Music of Howard
Hanson. David Craighead, organ; Eileen Malone, harp; Meliora Quartet; Brian
Preston, piano; Theodore Sipes, baritone; Barbara Harbach, organ; Robert Shewan,
Roberts Wesleyan College Chorale; David Fetler, Rochester Chamber Orchestra. HDTT
Troy129.
Composer, conductor, educator, and music theorist Howard
Hanson (1896-1981) was, indeed, an “American romantic.” He was among the last
of the breed, a kind of twentieth-century throwback to the nineteenth century,
so you’ll find little of the avant-garde here, the experimental, the dissonant,
the discordant, the odd, the atonal, or the eccentric. Yet as a prizewinning
composer and director of the Eastman School of Music for over forty years, he
continually championed new American music (Copland, Barber, Carter, Thomson,
Sessions, Harris, etc.). On the present album, recorded over thirty years ago,
released on the Albany label, and here remastered from the original tapes by
HDTT (High Definition Tape Masters), we hear a lighter side of the composer,
chamber and choral music mainly. It is not among his most-popular material nor
is it his best, but some of it can be downright entertaining, and HDTT’s recording
quality, as always, is excellent.
The first of five selections on the program is the Concerto for Organ, Harp and String
Orchestra, with David Fetler leading the Rochester Chamber Orchestra.
Despite the title, however, it’s not much of an “organ concerto” per se. It’s
more like an orchestral piece that just happens to include an organ because
often the organ goes by almost unnoticed. Don’t expect a full-blown Saint-Saens
Organ Symphony, or the work will
disappoint you. This is a more easygoing piece of music, a kind of lyric idyll
for strings with minor organ and harp accompaniment.
The Concerto, at
least under Fetler, the only time I've heard it, sort of ambles lazily along in
a kind of Frederick Delius manner, with no real starting point or destination.
Yet that may be part of the work's appeal, as it is wonderfully relaxed.
Besides, when the organ does make its occasional appearances, it does so with
authority.
Next up is the ballet suite Nymphs and Satyr, which Hanson wrote in 1979, one of his final works.
Again it's Fetler and his Rochester Chamber Orchestra who perform it, the same
forces that gave it its Rochester première shortly before this recording. So I
imagine theirs to be a definitive performance of the music.
Unlike the Organ and
Harp Concerto, which runs along in a single movement, the equally brief
ballet is in three movements: Prelude
and Fantasy, Scherzo, and Epilogue. It's a bit more animated than
the Concerto, with several lively
sections, and there's more sense of atmosphere throughout. It still doesn't
leave one with much actually to remember, but its often playful warmth seems
heartfelt.
The final items on the agenda are a bit more unusual and,
in their way, more impressive. The Concerto
da Camera for Piano and String Quartet has a melancholy though winsome
quality to it as performed by Brian Preston, piano, and the Meliora Quartet. I
quite enjoyed it, particularly Preston's commanding piano playing and the
Quartet's longing accompaniment.
Two Yuletide Pieces
for Piano, also performed by Brian Preston, seem more important than they
probably are and left me somewhat unmoved. However, perhaps saving the best for
last, we find an a cappella motet, A
Prayer of the Middle Ages, and three Psalms,
performed by the Roberts Wesleyan College Chorale, Robert Shewan conducting, to
conclude the program. The choir sings them beautifully, and they project a
sweet and affecting attitude, the latter three selections enjoying the
accompaniment of organist Barbara Harbach and baritone Theodore Sipes.
John Proffitt produced and engineered the recordings
around 1981 using Neumann condenser microphones, an analog Studer professional
recorder, and DBX Type 1 professional noise reduction. Some years later, Albany
Records released the recording on CD, and in 2013 HDTT (High Definition Tape
Transfers) remastered it from the original DBX-encoded, 2-track, 15-ips master
tapes to DXD 24-bit 352.8kHz. The results on HDTT’s compact disc are probably
about as close as one can come to the sound of the master tapes.
The sound has an attractively big, airy, ambient feeling
to it, with a wide dynamic range and plenty of serious impact. The stereo
spread is quite expansive, too, and the transient response quick, as we might
expect of a good master tape. During the Concerto
the organ displays an especially taut, well-defined control, set against some
natural-sounding strings. A realistic sense of hall and orchestral depth help
to reinforce the notion of being in the audience, not too far away from the
players.
For further information on the various formats,
configurations, blank HQCD discs, and prices of HDTT products, you can visit
their Web site at http://www.highdeftapetransfers.com/storefront.php.
To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:
JJP
