Search - John Alden Carpenter, Douglas S. Moore, Burrill Phillips :: Pageant of P.T. Barnum/Adventures in a Perambulator/Once Upon a Time/Selections from McGuffey's Reader

Let's be coherent with stars and give Hanson his due

Mark McCue | Denver, CO USA | 09/19/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Collectors for so many, many years have yearned for original vinyl issues of these, that there was a yelp for joy heard across the US when Mercury got around to reissuing them. The old performances in all their unapproachable, glorious sound, hold up compellingly over the years (what a first-rate orchestra the E-R was!) They're all three tremendously good works, among the best of their creators, full of the burgeoning creativity of the American compositional mind.This disk is just as valuable as testament to Hanson's amazing power as an interpreter and advocate for the best American music. He never pretended he understood all of it, or cherished all of it, but he unfailingly selected first-rate material that he could communicate like no one else for his recordings, and we're all the better for it."