Music of Howard Hanson
(my compilation)

Hanson was concerned that modern music was becoming too intellectual and too complex. He stated �I have, therefore, aimed in this symphony to create work that was young in spirit, lyrical and Romantic in temperament, and simple and direct in expression�.

RCA Symphony Orchestra
Eastman School of Music
12/67, London
Charles Gerhardt conducting

This is not only the recording used in ALIEN, but Hanson stated Gerhardt captured a passionate rendering of the piece that was even new to his own ears.

1: Adagio; Allegro moderato
2: Andante con tenerezza
3: Allegro con brio

Premiered in the summer of its creation in 1979, this short work epitomizes Hanson�s lifelong fascination with nature and his distinctive style of pastoral tone poem. The gorgeous Scherzo has a delightful origin; being the tune he would sing to Molly his Irish terrier while feeding Molly her favorite biscuits.

4: Nymphs and Satyr Ballet:
Prelude and Fantasy
Scherzo
Epilogue

5: Concerto for Organ, Harp and Strings

The Rochester Chamber Orchestra
David Fetler conducting
David Craighead: organ
Eileen Malone: harp


Enjoy (and write nice things about the music ;-))


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Thanks phideas1 for the Howard Hanson by Charles Gerhardt one of my favorite film music conductors.

I think Gerhardt's is the most "romantic" version of this Romantic symphony. Thanks!

Thanks :)

Gerhardt's ist the best version of the "Romantic" (followed by Slatkin and Schwarz).

Yes, Gerhardt's is the best. Slatkin comes in second. But I disagree about Schwarz and all his Seattle Symphony recordings of Hanson's work- they are abysmal. Flat. Lifeless. Poorly recorded.

With Gerhardt's version you sit back, relax and the music floods the room with warmth and deepest feeling... that sense of beautiful longing penetrates your soul and it is as if each instrument caresses you slowly... making the world a better place.

Thank you for sharing your own compilation. Could you point out which original albums they are coming from? Cheers!

Try GOOGLE.

The Nymphs and Satyr Suite and the Concerto for Organ with David Fetler were on Bay Cities CDs, e.g.

Thank You for taking the time to put this together! I do agree with you about the Seattle recordings. They are what they are, but they are lacking the passion that this music requires.

Excellent post, but.....any chance of FLAC......
Anyway.............THANKS A LOT!!

Don't know how to create flac. Can do wav.

Yeah, the Seattle versions are perplexing. Delos must no longer exist since NAXOS now fobs these inferior recordings.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Original recording of Hanson's Symphony used in the 1979 film ALIEN

February 4, 2010

By Michael Mcmahan

I have to admit, the only reason I bought this was to finally get the Gerhardt recording of Hanson's Symphony #2 - The Romantic on cd. This track was used for the end credits of Alien (director Ridley Scott preferred to use it over Jerry Goldsmith's original composition). The master tapes used for this cd are FAR better than what they used in the film. It's the same recording, but with much more clarity and no distortion. Very powerful music.

Pay no attention to the track listing and samples on Amazon, they are incorrect.

Interestingly, Movement 3 of the Symphony was CLEARLY the template used for John Williams' climax for his E.T. score. You know, the whole bike scene leading up to the ship's ascension. It's fascinating seeing how he adapted this piece of music (I assume Spielberg was a fan of this Symphony and asked Williams to draw inspiration from it).

The other pieces of music on the disc are great as well, especially the Copland. A worthwhile purchase.

I sought it out for years JUST for the Hanson recording. Took time for it to appear on CD. Simply breathtaking performance of a classic symphony.

HANSON: Symphony No. 2, Op. 30 "Romantic," COPLAND: Excerpts from Billy the Kid/Rodeo, GRIFFES: The White Peacock/ The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan, Op. 8, GOULD: Tropical
Orchestras/Charles Gerhardt, cond.
CHESKY CD 112 (F) (ADD) TT: 62:12


The late Charles Gerhardt loved Howard Hanson's "Romantic" symphony. He first heard it via the 1939 Columbia recording with the composer conducting, later Hanson's 1958 stereo remake with the Eastman Rochester Orchestra. The performance heard on this CD is actually Gerhardt's second recording; he was not totally satisfied with the first, which never was issued. The second recording was made in December 1967, a definitive performance/recording of an American masterpiece, the performance of a lifetime of this score, quite superior to competing versions including those by Gerard Schwarz, Leonard Slatkin—and the composer himself. I have seen a letter Hanson wrote to Gerhardt praising his recording, calling it the finest ever and totally approving the few retouchings Gerhardt brought to the score (in particular, addition of an upward woodwind flourish just before the final chord). Totally irrelevant but perhaps of interest is the fact that the closing of the second movement of Gerhardt's recording was used to great effect in the 1979 film Alien just after Sigourney Weaver conquers the "alien," and in the closing credits as well.

