Various Composers - Howard Hanson conducts American Masterworks

Information

CD1:

• Samuel Barber - Capricorn Concerto, Op. 21
• Walter Piston - The Incredible Flutist (Ballet Suite)
• Charles Tomlinson Griffes - Poem for Flute and Orchestra
• Kent Kennan - 3 Pieces for Orchestra
• William Alexander McCauley - 5 Miniatures for Flute and Strings
• William Bergsma - Gold and the Señor Commandante (Ballet Suite)

CD2:

• Charles Ives - 3 Places in New England
• Charles Ives - Symphony No. 3 "The Camp Meeting"
• William Schuman - New England Triptych
• Peter Mennin - Symphony No. 5

CD3:

• Morton Gould - Spirituals
• Morton Gould - Fall River Legend (Ballet Suite)
• Samuel Barber - Medea (Ballet Suite)

CD4:

• George Chadwick - Symphonic Sketches
• Edward MacDowell - Suite for Large Orchestra, Op. 42
• Johann Friedrich Peter - Sinfonia in G

CD5:

• Douglas Moore - Pageant of P.T. Barnum
• John Alden Carpenter - Adventures in a Perambulator
• Bernard Rogers - Once Upon A Time (Suite of 5 Fairy Tales)
• Burrill Phillips - Selections from McGuffey's Reader

Eastman-Rochester Orchestra

Howard Hanson, conductor

Compilation: 2004

Label: Mercury Classics

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Review

This is the third set in a veritable feast of Legendary Mercury recordings now slowly being released on Decca. Howard Hanson and the famous Eastman-Rochester Orchestra excel in recordings of their American countrymen with the scope and breadth of the project being quite astonishing.

The first disc contains some well-tried and tested works by Samuel Barber and Walter Piston coupled with some rare pieces by Griffes, Kennan, McCauley and Bergsma. In all the music, Hanson conducts with an infectious empathy especially in his memorable recording of Piston's "The Incredible Flutist". I also enjoyed the rarer works with McCauley's "Five Miniatures for Bassoon and Strings" particularly impressive.

Charles Ives remains one of America's founding fathers in the modern music scene and Hanson's classic recordings of "Three Places in New England" and "The Camp Meeting" (Symphony #3) remain amongst the best available, not least for the stunning sound on offer. William Schumann's "New England Triptych" is also quite winningly done throughout whilst the rarely heard Fifth Symphony by Peter Mennin makes for an intriguing listen.

I greatly enjoyed the Morton Gould recordings of the Fall River Legend and some beautifully arranged spirituals. Barber's "Médea" is one of his finest works and the short Ballet Suite brings out the best in Hanson and the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra. The fourth disc contains interesting works by Chadwick, Macdowell and a rarity by Johann Friedrich Peter, a Dutch composer based in New York in its early days as New Amsterdam.

The final disc contains some further classic items such as Carpenter's "Adventures in a Perambulator" and Phillips' "Selections from McGuffey's reader", quintessentially American works to the hilt and an excellent round up to this exhaustive survey. The Mercury recordings are as spectacular as one could imagine and fans of Americana should not hesitate in snapping up this glorious set.

-- Gerald Fenech, Classical Net

More reviews:
https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2004/Nov04/Hanson_conducts.htm

https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/feb06/Hanson_conducts_475627-4.htm

https://www.allmusic.com/album/howard-hanson-conducts-american-masterworks-mw0001848103

https://www.amazon.com/Hanson-Conducts-American-Masterworks-Howard/dp/B00035VV82

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Howard Hanson (October 28, 1896 – February 26, 1981) was an American composer, conductor, educator, and champion of American classical music. As director for 40 years of the Eastman School of Music, he built a high-quality school and provided opportunities for commissioning and performing American music. He was also the first director of the Institute for American Music at the University of Rochester. As a composer, Hanson won a Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for his Symphony No. 4, and received numerous other awards including the George Foster Peabody Award for Outstanding Entertainment in Music in 1946.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Hanson

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