This recording features the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Slatkin in the premier recording and with someone of his calibre at the baton, the results are splendid. Kamen used the Native American "mythical figure" of Kokopelli - a flute playing spirit - and the eagle to tell a kind of story of the earth (which is explained in the liner notes). Kokopelli, naturally enough, is represented by a solo flute and the eagle is represented by solo 'cello. The soloists don't appear quite often enough to term the work a concerto, but the various solo sections and contrapuntal sections are wonderfully integrated into the vivid orchestral writing.
Not really a symphony (as it had been referred to prior to its release), this is more of a tone poem made up of a series of episodes - many of them exciting dances, particularly in the opening, 1,000 AD. Kamen's aggressive tribal dances interspersed with broader sections suggest an almost Rite of Spring style - although Kamen makes no allusions to the work other than in the vibrancy of the writing. Kamen's more usual orchestral voice first appears during Sunset which opens the second movement and echoes Mr Holland's Opus at times, but with more subtle drama.
The central pair of movements contain a couple of scherzi which change the aggressive drama of the opening into something somewhat more jaunty and light hearted. The Gathering of the Spirits is a more sombre scherzo, but makes a wonderful lead into the final movement, Reaching for the Stars. This expands on the broad material of earlier on into a thrilling finale which, in what seems to be typical Kamen style, comes to an exciting halt, but then has a warm, low chord immediately after to close out the work.
The album is thoughtfully rounded out with an extended version of the American Symphony from Mr Holland's Opus, a film for which Kamen still has strong affection it would seem. The symphony's original sections are maintained and expanded upon, particularly during Cole's Tune and Rowena - both of which are the emotional highlights of the original score. The biggest difference is the insertion of Marking Homework as the central movement - the lively scherzo is arranged, almost John Williams style, into a slightly longer stand alone cue with a witty finale added provide a strengthened structure. For those who grumbled about the rock ending, that is still intact, but being one of the people who was converted to rather enjoying Kamen's rocking finale, I welcome the decision not to change it to something more traditional.
Obviously with Slatkin conducting two fine orchestras, the performances are all superb, although the recorded sound isn't perfect due to some congestion in the louder passages. A surprising problem in a digital recording; not enough to cause great detriment to the work, but it does lessen the full impact of the orchestra and is certainly not as exciting as the live performance I was lucky enough to attend. Those who grumble that Kamen's film scores seem to lack strong thematic content will find plenty of attractive melodies in the symphonic poem as well as the wonderful tunes he penned for Mr Holland's Opus. A terrific CD that should grace anybody's collection.
Rating ~ 
Mr Holland's Opus - An American Symphony
Total Time ~ 58:31