This CD is worth owning just for the Hanson but it contains other treasures: excerpts from Copland's Billy the Kid and Rodeo, and two works of Charles Tomlinson Griffes, both slightly retouched by Gerhardt: The White Peacock and The Pleasure-Dome of Kubla Khan, in performances that make competing versions sound prosaic indeed. As a brief filler we have Morton Gould's Tropical, complete with appropriate aviary sounds. The famed Kenneth Wilkinson masterminded the sonics with his usual expertise, and Chesky's transfers are outstanding.

R.E.B. (Sept. 1999)

---------- Post added at 10:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:54 PM ----------

Classical CD Reviews - June,1999



Going by these recordings from the 1960s it is a great pity for us that the late Charles Gerhardt did not go on to record more concert music. I recall an RCA album of French impressionist music but little else except more than ten of the groundbreaking RCA Classic Film Music albums amongst which those LPs devoted to Herrmann, Waxman and Korngold stand out.

Gerhardt's recent death (there is a rewarding obituary on Ian Lace's film music section) may too easily spell oblivion for this conductor's handful of recordings. I hope not. They deserve better and anyone who invests in this Chesky disc will quickly discover that there is nothing time-serving about these interpretations.

As an anthology it is unique in its varied mix. The Gould (granted not the strongest piece here!) is not available in any alternative recordings.

Copland's Billy the Kid is given with authentic elan which inspires admiration though (in my case) very little affection. The Gun Battle has a raw fury even if the gun-shots sound more like Browning Automatic Rifles than Colts. The Celebration Dance surprised me with its distinctly Weill-like decadence emphasised - a survivor from Vitebsk or Warsaw rather than Tucson! The final extract Open Prairie again made me reconsider. Brash though it is, it has the brawny power of Fanfare for the Common Man. Jerky, whipcrack energy bursts from every pore of the make-weight Rodeo episode.

Griffes' impressionistic White Peacock is the first of four Roman Sketches - a suite written for solo piano. Griffes orchestrated it for a ballet sequence premiered by the Philadelphians on 19 December 1919. The piano version was written in 1915-16. It shows not a shadow of the murderously tragic contemporary waste of life in Europe.

Peacock is a hesitant Faun-haunted essay. If Debussy is not far away, then neither is Bax's Spring Fire and Summer Music. The whole piece has a sunlit bosky enchantment which basks in the heat and boils to a Scriabin-like climax of molten ecstasy.

Griffes' magnum opus in the orchestral sphere is Pleasure-Dome. This is an orchestral poem which is sinuously impressionistic with a broader mood-range than Peacock. Like the Coleridge poem which inspired it the work bathes in orientalism. Eros swims languidly among the warm rockpools and Sheherazade sings her seduction again. The music sways and shimmers in fluorescent colours. Louis Aubert and Holst (Beni Mora) swim in similar waters but none can match Griffes tone painting. Hollywood and Hanson both owe Griffes a great deal. The strange tonalities of the closing pages also suggest a debt owed by Bernard Herrmann in the Rosebud sequence of Citizen Kane.

Tropical is a postcard of lush rumba, real jungle birds call and maraccas rattle in the best traditions of Hollywood big production numbers - Carmen Miranda could happily hang her fruity hat on this bough. Just think of Ketelbey's Bells Across the Meadow and transplant it across the Atlantic and you get some idea of the genre this skilful but ever so brief piece inhabits. Dates from 1934-42.

Next comes Hanson's Second Symphony, which with the Griffes pieces, is the reason for seeking out this golden disc in front of Hanson's own (Mercury - ageing sound), Montgomery's on Arte Nova, and the spanking 1990s Delos/Schwarz CDs. Gerhardt gives a simply great performance. How lamentable that he did not go on to record Hanson's Nordic Symphony and Lament for Beowulf. My, how this man and his orchestra (I recall them being called the National PO when the LP was issued on RCA Gold Seal LP in 1977) know how to pace this glorious piece. What I wouldn't have given for them also to have recorded a piece of similar glories: Louis Glass's Symphony No. 5. The recording quality here is excellent with many fine details emerging in polished and yet totally natural perspective. Especially noteworthy is the crisply patterned work of the harp, the burred horn section and the lushly buoyant strings led by Sidney Sax (this same pick-up orchestra also partnered Gerhardt in the Classic Film Music series).

