His Brahmsian phase is represented here by the four early songs to Gerrnan texts. They are plainish, ironed-out, strophic Brahms, but their very plainness suggests (wisdom after the event of hearing the rest of this collection) a developing melodic gift strong enough to make itself heard through the superficial trappings of quasiimpressionism, quasi-Borodin and the rest. In fact most of the adjectives that immediately spring to mind on hearing Griffes's music soon come to seem unsatisfactory. 'Debussyan', maybe, but despite the transparency of some of his scoring and a fondness for whole-tone scales and cleverly used pedal ostinatos you would never actually mistake him for Debussy for more than an isolated moment or so. The same goes for 'Delian' (some lovely passages of orchestral colouring), 'Sibelian' (a certain darkness to the palette at times) and 'Straussian' (the opulent vocal lines of the Fiona Macleod songs). Until we can hear Griffes's reputedly much more 'advanced' Piano Sonata and the late piano preludes we shall not know whether a truly individual voice ever did emerge, but the poised delicacy of the Tone-pictures (Debussy writing for chamber ensemble with a little help from Zemlinsky and Frank Bridge is the closest I can get to describing them; not very close, I agree) suggests a remarkable but unfocused gift at last finding a way forward. But the Tone-pictures (at least in their original version for piano) are actually earlier than the luxuriantly late-romantic Macleod songs; and anyhow, what in the world was a cosmopolitan-minded American doing setting Fiona Macleod, of all poets in 1918 (the author of the accompanying booklet seems unaware, by the way, that 'Fiona Macleod' was a man)? If it comes to that, what was Griffes doing writing a big, bold and wildly over-the-top latter-day border-ballad in the manner of Loewe (Song of the dagger) as late as 1916, a decade after he left Germany, immediately before composing the (I quote from the booklet) ''uncompromisingly dissonant'' Piano Sonata? It is all most odd and confusing, but I ended my listening wanting to hear more of Griffes.

That booklet, by the way, discusses at length some works not included here while ignoring some that are, and this is not the only way in which the presentation is inadequate. No texts are provided, a great pity in the case of the German songs and the attractive Impressions, where Stapp's shrill tone-quality and impenetrable diction almost totally disguise the fact that she is singing in English. Milnes's words are much clearer and he is in stalwart voice, but he cannot or will not sing quietly (though in the ferocious Song of the dagger, to be sure, there is no call to). Bryn-Julson is the best of the singers and has the best of the songs: her purity of tone and line are an admirable foil to their luxuriance. There is good orchestral playing and the 12-year-old recording why the delay in crossing the Atlantic?—is mostly satisfactory (save for an odd patch of distortion in the Impressions). Worth sampling, and if there is a Vol. 2 on the way I look forward to it with curiosity.'

-- Michael Oliver, Gramophone [11/1988]