Picker: The Encantadas, Old and Lost Rivers & Romances and Interludes

As most of his fellow American composers, Tobias Picker’s music (still rare on record) defies classifications, running from the serial technique of his masters Babbitt and Wuorinen to post-romanticism. The works performed here by Christoph Eschenbach and the Houston Symphony have more to do with the latter manner. They include the orchestral and piano versions of Old and Lost Rivers, evocation of the bayous near Houston commissioned for the sesqui-centenary of the city, which will ravish Copland-enthusiasts.

The album also includes Romances and Interludes (an orchestration of Robert Schumann’s pieces for oboe) and The Encantadas, a melodrama narrated by actor John Gielgud on texts Hermann Melville wrote after being shaken by his visit to the Galápagos Islands.