The central movement was chosen by the BBC to represent Hanson in a US music themed programme on BBC Radio 3 one Sunday morning in 1972. It was through that broadcast of this Sibelian luminous eruption that I came to discover Hanson. I was immediately enthralled even if the lusty tune did sound like 'Born Free' (remember the Virginia Mackenna film and the song sung by Matt Munro?). Listen to those throaty tear-stained horns at 3:08 on track 9 and the answer of the honeyed string section! The miniature gales of sound conjured by the swirling strings in the finale were surely the inspiration for Alan Hovhaness's Majnun Symphony (recorded by the National Philharmonic during the early 1970s) having themselves been influenced by Respighi's Roman trilogy. Respighi .from whom Hanson always said he learnt the most, was Hanson's teacher in Rome (1921-24).

The rippling pizzicato energy at 2:59 in track 10 is brilliantly caught and I must wonder whether E J Moeran heard this work before writing his E minor symphony (1934) and Sinfonietta (1944). The crackling Waltonian energy of the last 2-3 minutes is brilliantly done.

If you do not know this work and enjoy music of forthright accessible emotion then do not hesitate.

The symphony might well be remembered as its big theme appeared at the end of the film Alien - the first film in the sequence of three.

These recordings were originally made by Ken Wilkinson (mostly I believe in the now-demolished Kingsway Hall, London) and were produced by the conductor. The Griffes and Hanson tracks sound wonderful and not just 'for their age'. They were made for the Readers Digest series which was, I seem to recall, a subscription series. Congratulations must obviously go to those who chose the repertoire and artists.

Decently full (English only) notes by Annette and David Chesky.

Warmly recommended. Though gaining some pleasure from part of the Billy score I feel that the Copland items are a missed opportunity despite the spirited performances.

Reviewer

Rob Barnett

I first came across the Romantic Symphony paired with MacDowell's Concerto No. 2 on a $3.00 budget LP, both works conducted by Gerhardt . Fully enthralled by it before ALIEN.

Drained by the film's intensity back in 1979. Suddenly this beautiful music swells. ANd I thought, "I know this music!" So I have never had the problem with Goldsmith's music dropping out at the end of the film- the Romantic seems just right.

Hanson and Barber died within a week of one another. National Public Radio was filled with that news, interviews with the great men and of course in Hanson's case the Romantic Symphony was sweeping throughout in the background.

With the advent of the compact disc not all classical music was instantly available. So I was delighted when the Romantic finally appeared on this CHESKY compilation- that unlike the review above I found worthless short of the Romantic (you can buy it USED on Amazon for $30.00). Hence I put together my own worthy compilation- with the very rare and mostly unknown additional works that are so very beautiful.

To state that Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony's effort with The Romantic is GREAT is 'laughable'. It is 'terrible' as is all of their Hanson recordings (and Hovahannes for that matter). The Slatkin version paired with Barber's lovely violin concerto comes in second to the Gerhardt (I've made a study).

You have the BEST of the BEST to my ears right here.

Thanks for this!! I only had a poor copy of the LP bought way back in 1979. As much as I hate to admit it when concerning Goldsmith, Ridley made the right choice and the movie needed this music after all the darkness and fear the movie generated.

Of course it's good to have Goldsmith's too!

I felt that they should have continued with the Hanson and put an excerpt from one of the other movements into Cameron's ALIENS ending.

I think you make a good point. After all that interminable fear and darkness we endured, the gentle and lovely strains of the Romantic symphony was a welcome sigh of relief. We could breath again. (afterwards I went for a walk in the park- I needed sunshine and color)

I often wonder what happened to the MacDowell piano concerto. It is a very lovely work. I have it by a different conductor. As it is, this piece was NOT conducted by Gerhardt. It was with the masterful Earl Wild as pianist, and Massimo Freccia conducting.

There were some real gems on that budget label. The Readers Digest recordings had been bought out by a company in St. Louis Park, Minnesota that repackaged them with illustrated portraits of the composers for the lp covers. They showed up in budget bins at record stores (remember them?) and it was great fun to flip through and discover a few gems worth exploring (remember how much fun that use to be... just wandering through the stock instead of having Amazon's computer tell you what to look for?).


