Howard Hanson: Merry Mount
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CD Details
Performer: Barry JohnsonPerformer: Fred K. Dent
Performer: Joachim Schneider
Performer: Richard Zeller
Performer: Charles Austin
Performer: Daniel Jessup
Performer: Gene Buchholz
Composer: Howard Hanson
Conductor: Gerard Schwarz
Performer: Louise Marley
Orchestra: Seattle Symphony Orchestra
Performer: Diana Huber
Performer: Lauren Flanigan
Performer: Christopher Ball
Performer: Gino Luchetti
Performer: Paul Gudas
Performer: Walter MacNeil
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2007-05-29
Music Label: Naxos American
Music reviews of Howard Hanson: Merry Mount
Music Review: Howard Hanson's Merry Mount
Rating: 5 Stars
Howard Hanson's opera, Merry Mount, was written while the composer was putting the finishing touches on the work he is probably best known for, namely his Symphony No. 2 "Romantic". This work is vintage Hanson, at least the Howard Hanson of his early maturity. It has all of the lush orchestration, harmony, and melody of his works of this period.
Howard Hanson had studied with the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. Hanson obviously learned a thing or two from the Italian maestro, himself who was, lest we forget, the student of another thrilling orchestrator, namely Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
Critics have praised the choral writing in this opera. Indeed, some of the choral writing is utterly thrilling and is probably some of the most memorable music in the entire work. This opera has been criticised exactly on this point. Hanson has said of this opera that he was influenced by Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, another opera in which the chorus plays a huge role.
This opera would seem to have the perfect plot for an American opera. It features a combination of religious fundamentalists (the Puritans), revelers (the Cavaliers), sex (the attraction between Wrestling Bradford, the Puritan preacher and Lady Marigold), and the devil. It is Howard Hanson at his most arch-Romantic and is a sensous, and at times, decadent work.
This opera is not for everyone. But for fans of Howard Hanson, like myself, this recording is an indispensable one. Hanson certainly had a talent for orchestration and it is abundantly clear on this disc. The recorded sound is good, despite being a live performance. The soloists perform admirably and the choruses (there are three of them involved in this recording) are superb. Naxos has given us a chance to hear an important American opera. This was one of the first attempts at an American opera and it is important for that reason. This is a recording that I will treasure, mostly because I am a fan of Howard Hanson's.
Description of Howard Hanson: Merry Mount
This is the first modern recording of Howard Hanson's opera. A broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera in terrible sound, where it was premiered in 1934, is available in Europe, but this recording makes it redundant. The opera, based on a story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, concerns the clash between New England Puritans, with their rigid religiosity, and a group of Cavaliers who come to their town and scandalize everyone with their Maypole dancing and merry-making. There is an interrupted Indian massacre, a scene in Hell for the town's fanatical preacher, Wrestling Bradford, and a self-immolation at the opera's close. While it's good to have such a fine recording of this work available - and this performance, with Richard Zeller as a passionate Bradford, the remarkable Lauren Flanigan as Lady Marigold (the object of Bradford's desire), and a fine cast of American singers, is nothing if not superb - it is impossible to avoid the fact that the work is bloated, lacks true melodies, relies too heavily on repeated drumbeats for effect, and does not offer any appealing vocal writing for the principals. The music adds up to something vaguely cinematic and, more vaguely, true background. It's clearly a work that was probably better seen than just heard. This recording was taken from two concert performances in 1996. It will be of interest to fans of American opera who should not expect a forgotten masterpiece. --Robert LevineGeneral CDs
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