** 1/2 MACDOWELL: Suites 1 and 2; “Sea Pieces.” Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, Charles Anthony Johnson, conductor. (Albany Records)

Though he was at one time considered this country’s greatest living composer, Edward MacDowell is not heard of much these days. A longer life might have solidified his position in history, but he died young (and insane) at age 47 in 1908. Working against him too is his predilection for little, atmospheric piano pieces, a genre lacking stature. The two orchestral suites recorded here belong to the 1890s and are in the late Romantic, tone-painting mode: crisply melodic, robustly rhythmic and colorfully orchestrated. They have movement titles like “In a haunted forest.” The Second Suite, subtitled “Indian,” uses Native American melodies and sounds similar to Dvorak’s contemporaneous New World music. Conductor Johnson (a UCLA grad) has fashioned a third suite from six of the “Sea Pieces” for solo piano; it stands sturdily beside the original two. The Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic (from the Czech Republic) has no trouble with the idiom, and shows itself a strong orchestra of the second tier.

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