Rathburn: Works

When composer Eldon Rathburn passed away in August 2008, Canada lost its "grand old man" of film and television scoring and a composer well known and loved by Canada's naturally music-loving citizens. However, up to that time, very little of Rathburn's music has appeared on disc. There is quite a bit about Rathburn's music that might appeal to listeners abroad; an enthusiast of Charles Ives and an expert negotiator of instrumental sonorities, Rathburn's love of quotation and zany sense of humor would seem to travel well. The Crystal Records release Mostly Railroad Music (1994) was a decent installment, but covered a too-limited aspect of his activity, as it was geared only to his music about trains, apart from Schoenberg vs. Gershwin: A Tennis Match (1991). ATMA Classique's Eldon Rathburn: Works, featuring the Chamber Players of Canada, is a good deal more accessible a collection and covers a wider span of Rathburn's extensive output, which began in 1933 and continued until at least 2003.
Indeed, this disc isn't entirely exempt from Rathburn's obsession with travel by rail, as it also contains the string quartet movement Subway Thoughts (1993), incidentally a very good entry in Rathburn's train cycle. The real highlight of the disc, however, is the Ottawa Suite (1996-2001), a hilariously tongue-in-cheek patchwork of quotations that, according to annotator Julian Armour is "the single most popular work that the Ottawa Chamber Music Society has programmed in the over 1000 concerts of its 12-year history." It's easy to see why, as Ottawa Suite is very well realized; the familiar tunes creep in and out of the quodlibet fabric and are always recognizable, even if they come overlaid on one another. The first movement of Rathburn's oddly scored Concertino for Banjo and String Quartet (1999) brims with charm, enthusiasm, and humor, although the somber slow movement demonstrates that he is not all fun and games; through utilizing a banjo like a mandolin, he is able to render a serious mood without inadvertently raising chuckles as well. However, the last movement of the concertino is clearly too short, and one does get the impression here and there that Rathburn is a little too easily satisfied with some results; while the Harbour Nocturne (2001) is a genuinely gorgeous piece of music, it rather fritters out with no definite ending or even the hint of one.
Nevertheless, the strong and highly individual profile that emerges overall from the short and seemingly fugitive pieces on this disc does qualify Armour's statement that "Rathburn's music deserves to endure, to be listened to and performed by future generations." In the wake of Rathburn's passing, Library and Archives Canada has received a number of boxes of music manuscripts from the composer, with yet more still on the way, so there will be some downtime while this huge bequest is sorted out. In the meantime, ATMA Classique's Eldon Rathburn: Chamber Works serves as a decent stopgap, and a tantalizing one that does lead to an interest, if not hunger, for what else Rathburn has in store for posterity.