This disc arrived not long after I had
finished my review
of the Hanson conducts Hanson
box (Mercury). The Mercury Living
Presence sound from 1956-65 is unmistakable
and undeniably vivid and exciting. That
box overlaps with this disc with the
Symphony and the Merry Mount suite.
If you hanker for a single disc collection
in modern digital sound you will find
this an exciting alternative. The Mercury
sound is certainly gripping but it cannot
be as wide-ranging as that offered here.
This disc is not just
for those who want a single disc Hanson
anthology on their shelves. The presence
of the fleetingly short Fanfare for
the Signal Corps and the Bold
Island Suite make this unmissable.
The stirring mood-setter
Fanfare is Hanson's contribution
to the collection of wartime fanfares
commissioned by Goossens during 1942
and premiered in Cincinnati on 2 April
1943. It would be good to hear the whole
sequence of commissions which was available
on a Koch International disc back in
2001.
The Merry Mount
Suite has been recorded by Hanson
and by Schwarz for Delos. Kunzel is
a more artful constructor of tension
and this pays off in the climactic moments.
The recording is detailed and natural
sounding.
The Bold Island
Suite is late Hanson written
in 1961 for Szell and Cleveland. It
has more of an emotional pulse than
Mosaics also written for the
same artists. Bold Island, Maine was
Hanson's summer retreat. The first movement
Birds of the Sea is a masterful
meld of birdsong and triumphant statement.
Summer Seascape is the central
movement built on a breathing motif
for woodwind but this is a motif with
a warm heroic latency. Hanson explores
this with satisfying natural potency
and sets it against an almost Finzian
string cantilena at 3:07. God in
Nature is the finale. It starts
with a starkly metronomic brass statement
of a hymn he had written to words by
Ambrose of Milan - it is both severe
and yielding. Hanson builds from it
music of gruffly aggressive excitement
which then subsides into a Franciscan
bird fantasy (5:23) which breathes rebirth
and links with the birdsong of the first
movement. The denouement is a stock
Hansonian gesture but effective nonetheless.
This is definitely worth exploring.
Hansonians should on no account miss
it.
The Bold Island
Suite here receives its world premiere
commercial recording.
The Second Symphony
is the most recorded of the seven.
Hanson recorded it for 78s in the 1940s
then again in stereo for Mercury in
the 1950s. There are recordings by Charles
Gerhardt (still the best - Chesky review),
Schwarz (Delos), Slatkin (EMI Classics)
and the little known Montgomery (Arte
Nova - surprisingly good when taken
as slow as this). The composer also
recorded it with an American youth orchestra
and this can be heard on Citadel. Kunzel's
is a better than good performance silkily
recorded but it is not as remorselessly
driven as the composer's on Mercury
(as part of the box and on both CD and
SACD) nor as elemental as Gerhardt's
on Chesky. Kunzel certainly takes full
heed of the cues for tender feeling
in the andante con tenerezza and
drives the adrenaline count up high
for the finale. The way he articulates
the brass line, especially the rolling
rasp of the french horns in the finale,
is distinctive and works well.
This is a fine addition
to the Hanson library and all concerned
are to be congratulated for reviving
the Bold Island suite is a real discovery.
Rob Barnett
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra/Erich Kunzel 
