Search - Hanson, Montgomery :: Symphony 2 & 4 / Elegy

Excellent introduction to the music of Howard Hanson

12/28/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Howard Hanson is probably best-known for his second symphony--"Romantic". But he composed seven symphonies, an opera and a wide variety of other works as well. Hanson was also a well-known conductor and a director of the Eastman School of Music. This CD has Hanson's second symphony, along with a moody fourth symphony and his Elegy, which pays tribute to Serge Koussevitsky. As an inexpensive alternative to the relatively expensive CDs of Hanson's music featuring such conductors as Hanson and Gerard Schwarz, you can't go wrong with this introduction. If there are any other CDs by this ensemble that have the music of Howard Hanson, I'll certainly consider purchasing them."

The bottom line

04/22/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In addition to anything else that may be said about these works, the most important fact regarding them is this: they are supremely beautiful. That's the bottom line: these are ravishingly beautiful pieces, and after THAT has been said, one can go on to say that the performances here are gorgeous, and very well recorded (though one could wish for just a wee bit more presence, truth be told). Here is Beauty, the goddess who rarely visits us in so obvious and undisguised a fashion."