Customer Reviews

Howard Hanson: Concerto for Organ, Harp & String Orchestra; Nymphs & Satyr Ballet Suite; etc.

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
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As a musician and lover of all classical music, I highly recommend this CD. I loved the instrumentals as well as the choral numbers. My favorite was the "Impromtu". I played this selection in college and I was thrilled with the interpretation on this well put together CD.

If you love Howard Hanson, you will love these lesser heard works. Always up to the highest Hanson standards, each piece uses a different vehicle and different approaches to its subject. Yet each is unmistakably Hanson.

Perhaps I'm mostly responding to the other reviewer who heaped praise on the Organ and Harp Concerto. I bought this CD mostly because of interest in this work. The organ and the harp are two of my favorite instruments in an orchestral setting. Two of my favorite symphonies include Khachaturian's Third and Copland's First, both which feature the organ. Here the composers understand the dynamics of the organ in an orchestral setting. And it works!

Hanson's organ does not.

Yes, indeed there are some beautiful passages in the concerto, and some garbage to sift through as well. But the organ is not the right instrument for the work. It is the opposite of the right instrument for this work. A little rearranging, and this concerto could be one of Hanson's best works. The organ immitates lines that could easily be taken by some brass and woodwind sections. These sections are precisely what this concerto is missing. It lacks variety, and the organ seems like filler. Would someone PLEASE arrange this concerto with brass and woodwind sections and remove the organ? Maybe take his good ideas and combine them with good transitions also.

The other works are additional treats. The Nymphs and Satyr are certainly standard Hanson works, calling upon the same sort of passionate romanticism found in his first few symphonies.

His last four choral works have some merit, but the choir quality could stand to be tweaked a bit (as seems to be the case in many American choral works recordings, especially Randall Thompson's).

If you own a few Hanson symphonies, such as Delos' set of symphonies, and are looking for more Hanson, this is a good place to start. But don't expect the same sort of Hanson genius found in, say, the second through fourth symphones.