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Edward MacDowell was born in New York in 1860 and was widely regarded as the most important American composer of the day. His widow provided a retreat for artists & musicians at their summer house in New Hampshire and the MacDowell Colony has provided working space for generations.

The structure for the Piano Concerto #2 is unconventional. First movement is actually the slowest, although it is swiftly interrupted by a flurry of virtuosic material for the soloist. The second is almost jazzy. The third, after a slow introduction, is actually a waltz.

National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland
Arthur Fagen, conducting
Stephen Prutsman, piano
Naxos 8.559049

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Thanks for sharing. Gerhardt's full-bodied recording of the Romantic does soar above the others - the treatment on an orchestral scale is clearly audible. It's surprising that it took until 1979 for this profoundly inspiring piece to be woven into a movie soundtrack. I'm wondering now what my chances are of finding some of those NPR broadcasts...

I don't know if National Public Radio has an open archive of its past news programs. That might be epic.

Having the Gerhardt recording on LP before 1979 when Alien came out, as I wrote before, made me fully aware of this beautiful music. Hanson's death came in 1981. But the Chesky recording on Compact Disc did not appear until 1997, I believe. So it was a very long wait. I had the Slatkin version to carry me through up until then.

Slatkin has always been an impressive conductor. He was part of the Minnesota Orchestra's Summer Rug Concerts (the auditorium seats were platformed over and people would bring rugs and blankets as if for a picnic) and the programs were wildly diversified and entertaining. The orchestra and its dull repertoire have never been the same since he left. Slatkin also wrote that the MOST interesting orchestral music being created today came from Hollywood and gave credit to Jerry Goldsmith for being one of the innovators.

It has only been in the last few years- such as Howard Shore's traveling LOTR symphony- that major orchestras around the country are realizing film music can be a draw for a crowd.

To state that Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony's effort with The Romantic is GREAT is 'laughable'. It is 'terrible' as is all of their Hanson recordings (and Hovahannes for that matter). The Slatkin version paired with Barber's lovely violin concerto comes in second to the Gerhardt (I've made a study).

The Schwarz Hovhaness recordings are NOT terrible. They are perfectly adequate and polished, and made at a time no other conductor even gave a rat's ass about Hovhaness - or David Diamond, for that matter. You seem to be holding a particular grudge against Schwarz, but sadly, I cannot concur. I've seen Schwarz live (with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic in Vaughan Williams's Sea Symphony), and I've got most of his records. He's a very good conductor, perfectly in command of his players. His recent Russian recordings of Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin are as fine as ANY ever made before!

Goldsmith HATED the Hanson symphony as a replacement at the end of ALIEN, and for good reason. It made no sense, and was completely at odds with the tone of the movie - but completely in tune with director Ridley Scott's lack of taste in music.

I liked Hanson's Romantic at the end of Alien (it offered a blessed relief from the tension) and don't give a fig about Goldsmith. He was not the end all and be all of film composers. He could nail it sometimes, and other times was wildly off the mark. Scott had him re-write the opening theme to be more ominous- and Goldsmith had a hissy fit about that but it WORKED. Put you on the edge of your seat from the beginning. Am not going to judge the Romantic Symphony based on Goldsmith/Alien.

Yes, I have a great dislike for Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony recordings. I bought many. Gave them trial runs. Eventually dumped them. They are poorly recorded for digital. Flat, almost muffled. And the conductor never came close to other recordings of the work that I owned. That is MY opinion. If you enjoyed them, I envy you. Quiet possibly Schwarz has done better with other orchestras and composers. After all: Practice makes perfect. ;-)

The DELOS recordings have some excess reverberance, but otherwise they're fine. They DO need a good hifi system to shine. They'll fall flat with most of today's 5.1 noise-not-sound rubbish $199 hardware though. The NAXOS re-mixes are awful, but done without the participation of the original engineer - he's dead.

Actually, I'm just interested in the quality of music making, not personal grudges. I'm non-anal that way. ;)

The Delos recordings are muted compared to other digital recordings... as least to my sweet lil' pink ears.

I have $2000.00 speakers (a gift) which offer superlative sound to those ears (and my neighbors' ears).

Quality of the music is always important. Years ago I signed off on Korngold's Symphony in F. The only recording available then was a BIG turn off. Many years later two new recordings appeared and both were DAZZLING. It was as if I had never heard the music before. IT WAS ALIVE! I can say the same about the Naxos recording of Hanson's Nordic Symphony with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kenneth Schermerhorn (odd name). Never much cared for this symphony until I added this disc to my collection.

