Howard HANSON (1896-1981)
Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 21, Nordic (1922) [29:11]
The Lament for Beowulf (1925) [19:11]
Seattle Symphony and Chorale/Gerard Schwarz
rec. Seattle Opera House, 10 Sept 1988, 16, 18 Feb 1990
NAXOS 8.559700 [48:34]
Howard HANSON (1896-1981)
Symphony No. 2 Romantic (1930) [28:19]
Lux Aeterna (1923) [16:51]
Mosaics (1958) [11:56]
Susan Gulkis Assadi (viola) (Lux)
Seattle Symphony and Chorale/Gerard Schwarz
rec. Seattle Opera House, 26 May 1988, 6-7 June 1994, 18-19 May 1992.
NAXOS 8.559701 [57:06]
Naxos have stood shoulder to shoulder with Hanson’s music. They have recorded
his piano
music, a miscellany of his non-symphonic
orchestral music two sets of the opera Merry Mount (Serafin;
Schwarz)
and even started an earlier Nashville cycle of the symphonies with one disc.
The latter fell by the wayside when conductor Kenneth Schermerhorn died. Now
Naxos picks up the guttering torch through licensing recordings issued originally
by Delos.
They have done the same thing with Diamond, Schumann and Piston. It is clear
that these discs are not going to be crammed to the CD limit. Even so this
series will breathe new life into the cycle and at bargain price. Nor is this
an also-ran. Schwarz finds the vital spark to ignite these works to make them
glow and flame. The Symphony No. 1 is effulgently passionate and lives up
to its name though without quite as many Sibelian touches as its reputation
would suggest. Still, this is out-and-out romantic music and instantly enjoyable.
Hanson’s own Eastman/Mercury recordings
are vied with though their super-virile close-up grainy analogue impact compares
ever so slightly unfavourably as against these refined yet full-blooded fresh
recordings. That said they are now verging on a quarter century old. The second
movement of No. 1 is the epitome of tenderness in Schwarz’s hands as is the
second in the Romantic complete with its pre-echoes of the Born
Free theme. The Second Symphony under Schwarz also has the prescribed
electricity and lusty euphoria though he still falls just short of the ecstatic
abandon conveyed by Charles Gerhardt in his 1967 Chesky
recording with the National Philharmonic. The high fast trilling strings of
the finale and the rampant horns are gloriously confident. The Second was
recycled into the Seventh Symphony in much the same way that Elgar re-ran
material from earlier works in his The Music Makers. Schwarz delivers
an estimably atmospheric, stern and driven Lament for Beowulf where
the voice he might have been attending was that of Holst – listen to the parallels
with The Hymn of Jesus (1917). The words are legibly reproduced in
the admirable booklet. Lux Aeterna, a tone poem for viola and orchestra
dates form the year after the Nordic. Its plangently sounded and undulating
smooth contours and peppery dialogue with the viola and solo woodwind show
the influence of his teacher Respighi. The grand orchestral scores of Respighi
afflatus is very much in evidence and a real pleasure it is too. The Hanson
of the later 1920s is also more than hinted at. Mosaics is a much later
score written for Szell and Cleveland. It’s attractive and varied but lacks
the intensity of the works of the 1920s and 1930s.
We are still much in need of premiere recordings of the symphonic poems Before
the Dawn (1920) and Exaltation (with piano) (1920); North and
West with chorus (1923); Heroic Elegy for wordless chorus and orchestra
(1927); Streams in the Desert for chorus, orchestra (1969) and New
Land, New Covenant, oratorio (1976). When Naxos have reissued the complete
Delos-originated cycle I hope they will look for opportunities to present
these works to us. Perhaps Schwarz would be interested in doing the honours
or maybe John McLaughlin Williams.
Meantime if you are curious about Hanson and or are seeking a really impressive
modern cycle of the Hanson symphonies look no further.
Rob Barnett
The re-launch of a really impressive modern Hanson symphonic cycle.