The place of Howard Hanson in American music is both important
and assured. As long-term conductor of the Eastman-Rochester
orchestra he commissioned, performed and recorded a vast sheaf
of works by other composers. True, some of the commissions,
by the likes of Bergsma and Kennan, have sunk without trace,
but that is the way of such things. Many of these recordings
were made in state-of-the-art stereo which has ensured that
they have maintained their place in the catalogue. As a composer
he produced what has a fair claim to be the first “Great American
opera” in the shape of Merry Mount, produced at the
Metropolitan in New York five years before the Second World
War. If it had not been for the lack of opportunities for performance
in Europe at that period, it might well have established itself
in advance of Porgy and Bess which also had to wait
until the post-War period to make its successful way across
the Atlantic, albeit then in a mutilated version. The comparison
of Porgy with Merry Mount also highlights
Hanson’s main drawback as a composer: as compared with the cosmopolitan
Gershwin, the more stolidly Nordic Hanson lacks the ability
to create instantly memorable melodic ideas. Hanson contended
that romanticism was not dead as a force in music, but when
we compare him with his fellow-romantic and contemporary Barber
we similarly find a damaging lack of memorable romantic gestures.
Indeed in the period after his death only one work of Hanson’s
appeared likely to remain on the fringes of the repertory –
his Second Symphony, the Romantic. That was partly
because of its use as music as a signature tune on American
radio, and then later in the closing sequences of Ridley Scott’s
film Alien.
One of Gerard Schwarz’s many services to American music during
his period in residence in Seattle was to resurrect and re-record
the music of Hanson. This included a considerable number of
works that Hanson himself never committed to disc. These recordings
did a very great deal to vindicate the music itself. More modern
recording brought out many subtleties in the scoring, that the
Eastman-Rochester stereo originals tended to obscure and absorb.
These Delos tapes are now re-emerging, differently coupled,
on the Naxos label and their reappearance is a cause for rejoicing.
The novelty here is the suite from the opera Merry Mount,
which at the time it was recorded was the only performance of
any part of the opera available on disc. Naxos have since put
us in their debt by not only releasing a vintage recording from
the original Met production (review)
(not available in the USA) and a later recording by Schwarz
and his Seattle players of the complete opera from a concert
performance in 2006 (review
review
review).
This suite however remains valuable, because among other things
it allows us to hear Hanson’s own arrangement for orchestra
alone of the love duet.
The recording here of Hanson’s Third Symphony comes
into direct competition with Hanson’s own recording from 1963
(review).
This was made using only three microphones, but they were placed
much closer to the orchestra producing a rather dry sound by
comparison with the refulgent acoustic of the Seattle Opera
House here. From the very beginning Hanson is decidedly brisk
with his own music. Every movement with Schwarz is longer than
with Hanson; in the case of the slow movement and finale by
a minute or more. Schwarz’s more leisurely approach pays dividends.
The music describes “the spiritual contribution that has been
made to America by the sturdy race of northern pioneers” to
use Hanson’s own words; oddly enough not included with his own
recording. The more leisurely tempo which Schwarz adopts in
the first movement, not to mention the more distanced sound,
is much more “spiritual” than Hanson conveys in his forwardly
thrusting reading. The extremely beautiful textures of the slow
movement are superbly conveyed here, leading to a passionately
emotional climax before the opening material briefly returns.
The percussion passages which introduce the scherzo are paradoxically
more clearly defined here than Hanson manages; this despite
his closer placement of the microphones. The only possible point
where Hanson could be preferred is in the closing pages of the
last movement, where the composer pushes forward urgently, while
the broader speeds adopted by Schwarz do not always avoid overtones
of Hollywood finales with the hero and heroine riding off into
the sunset. That style is part of the ethos of the
period, and should not be condemned purely because of that.
The original Delos release included both the Sixth Symphony
and the Fantasy Variations with the Third Symphony.
The Naxos re-coupling has left us with a rather short CD, but
that is inevitable given their repackaging of the original recordings.
Nevertheless this is a superb reading of the Third Symphony,
superior indeed to the composer’s own. The addition of the Merry
Mount suite is valuable. The booklet notes by Steve Smith
are reproduced from the Delos originals. These are indeed rather
more informative than those by Arthur Cohn for the Hanson release
which devote more time to the defence of the composer against
his critics of the time than to the music itself. One cannot
imagine that Schwarz’s reading of the Third Symphony
will be bettered any time soon, and we should be grateful to
Naxos for restoring it to the catalogue.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
See also review by Steve
Arloff
The Complete Schwarz Hanson symphony series
Vol. 1 - Symphony No. 1; The Lament for Beowulf Naxos
8.559700
Vol. 2 - Symphony No. 2; Lux aeterna; Mosaics
Naxos
8.559701
Vol. 3 - Symphony No. 3; Merry Mount Suite Naxos 8.559702
Vol. 4 - Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5; Elegy; Dies natalis
Naxos 8.559703
Vol. 5 - Symphonies Nos. 6 and 7; Lumen in Christo
Naxos
8.559704
Seattle Symphony Orchestra/Gerard Schwarz