Customer Reviews

Howard Hanson Conducts Barber, Piston, Griffes, McCauley, Kennan, Bergsma

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In the 1950s I used to work for one of the firms mentioned in the CD notes. Westrex made the film sound recording equipment for Mercury - we prided ourselves on the quality of our sound recording products. My Vinyl collection of Mercury recordings sounded great but the quality of this CD is totally magnificent. Great depth and clarity in the recording (which we older sound engineers still think is due to the use of vacuum tube (aka 'valve') technology). Good sound needs very little fiddling with - which is where Mercury recordings have always scored over the products of companies who use flight decks of mixers and faders. A great pleasure to listen to and heartily recommended for its inclusion of less well known American composers than Barber and Piston. The conductor was a fine composer as well!

When I first started collecting classical CDs, I only had a few Mercury Living Presence (MLP) titles. In my quest to get the absolute best, or at least a definitive recording, of the major works of the standard repertoire, MLP discs rarely topped the critics' lists. In fact, only three MLP recordings have been earmarked as "Essential Recordings" by Amazon.com -- Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Byron Janis performing Rachmaninov's 2nd & 3rd Piano Concertos, and Yehudi Menuhin performing Bartok's 2nd Violin Concerto, all three with Antal Dorati as conductor. It is also safe to say that three other titles are equally essential for their historical value alone. They are Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake by Dorati (the first recording of the complete ballet), Janis performing Liszt's Piano Concertos (the first recordings made in the Soviet Union by American technicians, musical staff and equipment), and Kubelik's Chicago Symphony performance of Pictures at an Exhibition (one of, if not the single best mono recording ever, and the one that led the New York Times critic to coin the phrase "Living Presence," from which the label named its series). But how does a CD line go from having a half-dozen must have recordings, to being this reviewer's all-time favorite classical label?

The answer: consistently magical performances, captured in brilliant golden-age stereo sound, that offer a slightly different take on your typical interpretation of the great works. Of course, MLP also went to great lengths to feature music by more obscure composers, particularly contemporary Americans. While Dorati, and to a lesser extent Paray, recorded these lesser known works, Howard Hanson was their champion. On this set, Hanson and the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra showcase compositions by Barber, Piston (names I had heard prior to getting this disc), Griffes, Keenan, McCauley, and Bergsma (names I had never heard of before or since). While these are all virtually unknown compositions, Hanson performs them like they were from the classical canon. Maybe that is why collectors prize these recordings, because they are a breath of fresh air in a homogenized world of listening. Of course, collectors love a challenge too, and MLP CDs are becoming increasingly hard to find. It has taken years for me to finally find all of the MLP CDs released to date, and unfortunately I don't think there will be any new releases forthcoming. So collectors, and even those who aspire to be, should pick up as many Mercury Living Presence discs as possible now, before they all die.

I knew what I wanted in this CD, The work by Piston. My great amazement was discovering that short pieces by completely unknown composers were so really very good. This is a real GEM of a CD and I highly recommend it for the obscure works as well as the Piston and Griffes. I felt the sound of the orchestra was a little thin, strings were not lush but the rythmic intensity and commitment of the musicians was clearly there and Hanson certainly knows his way around this stuff. Grab it while you can still get it. Thanks Amazon!

Six different compositions, so there's something for everyone on this CD. Like another one of the reviewers here, I bought this for the Piston and the Griffes works, but also enjoy most of the others as well. This performance of the Piston Incredible Flutist ballet is the best one available, with incisive playing by the orchestra and lots of excitement. Hanson's was the first one recorded in stereo, and it still outshines later renditions conducted by Gerard Schwarz, Lawrence Leighton Smith and others. Arthur Fiedler also recorded this work -- twice (first around 1940 as the world premiere, and again in the mid-1950s) and those are quite decent, but in mono sound. If you can get your hands on the Akira Endo/Louisville Orchestra performance of the complete ballet, you'll get some additional music, but most of Piston's best material is included in this suite.

This CD also contains the best performance of the Griffes Poem for Flute & Orchestra I've ever heard, showcasing the great flautist Joseph Mariano in a stunning reading (he's also the "star" in the Incredible Flutist ballet). Recently deceased (in his 90s), Mr. Mariano was a fixture at the Rochester Orchestra for years and years, in addition to being on the Eastman faculty. You'll also hear him here in the McCauley Miniatures -- another flawless performance. The remainder of the CD contains rather obscure works by two well-known Americans (Barber and Bergsma), as well as the miniaturist Kent Kennan. In all, a very satisfying program of 20th Century music I'd classify as "middle of the road." At minimum, you simply can't go wrong with the Piston and Griffes works -- or in reveling in the sumptuous playing of Joseph Mariano.