Symphony No. 2 (Hanson)

Last updated

The Symphony No. 2 in D-flat major, Opus 30, W45, [1] "Romantic", was written by Howard Hanson on commission from Serge Koussevitzky for the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1930, [2] and published by Carl Fischer Music.

Contents

Instrumentation

The symphony was written for a standard orchestra consisting of piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets in B-flat, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, cymbals, harp and strings.

Structure

The symphony is in three movements, with much thematic material shared among the movements.

  1. Adagio ( Figure rythmique noire hampe haut.svg = 50) — Allegro moderato ( Figure rythmique noire hampe haut.svg = 100) — Lento ( Figure rythmique noire hampe haut.svg = 56) molto espressivo — Piu mosso — Meno mosso ( Figure rythmique noire hampe haut.svg = 72) — Tranquillo — Molto piu mosso ( Figure rythmique noire hampe haut.svg = 112) — Animato — Molto meno mosso ( Figure rythmique noire hampe haut.svg = 80) — Animato ( Figure rythmique noire hampe haut.svg = 112) — Meno mosso ( Figure rythmique noire hampe haut.svg = 96) — Ancora meno mosso — Molto meno mosso
  2. Andante con tenerezza
  3. Allegro con brio — Molto meno mosso — Piu mosso — Animato — Largamente

The "lyrical, haunting second theme" of the first movement has become known as the "Interlochen theme" [3] (as it is performed at the conclusion of all concerts at the Interlochen Center for the Arts). It reappears "with greater emphasis" in the following two movements. [4] The slow movement was arranged for concert band by Norman Goldberg and in this form was also published by Carl Fischer. [5]

Hanson considered himself a "perfect fifth composer" or a "major third composer," but in this symphony, it is the perfect fourth "that plays a prominent part throughout the symphony in both melody and harmony." [6] Despite the abundance of triplets, the Bruckner rhythm occurs only in a few spots, mainly in the horns' and trumpets' parts; the others are in the timpani in the first movement, [7] and at the end of a longer rhythmical motif in the finale. [8]

Performances

The symphony was premiered by Koussevitzky conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra on November 28, 1930. Soon after Arturo Toscanini played it with the New York Philharmonic. [9] Hanson himself conducted and recorded the work with the Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra. Other conductors of the symphony include Charles Gerhardt, Erich Kunzel, Sir Neville Marriner, Gerard Schwarz, David Montgomery and Leonard Slatkin.

Reception

While Hanson is deemed to have broken new ground in the symphony, he "produced a popular concert work which is the epitome of the twentieth-century symphony that could have been written by an American." [10] Virgil Thomson, a contemporary of Hanson, opined of Hanson's music in general that "I have never yet found in any work of his a single phrase or turn of harmony that did not sound familiar," and of the symphony specifically "it is as standardized in expression as it is eclectic in style. Not a surprise from beginning to end, nor any adventure." [11]

Hanson was displeased that the theme was used for the closing credits of Alien [12] without his permission, but decided not to fight it in court. [13] More positively, John Williams used the symphony as a model for his music for E.T. [14]

Recordings

Hanson himself conducted the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra in a 1939 RCA Victor recording of the symphony. Then, in 1958, he made a stereo recording with the same orchestra of the symphony for Mercury Records, which was later reissued on CD and has remained in catalogues for many years.

Hanson's Second Symphony is one of the most prolific twentieth century American symphonies on record, with other recordings including by the National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Charles Gerhardt (RCA, then Chesky), the Seattle Symphony under Gerard Schwarz (Delos, then Naxos), the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin (EMI), the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra under Erich Kunzel and the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra under David Montgomery (Arte Nova), and a third recording by the composer, conducting the Mormon Youth Symphony Orchestra and recorded at the Salt Lake Tabernacle, Utah in 1972 (Citadel Records). Hanson also included an extended version of the symphony's main theme (heard in the first and last movements) in a recording with the World Youth Symphony, made at a concert at Interlochen, Michigan in 1977 (Citadel).

The symphony had the distinction of being one of the very few American works that Arturo Toscanini conducted when he was music director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra; however, Toscanini did not record the music, even during the many years he led the NBC Symphony Orchestra.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre Monteux</span> French and American conductor (1875–1964)

Pierre Benjamin Monteux was a French conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in 1907. He came to prominence when, for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company between 1911 and 1914, he conducted the world premieres of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and other prominent works including Petrushka, The Nightingale, Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé, and Debussy's Jeux. Thereafter he directed orchestras around the world for more than half a century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Hanson</span> American composer and music theorist (1896–1981)

Howard Harold Hanson was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American classical music. As director for 40 years of the Eastman School of Music, he built a high-quality school and provided opportunities for commissioning and performing American music. In 1944, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his Symphony No. 4, and received numerous other awards including the George Foster Peabody Award for Outstanding Entertainment in Music in 1946.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich)</span> 1925 symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich

The Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10, by Dmitri Shostakovich was written in 1924–1925, and first performed in Leningrad by the Leningrad Philharmonic under Nicolai Malko on 12 May 1926. Shostakovich wrote the work as his graduation piece at the Petrograd Conservatory, completing it at the age of 19.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony No. 2 (Sibelius)</span> Symphony in four movements by Jean Sibelius

The Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43, is a four-movement work for orchestra written from 1901 to 1902 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

Lincoln Portrait is a 1942 classical orchestral work written by the American composer Aaron Copland. The work involves a full orchestra, with particular emphasis on the brass section at climactic moments. The work is narrated with the reading of excerpts of Abraham Lincoln's great documents, including the Gettysburg Address. An orchestra usually invites a prominent person to be the narrator.

