Howard Hanson was about as mainstream American
Romantic as you can get. He was part of a flourishing generation
of Middle American composers of Romanticism - and by that
I mean writing coming out of the American Midwest - that
blossomed in the 1930s and continued until they all died
off in the 1980s and 1990s. These would include Roy Harris,
Aaron Copland, William Schuman, Henry Cowell, Samuel Barber
and Paul Creston, to name but a significant few. Variously,
these men were getting much of their instruction from Europe;
mostly from Nadia Boulanger. Hanson, however, studied under
the Italian great, Ottorino Respighi, and it’s from him that
Hanson learned his skill at orchestration. Hanson, in 1924,
became the director of the Eastman School of Music at the
University of Rochester and made musical history for his
advocacy of American music.
The disc at hand is a collection of extraordinary
lyrical chamber works composed across Hanson’s life. If there
was any one influence in Hanson’s life - besides Respighi
- it was Jean Sibelius. Sibelius was a master of the clear
lyric and balanced harmonics. A good example of this appears
in this disc’s two most dynamic works, the Concerto for
Organ, Harp and Strings and his Nymphs and Satyr Ballet
Suite. The organ, of course, has traditionally been used
for music of a religious nature, with the occasional foray
into the ordinary classical repertoire such as Saint-Saëns’ Organ
Symphony. It’s a cumbersome solo instrument and recording
of it generally has to be done in churches which sometimes
do not have the best acoustics for recorded work. The balances
have to be just right or the organ can drown everyone out.
Here the physical sound of both the organ and the strings
match each other well - with a bias given to the strings
which come off as lush and wondrously romantic. Strangely,
from the second bar onward - after the organ has announced
its presence - Hanson’s inimitable “voice” enters and, if
you’re already familiar with his work, you’re right at home.
It’s one of Hanson’s most enjoyable works.
The standout on this disc, however, is
the Nymphs and Satyr Ballet Suite. This late-in-life
work finds Hanson filled with the exuberance of youth and
an almost unexpected optimism. A great deal of Romanticism
tends to be more brooding or melancholy than anything else:
think: Sibelius in his Fourth Symphony or Shostakovich in
his Eighth. This work belies all of that. And it was this
piece alone that made me sit up and pay close attention to
this ensemble which I had never heard before; I was particularly
taken Doris Hall-Gulati on the clarinet.
Of the remaining works on this disc, the Fantasy
Variations on a Theme of Youth for Piano and Strings (of
1951) is a bit more melancholy, perhaps with the composer
in a mood for looking back upon his own youth with a more
darker sensibility than usual. It also happens to be made
of student pieces Hanson wrote when he was in his early
twenties. The Serenade for Flute, Harp and Strings (1945)
opens with a strangely Japanese-sounding flute and might
remind some listeners - quite accidentally - of the lyric
works for flute and orchestra by Alan Hovhaness. This is
followed by the very song-like Summer Seascape Number
2 for Viola and Strings (1965). Perhaps this is the
sonically weaker of all the works here, though it certainly
isn’t a slouch as far as melody is concerned. The viola,
as a solo instrument, doesn’t project well and all the
expert playing in the world - here performed warmly by
Adriana Linares - can’t elevate the sound of the instrument
to where it can stand out. Finally, the Pastorale for
Oboe, Harp and Strings (1948-49) has as slight British
character to it, coming as it does from a plaintive oboe;
one can almost hear Alwyn or Bax in some of the
oboe’s lines.
Though Naxos is a lower mid-price label,
for more than a decade they’ve been putting out some of the
best music on the market. This disc is one of those excellent
productions. The sound is balanced and lush - given the limited
resources of string orchestras - and the playing, by everyone
involved, is superior. I’m a Hanson fan and a sucker for
this kind of music. I was just pleasantly surprised by the
Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. Two words remain: Encore! and More!
Paul Cook
for reviews of other releases in
this series, see the American
Classics page
Joseph Jackson
(organ); Doris Hall-Galati (clarinet); Holly Blake (bassoon);
Gabriela Imreh, (piano); Andrew Bolotowsky
(flute); Adriana Linares (viola); Jonathan Blumenfeld (oboe);
Jacqueline Pollauf (harp) 
for
details
