It hurts me to say this...
DMP | Rockville, MD United States | 05/31/2008
(1 out of 5 stars)
"I really don't like bashing recordings--particularly those performed by an under-represented orchestra and under-represented conductor. It seems unfair. However (here it comes), Howard Hanson's Symphony #2 is one of America's best-kept secrets, a stunning piece that should be performed at least as often as (yet another! performance of, say) Beethoven's 4th Symphony in America's Orchestra halls. But the piece calls for clarity; clean attacks; orchestral transparency; and exquisite, immaculate timing--none of which this performance of the 2nd has, unfortunately. It's a shame, because I was looking forward to having another good performance available to me.
The best I've found so far is still the Howard Hanson: Symphony No. 2; Samuel Barber: Violin Concerto recording above with Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony. Slatkin shows he knows the worth of this piece, and its place in the American canon. It is played with consummate skill and breath-taking timing, sweeping the listener along with it--whether she or he wants to be carried along or not.
I cannot speaak to the 4th or the Elegy, being less familiar with them. But to place the Symphony #2 in context, Hanson does precisely for the Romantic era in art music what Prokofiev did in his Symphony #1 for the Classical era. He reinterprets it for a modern audience--and in such a way that it is, well, unforgettable. People in the United States do not value their composers as they should--they're still gazing off toward Europe--but Hanson's Symphony #2 proves that Americans have nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to art music in the United States. And that's why I would want to steer listeners to the best possible interpretation. We need to know what we have--and treasure it.
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Glowing
David Saemann | 04/25/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Howard Hanson played by a European orchestra? It turns out to be a splendid idea. David Montgomery's recordings on Arte Nova have been splendid discoveries, especially his Berwald Symphony set, and this Hanson disc is no exception. The Romantic Symphony receives a beautifully textured, gloriously ripe sounding reading, one of the best I've ever heard. The violin playing is especially ravishing. The Fourth Symphony, a lesser known work, proves dramatic and eventful, but always lovely sounding in this performance. The Elegy in Memory of Serge Koussevitzky is a haunting piece, played here with great subtlety and tenderness. Whatever recordings you have of these works, and I have Hanson's own of the Romantic, this disc is definitely worth adding to your Hanson collection."
Track Listings (8) - Disc #1