Along with many other community projects and this, their new recording endeavours, they provide a season of five concerts. It's reassuring to see this 80 member ensemble and conductor make the extra effort to introduce us to newly uncharted music.