Hanson’s Fanfare
for the Signal Corps premiered in Cincinnati on 2 April
1943 is all proud Americana; with heroic brass and rolling snare
drum flourishes, a stirring opening to this enterprising compilation
of the composer’s works.
The inspiration for
Hanson’s Merry Mount Suite was the anything-but-merry;
conflict between the Puritans and the Cavaliers in New England
in 1625. The turbulent overture leads into a syncopated folk ‘Children’s
Dance’ that is merry and evocative, in part, perhaps, because
of horses’ hooves beating on an icy landscape. ‘Love
Duet’ is plaintive then impassioned, the music subtly alluding
to the big broad themes of Hanson’s own ‘Romantic’
Symphony. The Suite concludes with the pastoral ‘Prelude
to Act III’ and the exhilarating ‘Maypole Dances’.
Kunzel’s reading is persuasive and the recorded sound bright,
spacious and natural. It compares favourably with the competitive
recordings of the composer on Mercury and Schwarz on Delos.
The Bold Island
Suite, here receiving its world premiere commercial recording,
was commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra in 1961. Bold Island,
Maine was Hanson's summer retreat. The first movement Birds
of the Summer is an unusual combination of a capella bird-song
and sea music ascending to a joyous crescendo. Benjamin Britten’s
Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes has very similar
material. Summer Seascape, the central movement, pictures
a summer sun glittering over waters on a bright, warm day. The
music pulses gently, hesitant before heroic brass punctuations
prelude a build-up towards a central climax as a squall approaches
but soon passes. In all, this is a tender and affectionate portrait
of a location very dear to the composer. There is more than a
hint of the styles of both Gerald Finzi and Ralph Vaughan Williams
in this movement. Hanson’s finale, God in Nature starts
with a bold brass chorale, the music for a hymn Hanson had written
to words by Ambrose of Milan. The mode is suggestive of Gregorian
chant. The music metamorphoses into Hanson’s modern voice,
growing more agitated, more dramatic until the proud reappearance
of the hymn and in the words of the booklet notes, ‘The birds
of the sea join in the hymn of praise, and with a final variant
of the hymn the movement ends.’ An unusual deeply-felt work
that will interest all admirers of Howard Hanson.
I remember reviewing
Charles Gerhardt’s celebrated RCA recording of Hanson’s
Second ‘Romantic’ Symphony for MusicWeb’s
sister site Film Music on the Web’s on-going feature
‘If Only they Had Composed for Films’ Charles Gerhardt
had recorded his acclaimed Classic Film Scores series for RCA,
in London’s Kingsway Hall, with the same National Philharmonic
Orchestra around the same time – 1970s. Hanson’s ‘Romantic’
Symphony, composed in 1930, just before original film music got
into its stride. It is very cinematic, ‘heart-on-sleeve’,
dramatic Late Romanticism; the sort of music that could have flowed
from the pens of Max Steiner or Korngold. It has to be said
straightaway that Gerhardt’s recording still reigns supreme,
towering above all its many competitors for its sheer bravura,
its intensity and its Romantic beauty. Kunzel’s performance
is good and recorded in outstanding Telarc sound: I was particularly
impressed with its fineness and transparency – listen for
instance to the detail in the first movement around 6:00. Kunzel’s
second movement crescendo builds nicely with towering brass but
the concluding moments tend to drag rather. The finale’s
crescendo is equally thrilling but again the coda disappoints
– it loses that boundless enthusiasm and optimism epitomised
by those joyous syncopations that distinguish the Gerhardt recording.
A Hanson ‘Romantic’
Symphony in excellent sound but not as satisfying as the cherished
Charles Gerhardt recording. The unusual Bold Island Suite
is definitely worth exploring.
Ian Lace
see also Review
by Rob Barnett
Cincinnati Pops
Orchestra/Erich Kunzel
