“And I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”

As media becomes more sophisticated, complex, and ubiquitous, its criticism demands more refined definition, inclusion, exclusion, and aesthetic valuation. This criticism is tested in evaluating the Naxos DVD re-mastering of post-Great Depression documentaries The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936) and The River (1937), directed by Pare Lorentz on behalf of United States Government Resettlement Administration to raise awareness about Franklin Roosevelt’s post-Depression economic plan, historically known as the New Deal. Decidedly propaganda by any standards, The Plow that Broke the Plains and The River were very effective vehicles for conveying the idea that man’s misuse of the land could only be addressed by man’s renewed stewardship of that same land.

The Naxos DVD release boasts newly recorded Virgil Thomson scores for both documentaries by Post-Classical Ensemble with music director Angel Gil-Ordóñez, replacing the original scores performed by a pick-up band of New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera players under the direction of Alexander Smallens. The original narration by Metropolitan Opera baritone Thomas Chalmers is replaced with newly recorded narration by Floyd King.

Ever the documenters, Naxos provides both the original and new soundtracks and narrations on this DVD as well as interviews with George Stoney, filmmaker and director, composer Charles Fussell, and Virgil Thomson, who talks about the use of music in film where he waxes poetic on mood manipulation in music and the idea that music should not reflect the composer. Thomson’s scores were integral to both films in providing an emotive and nostalgic landscape.

Having the original and newly minted soundtracks to compare is a plus not simply for the superior modern sonics but also for the different approach to performance. The new soundtrack could have only benefited from the existence of the original for comparison. Angel Gil-Ordóñez deftly sculpts Thomson’s simply conceived and harmonized melodies. The attentive listener will note these same melodies in many of the compositions of Aaron Copland

Returning to the original premise of the complexity of modern media and the definition of art, can The Plow that Broke the Plains and The River be viewed as artistic expression and recognized as propaganda at the same time? The short answer is yes to both, and if we consider the deeper intent, we can also readily appreciate these films as rhetoric, that is, the art of persuasion and how effective they are in that pursuit. Thomson’s music was paramount in this persuasion. Leni Riefenstahl’s brilliant casting of National Socialism as a political religion, Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will) uses music from none other than Richard Wagner to superb effect in awakening the nationalism and putting the “N” in Nazi.

Thomson did no different. His use of American folk tunes to warm the nostalgic national heart and evoke religious images among the nationalistic ones was intentional and effective. Melissa Etheridge did nothing new with her Academy Award-winning song for Al Gore’s 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth, though she is celebrated for that song as if she invented sliced bread and her song is neither more or less art than Thomson or Wagner. It is all in the use. So, is The Plow that Broke the Plains and The River art? Yes, it is part of culture and accomplishes all of the goals of art in addition to stimulating deeper and more meaningful discussion of the issues addressed.