First released on Delos International these last symphonies
by American composer Howard Hanson confirm his place as one
of the twentieth century’s great symphonic composers. Owing
more to his Swedish family connections than his American home
his music is Sibelian in feel with great sweeps of sound firmly
in the romantic tradition and very beautiful to listen to.
The notes point out that as a composer he was considered an
anachronism at the time he received the commission to write
the Sixth Symphony. The occasion being marked was the 185th
anniversary season of the New York Philharmonic in 1967. The
dedicatee was Leonard Bernstein. Considered an anachronism by
whom, you may well ask; no doubt by the ‘musical establishment’
– whoever they were! At that time there was a movement on behalf
of this ‘establishment’ to eschew “tunes” in favour of ‘new
music’. Anything that smacked of romanticism was given a hard
time if it was newly composed, so Boulez, Xenakis, Cage and
the twelve-tone brigade were much preferred by concert programmers.
In the UK this led to point-blank rejection when it came to
programming works by people like George Lloyd and Berthold Goldschmidt
both of whom, amongst similar composers, experienced hard times
getting their music heard anywhere; Lloyd gave up writing music
and grew mushrooms to make ends meet! Thank God those days are
over and we are allowed to see the wood for the musical trees.
There is no danger of such behaviour now and we are able to
appreciate these wonderful works on their own merit rather than
having others try to tell us what we should like. In his Sixth
Symphony, which is cast in six continuous movements, Hanson
cleverly weaves his principal three-note theme throughout each
movement taking the listener on a musically exciting journey
full of lyricism and damn good tunes. Bernstein was a fortunate
man to have such a lovely symphony dedicated to him.
Lumen in Christo, a choral work for women’s voices
in two movements and which deals with light through the setting
of sacred texts, is wonderfully satisfying. It carries echoes
of early choral works from the 16th century and begins,
as does Haydn’s The Creation, by describing the chaos
out of which God created order, beginning with light itself.
The second movement has at its heart a setting of Isaiah 9 from
which Handel chose the sixth verse to set in The Messiah
as “For Unto Us a Child is Born” as well as two other
verses from Isaiah. The Lumen in Christo section is
from IV Esdras (Ezra). The beautifully ethereal Lux Aeterna
brings the work to a close.
Though written in 1977 when Hanson was 80 and constituting his
last symphony he said of his Seventh Symphony: "I had wanted
to write the piece all my life and when I finally got at it
— I was eighty — I had no trouble. It came out just as if I
were thirty or even twenty-five, and I had no inhibitions about
it. I didn't work on it, I didn't go over it, I didn't redo
it — whoosh — it came like that!" It is interesting to
note that it was at the age of 30 that Vaughan Williams began
sketching his A Sea Symphony; like Hanson’s it was
also inspired by the poems of Walt Whitman. It was Vaughan Williams’
first symphony and Hanson’s last but we can see that the desire
to write had been with Hanson since the very beginning of his
composing career. In fact Whitman’s poetry had already inspired
Hanson to write four other works which were written throughout
his composing life, the first of them, his six songs Opp.2
and 3 as long ago as 1915, a mere five years after
the première of Vaughan Williams’ first symphony and the others
in 1935, 1957 and 1970 bringing his composing life full circle.
This setting serves as a final stepping stone but also a summation
of Hanson’s life’s work. It reflects the composer’s unquenchable
thirst for life in this youthful sounding outburst of emotion
- to paraphrase Steven C. Smith’s informative liner-notes. This
music celebrates life without any hint of regret that his would
soon be over. It is more of a statement to those left behind
to join with him in the celebration that life continues, just
as the sea itself is “unbounded” to quote Whitman.
Affirming Hanson’s “romantic” (his Second Symphony even bore
that subtitle) style this final work is lush, gorgeous and full
of vitality. I’ve always found it fascinating that the sea is
not only favoured by so many composers but that it is one of
the most successful subjects to paint musically. There can almost
never be any doubt about the source of the inspiration; Mendelssohn’s
Fingal’s Cave, Debussy’s La Mer, Britten’s
Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes as well
as Vaughan Williams’ symphony to cite but a few. Hanson’s is
no exception and we know exactly where we are from the first
note. Once again the influence of Sibelius, Hanson’s idol is
evident in the writing - just imagine a symphony from him inspired
by the sea! - and the work ends to the words of Whitman’s “...
our life begins, The long, long anchorage we leave, The ship
is clear at last, she leaps! She swiftly courses from the shore,
Joy, shipmate, joy!” All the works on this disc are lovingly
played by the Seattle Symphony under Gerard Schwarz who, himself
was a student at the Interlochen Summer Music Camp for which
the Seventh Symphony was commissioned to celebrate its fiftieth
anniversary in 1977. At that very same festival Schwarz had
conducted Hanson’s Second Symphony at the age of 11!
The obvious admiration that Schwarz has for both the man and
the music makes all these performances both telling and convincing.
The Seattle Symphony give their all while the Seattle Symphony
Chorus (Chorale) is wonderfully impressive in the two works
in which they feature. I read that the 120 members volunteer
more than 30,000 hours each year – now that’s what I call “the
big society”!
This disc is highly enjoyable and for anyone new to Hanson’s
works it is a brilliant introduction to a really inspirational
composer whose works are gradually achieving the exposure and
success they richly deserve.
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
See also review by Rob
Barnett
Seattle Symphony and Chorale*/Gerard Schwarz