Some music conducted in a paint by numbers fashion as if the orchestra/conductor just don't feel it. Some music we remain faithful to the first recording we heard. It happens.

Now, let's talk about my priddy eyes, yes? (blink-blink) ;-)

as i understand it, ridley was not best at communicating what he wanted from goldsmith and that was the source of frustration. and goldsmith didn't rerecord any new music for the opening of alien, the film's mix engineer just cut in music from later in the picture (inside the alien derelict ship)...but it worked MUCH better!

i still defend the hanson music as more fitting for the ending..but if ridley had been more comunicative, goldsmith might have done something similar..who knows?

I read a quote from Goldsmith (that goes something like this): "It took weeks to compose the opening sequence and 15 minutes to rewrite it." Doesn't really matter. So much of film music & movies is part of Legend (no puns). Scott has a piss poor record when it comes to the music for his films. We all know that. You'd think that Goldsmith, once burnt, would have stayed away from the man when he cobbled together that beautiful but aimlessly stupid Legend (insert pun).

i agree. goldsmith did mention once that he entered a downturn in his career beginning in the late 80's. he was somewhat desperate for assignments and even feared he may not ever work again, at one point. with Alien he was at his zenith, with Legend he was beginning to get a little uneasy, so he once again accepted work from ridley.

I love his Legend score but i think TD actually fit the final film better (gast!) just my opinion.

also, sometimes these very busy composers have cloudy recollections which often change over the years. i read the Alien score problems many years ago. ditto for his ST-TMP score...

Thank you!!!

I am thrilled to find this. Thanks so so much for uploading the Hanson, I had a tape copy I recorded off radio in the 80s as a student, since then I had bought every copy of the work and found it not up to mark with Gerdhardt's in terms of excitement and energy. My tape copy was cut in half (I had to change sides halfway thru), and when I finally had the technology to copy that into my computer, I lost the second part! So imagine how absolutely thrilled I am now. I agree with some comments that the Delos recordings are not very engaging, especially with Hanson's own on Mercury that is far more vivid. But even Hanson, to me, doesnt do as great a job as Gerhardt in bringing the absolute best from the score. I especially love the growling horns in the final movement middle section, and how the climax builds up. The long pause for breath after that big sweep and the winds entry after that is poetry unsurpassed even by Hanson.

I am only wondering, where is the utterly amazing Kubla Khan in the original disc, very sad to find it is not on the zip file? Is it available somewhere else? I also had that on tape, but lost the file altogether.

cheers
al

Alhafar... glad you have such a strong & long time affinity for this version of THE ROMANTIC. But you need to read the previous threads. This is MY compilation from two different discs. Griffes' The Pleasure-Dome of Kuba Khan is part of the original Chesky Disc collection. You can buy it on Amazon. It, along with the other work on that disc, did not interest me. Only Gerhardt's take on The Romantic.... which I had waited a very long time to appear on compact disc.

Oddly I do have one of those Delos recordings still... after sampling what Schwarz & The Seattle Symphony did to Hanson & Hovhaness I dumped all the rest. I kept Hanson's 3rd Symphony which is considered the 'cousin' of the Romantic. There is no other recording. The second movement is very beautiful, I remember, but have not listened to it for a long time.

When Naxos released a new disc of Hanson with a tremendous take on The Nordic or 1st Symphony, I thought this was the start of a new Hanson orchestral cycle. It wasn't. They now issue those flat, dull, lifeless Delos versions on their label.

Holy cow! I haven't logged on here in months, and you'll never guess what I was listening to when typing in the address. (No hints.)

Anyway, my copy of Hanson's Romantic Symphony is 192 and I'd been looking ALL OVER for a 320 copy or a cheap CD of the Eastman School/1967/Gerhardt version... gotta represent the local folks. But that was very, very hard to find.

Thanks so much!

Thanks for reply! Unfortunately I think only Delos has the complete set of symphonies... so we have to bear with it. I absolutely love the Kubla Khan but I only have the Delos disc, and I am not at all happy with the performance/recording. Sigh. Gerhardt's is on youtube tho, someone uploaded it from an LP, very poor quality, but listen to it. The performance is superb.

cheers

"With Gerhardt's version you sit back, relax and the music floods
the room with warmth and deepest feeling... that sense of beautiful
longing penetrates your soul and it is as if each instrument caresses
you slowly... making the world a better place."