<i>Scheherazade</i> (Rimsky-Korsakov) Symphonic poem by Rimsky-Korsakov

Scheherazade, also commonly Sheherazade, Op. 35, is a symphonic suite composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888 and based on One Thousand and One Nights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony No. 1 (Schumann)</span> 1841 symphonic work composed by Robert Schumann

The Symphony No. 1 in B♭ major, Op. 38, also known as the Spring Symphony, is the first completed symphonic work composed by Robert Schumann.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony No. 2 (Bernstein)</span> Piece by Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein's Symphony No. 2 The Age of Anxiety is a piece for orchestra and solo piano. The piece was composed from 1948 to 1949 in the United States and Israel, and was revised in 1965. It is titled after W. H. Auden's eponymous poem, and dedicated to Serge Koussevitzky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Classical Music Hall of Fame and Museum</span> Classical music museum in Cincinnati, Ohio

The American Classical Music Hall of Fame and Museum is a non-profit organization celebrating past and present individuals and institutions that have made significant contributions to classical music—"people who have contributed to American music and music in America", according to Samuel Adler. The project was founded in 1996 by Cincinnati businessman and civic leader David A. Klingshirm and inducted its first honorees in 1998.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed his Orchestral Suite No. 3 in G, Op. 55 in 1884, writing it concurrently with his Concert Fantasia in G, Op. 56, for piano and orchestra. The originally intended opening movement of the suite, Contrastes, instead became the closing movement of the fantasia. Both works were also intended initially as more mainstream compositions than they became; the fantasia was intended as a piano concerto, while the suite was conceived as a symphony.

The Partita for orchestra with a solo soprano by the Italian composer Luigi Dallapiccola was composed between 1930 and 1932.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony No. 2 (Davies)</span>

The Symphony No. 2 by Peter Maxwell Davies was commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in celebration of its centenary, and was composed in 1980. Seiji Ozawa conducted the world premiere with the BSO on 26 February 1981 at Symphony Hall, Boston. The same forces performed the New York premiere on 4 March that year at Carnegie Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony No. 2 (Dohnányi)</span>

The Symphony No. 2 in E, Op. 40, was completed by Ernő Dohnányi in 1944, at the close of the Second World War. It was revised later in the 1950s. Written with audible roots in the Romantic tradition, the work is largely lyrical, yet maintains a controlled militaristic air inspired by the events surrounding its composition. It references a variety of musical backgrounds, including the work of Brahms, Wagner, Kabalevsky, and Bach. Bach's song Komm, süßer Tod serves as the basis for a significant portion of the finale.

The Symphony No. 1, H. 289, is an orchestral composition by the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů.

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 23 by Edward MacDowell was completed in late 1885. Although some obvious similarities with Edvard Grieg's, Camille Saint-Saëns's and Franz Liszt's concertos have often been stated, MacDowell’s composition proves to be quite original, at least compared to his First Concerto. It was the first major piano concerto written by an American. It was also the only large-scale composition by MacDowell to remain in standard repertoire.

The Concerto for Piano and Orchestra is a musical composition by the American composer Aaron Copland. The work was commissioned by the conductor Serge Koussevitzky who was then music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was first performed on January 28, 1927, by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Koussevitzky with the composer himself as the soloist. The piece is dedicated to Copland's patron Alma Morgenthau Wertheim.

The String Sonata No. 1, commonly referred to by its original Italian name Sonata per archi, is a composition for string orchestra by German composer Hans Werner Henze. It was composed between 1957 and 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony No. 2 (Wirén)</span> Symphony in three movements by Dag Wirén

The Symphony No. 2, Op. 14, is a three-movement orchestral composition written from 1938 to 1939 by the Swedish composer Dag Wirén. Despite its numbering, the Second Symphony represents Wirén's first contribution to the form as a professional. Swedish conductor Sixten Eckerberg premiered the new symphony with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Gothenburg on 13 October 1940. Although the public received the premiere positively, the critics cautioned that the new work was mildly derivative of Carl Nielsen. At 30 minutes, the Second is the longest of Wirén's four essays in the genre, as well as, stylistically, the most late-Romantic and pastoral of the set.

The Symphony No. 3 in B minor by the Ukrainian composer Borys Lyatoshynsky was completed in 1951, with the final movement themed "Peace will conquer war." The symphony was first performed in Kyiv on 23 October 1951, by the Kyiv Philharmonic, conducted by Natan Rakhlin. Criticised by the Soviet authorities on ideological grounds, the composer was forced to rework the symphony, and to remove the subtitle of the finale. The first performance of the revised version took place in Leningrad in 1955.

References

  1. ↑ p. 49 (1993) Perone
  2. ↑ p. 24 (2004) Cohen
  3. ↑ p. 24 (2004) Cohen
  4. ↑ p. 407 (1993) Canarina
  5. ↑ p. 49 (1993) Perone
  6. ↑ p. 141 (2004) Cohen
  7. ↑ Measure 10, p. 2 (1930) Hanson
  8. ↑ Letter G, p. 103 forward (1930) Hanson
  9. ↑ p. 407 (1993) Canarina
  10. ↑ p. 140 (1998) Butterworth
  11. ↑ p. 179 (1998) Steinberg
  12. ↑ McIntee, David (2005). Beautiful Monsters: The Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to the Alien and Predator Films. Surrey, England: Telos Publishing Ltd. p. 38. ISBN   1-903889-94-4.
  13. ↑ pp. 24 - 25 (2004) Cohen
  14. ↑ p. 6 (1994) Karlin

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.