Hanson: Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Howard Hanson
Label: Delos
Magazine Review Date: 3/1990
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 71
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: DE3073
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony No. 1 in E minor, 'Nordic' |
Howard Hanson, Composer
Gerard Schwarz, Conductor Howard Hanson, Composer Seattle Symphony Orchestra |
Symphony No. 2, 'Romantic' |
Howard Hanson, Composer
Gerard Schwarz, Conductor Howard Hanson, Composer Seattle Symphony Orchestra |
Elegy in memory of Serge Koussevitzky |
Howard Hanson, Composer
Gerard Schwarz, Conductor Howard Hanson, Composer Seattle Symphony Orchestra |
Author: Edward Seckerson
One doesn't need a sub-title to spell out the Nordic associations and aspirations of Hanson's First Symphony—or indeed any Hanson symphony. His Scandinavian origins (he was of Swedish descent) are everywhere. Sibelius stalks the opening movement—not just in the sombre string paragraphs which frame it (the closing bars, strikingly coloured with pale clarinet, foreboding trombones and timpani are probably the most obvious instance of all) but in those moments where watchful horns peep over the horizon or isolated woodwind chords send a shiver through the texture. In the second movement there is Grieg—or at least something of his melodic inflexion as a solo oboe nourishes itself on one of Hanson's most 'romantic' tunes. And so on. But above all, it is the symphony's musical language or as Hanson himself put it when he wrote of ''music that sings of the solemnity, austerity and grandeur of the North''. Sing it most certainly does. One of Hanson's most characteristic and enduring qualities as a composer is the visceral, seamless flow of his melodic lines—so free as to sound almost improvisatory. It is precisely this melodic urgency that drives the symphonic argument along, and it is amazing how sure and well developed the technique was here in a symphony written when he was still only in his early twenties. This is confident, generous, beautifully made music, richly (and sensitively) scored. Tell-tale indications of things to come can be heard in the bonding between strings and descanting horns (the film composer's favourite tool), the gorgeous 'old-fashioned' harmonies radiating from within, and the craggy, wind-swept tuttis (lots of high-riding piccolo skirling) so suggestive of that Northern terrain's stress and strife. The finale sports a virile march emerging first in canonic woodwinds like the primitive drone of bagpipes leading armies of a bygone age. Schwarz, and his splendid Seattle orchestra do not short-change us on any of this and they are beautifully, ripely, recorded here by Delos.
No less richly drawn is the Second Symphony—the more familiarRomantic, its second movement anthem beloved of millions of Americans from their TV and Radio and widely circulated here in the excellent Gerhardt (RCA—nla) and Slatkin (EMI) recordings. Schwarz is more than a match for either. His feeling for long-term growth is possibly the surest of all, leading us from one resolution to the next with an increasing sense of expectation. It's a symphony full of resolutions: of one door opening on to another until we finally step out into the blue beyond. At that point in the finale, Schwarz more than anyone, leaves us in no doubt whatsoever that we have arrived; the emotional release is irresistible. Once again his orchestra play for all they're worth: I fully approve of the uninhibited string portamentos lusciously deployed in the finale, and their lusty horns, gratefully seizing all the big moments, not least Hanson's second movement 'sunburst', a moment of pure filmic Americana which I don't need to place for you.
If pushed into a straight choice between Schwarz and Slatkin, I'm not sure which way I would go. Fortunately, couplings should decide it, with Schwarz the only option for those seriously seeking to further their acquaintance with Howard Hanson's music (Slatkin offers an excellent account of the Barber Violin Concerto). Between the symphonies (and let's hope that the other five will be forthcoming at some point) Schwarz has sandwiched the Elegy in Memory of Serge Koussevitzky, a noble and suitably impassioned lament saturated in Hanson's darkest, again you might say Nordic, colours.'
No less richly drawn is the Second Symphony—the more familiar
If pushed into a straight choice between Schwarz and Slatkin, I'm not sure which way I would go. Fortunately, couplings should decide it, with Schwarz the only option for those seriously seeking to further their acquaintance with Howard Hanson's music (Slatkin offers an excellent account of the Barber Violin Concerto). Between the symphonies (and let's hope that the other five will be forthcoming at some point) Schwarz has sandwiched the Elegy in Memory of Serge Koussevitzky, a noble and suitably impassioned lament saturated in Hanson's darkest, again you might say Nordic, colours.'
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