I fully agree with this gentleman.
Many thanks once again, my friend.

Hanson

Symphony No. 3

1-Andante lamentando
2-Andante tranquillo
3-Tempo scherzando
4-Largamente

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Not the best recording, but the most recent. The third does not compare to the second but more so the first.

But the second movement? Gorgeous. It can be a stand alone piece. Worth a listen.

Thanks. Look forward to Gerhardt's take on the Hanson 2nd, having seen "Alien" a million times... scott

Many thanks for your new offer.

I cannot tell you how long I've been searching for this recording. I'm a lifelong Alien fan, who once foolishly believed that Jerry Goldsmith had created a phenomenally ironic piece to close out such an intense film. When I later learned that it wasn't his work, and that something else had been temp-tracked in its place, I had to ask myself objectively: does that change how I feel about the music itself? And, of course, it didn't then and doesn't now. I'm no fan of directors temping over their composer's work, but in this case it happens to succeed brilliantly.

Since then, the years have passed and hope faded that I would ever find a copy of this wonderful symphony. And here it is today . . . now about 2 minutes from completing the download, and I'm positively giddy with the idea that it'll finally be mine. Please accept my most heartfelt and sincere gratitude for what you've done here. This may be the single greatest pickup in the last several years for me. . . .

UniMaster - The same thing happened to me years ago. I will see about getting a lossless here. An incredible work, for sure.

UniMaster,

As I wrote earlier in this thread (some place) I had this recording on LP... knew it before Alien... and then waited a long time for it to surface on CD.

You can buy the original disc on Amazon.

Amazon.com: Great American Composers: Aaron Copland, Charles Tomlinson Griffes, Morton Gould, Howard Hanson, Charles Gerhardt, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonic Pops Orchestra, RCA Victor Orchestra, RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra: Music (http://www.amazon.com/Great-American-Composers-Aaron-Copland/dp/B000003GE7/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1358553248&sr=1-1&keywords=Charles+Gerhardt)

It doesn't make any sense to squabble, as some like to do, over 'what should have been' when obviously the film Alien has stood the test of time- and its conclusion is heightened and then quietly subdued by this gorgeous, warm, intoxicating music of Howard Hanson.

It remains his masterpiece... and this recording, with Gerhardt's subtle changes here and there, remains the finest version.

One doesn't even need a very scary sci-fi film to appreciate it. ;-)

Just......... BASK in its GLOW.

UniMaster,
It remains his masterpiece... and this recording, with Gerhardt's subtle changes here and there, remains the finest version.


And that's just it—like I said, I've wanted it for years in some format or another, but what I wanted most was to get the version that was used in the film. Different conductors leading different orchestras leads to different sounds. That's not to say they're bad, but I wanted to hear it as it was in the film.

And now I can . . . because of you!

Thank, Phideas1

Music of Howard Hanson
(my compilation)

Hanson was concerned that modern music was becoming too intellectual and too complex. He stated �I have, therefore, aimed in this symphony to create work that was young in spirit, lyrical and Romantic in temperament, and simple and direct in expression�.

RCA Symphony Orchestra
Eastman School of Music
12/67, London
Charles Gerhardt conducting

This is not only the recording used in ALIEN, but Hanson stated Gerhardt captured a passionate rendering of the piece that was even new to his own ears.

1: Adagio; Allegro moderato
2: Andante con tenerezza
3: Allegro con brio

Premiered in the summer of its creation in 1979, this short work epitomizes Hanson�s lifelong fascination with nature and his distinctive style of pastoral tone poem. The gorgeous Scherzo has a delightful origin; being the tune he would sing to Molly his Irish terrier while feeding Molly her favorite biscuits.

4: Nymphs and Satyr Ballet:
Prelude and Fantasy
Scherzo
Epilogue

5: Concerto for Organ, Harp and Strings

The Rochester Chamber Orchestra
David Fetler conducting
David Craighead: organ
Eileen Malone: harp


Enjoy (and write nice things about the music ;-))


Free File Hosting - Online Storage; Upload Mp3, Videos, Music. Backup Files (http://www.peejeshare.com/files/363302022/Howard_Hanson.zip.html)


I just came across this thread.. Any chance of a re-up? Thanks!


Mark
Mark's Super Blog (http://markssuperblog.blogspot.com)
Spock's Record Round-Up (http://spocksrecordround-up.blogspot.com)