Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Howard Hanson

Howard Hanson Romantic Symphony & Film

I don’t know if I ever shared this before – from the Classic Ross Amico Cabinet of Curiosities, an inscribed photo of Howard Hanson.

For 40 years, Hanson was director of the Eastman School of Music, in which capacity he nurtured and championed innumerable American composers, giving literally thousands of premieres at the helm of the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra (an ensemble he founded). The lucky ones found their way onto records, issued on the Mercury label.

Hanson, of course, was himself a composer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1944, for his Symphony No. 4 “Requiem,” written in memory of his father. But his best-known music, unquestionably, is his Symphony No. 2 “Romantic,” composed in 1930.

A cassette tape of the piece must have been circulating in Hollywood, beginning in the late 1970s. It started turning up in the movies, either directly, as in the end credits to “Alien” (1979), or as thinly-veiled homage, as in the bicycle chase and finale of “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” (1982). More recently, Hans Zimmer cribbed it for “The Boss Baby” (2017).

I can understand the allure. The quintessential “Hanson sound” is one of heart-on-the-sleeve romanticism, characterized by glowingly nostalgic melodies. But the composer also had his severe side. As the offspring of Swedish immigrants in Wahoo, Nebraska, he was also inclined to a certain Nordic austerity, especially in his later works.

I never met Dr. Hanson myself, but he has all my respect and gratitude. Happy birthday, Howard Hanson!

Romantic Hanson, incongruously, in “Alien”

Hans Zimmer cribs for “The Boss Baby”

John Williams’ most glorious music, for the last 15 minutes of “E.T.,” would not have been the same without his influence

As it’s heard in the original

Romantic Symphony (complete)

Piano Concerto

“Elegy in Memory of Serge Koussevitzky”

Koussevitzky conducts Hanson’s Symphony No. 3 (in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the first Swedish settlement in Delaware)

“Pastorale” for Oboe, Harp and Strings

October 28, 2025
Howard Hanson’s Bold Island Inspiration

For many, the prospect of having to work through vacation can be a real drag; but for the creative artist, getting away can be a welcome opportunity to really get things done.

This week on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll hear three pieces associated with Bold Island, Maine, the summer home of Howard Hanson.

For 40 years, Hanson was director of the Eastman School of Music. In that capacity he nurtured and championed innumerable American composers, giving literally thousands of premieres at the helm of the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, an ensemble he founded. The lucky ones made it onto Hanson’s records on the Mercury label.

Hanson, of course, was himself a composer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1944, for his Symphony No. 4 “Requiem,” written in memory of his father. But his best-known music, undoubtedly, is his Symphony No. 2 “Romantic,” composed in 1930.

The famous “Hanson sound” is one of heart-on-the-sleeve romanticism, characterized by glowingly nostalgic melodies, though he also had his severe side. After all, he was born in Wahoo, Nebraska, to Swedish parents, and a certain Nordic austerity can be detected, especially in his later works.

His Symphony No. 6, of 1967, is more tightly argued than his earlier, more famous symphonies. Its six brief movements are built on a recurring motif. At times, it can sound a bit like Sibelius, though Hanson very much remains his own man. Hanson being Hanson, he doesn’t really skimp on the lyricism, but he doesn’t exactly indulge it to the same extent he does in the earlier works. Still, predictably, the symphony was derided as old-fashioned by the genuinely austere musical establishment of the day.

The Bold Island connection is through Hanson’s “Summer Seascape No. 2,” written a few years earlier, and clearly the blueprint for the symphony. In fact, the opening of the symphony is identical.

Hanson’s first “Summer Seascape” forms the centerpiece of his “Bold Island Suite,” a separate work composed in 1961. The suite also contains movements with the descriptive titles “Birds of the Sea” and “God in Nature.”

The North Atlantic inspires some august music, on “August Hanson,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PHOTO: Not-very-austere Puffins off the coast of Maine

August 16, 2025
Howard Hanson’s Bold Island Inspiration

For many, the prospect of having to work through vacation can be a real drag; but for the creative artist, getting away can be a welcome opportunity to really get things done.

This week on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll hear three pieces associated with Bold Island, Maine, the summer home of Howard Hanson.

For 40 years, Hanson was director of the Eastman School of Music. In that capacity he nurtured and championed innumerable American composers, giving literally thousands of premieres at the helm of the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, an ensemble he founded. The lucky ones made it onto Hanson’s records on the Mercury label.

Hanson, of course, was himself a composer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1944, for his Symphony No. 4 “Requiem,” written in memory of his father. But his best-known music, undoubtedly, is his Symphony No. 2 “Romantic,” composed in 1930.

The famous “Hanson sound” is one of heart-on-the-sleeve romanticism, characterized by glowingly nostalgic melodies, though he also had his severe side. After all, he was born in Wahoo, Nebraska, to Swedish parents, and a certain Nordic austerity can be detected, especially in his later works.

His Symphony No. 6, of 1967, is more tightly argued than his earlier, more famous symphonies. Its six brief movements are built on a recurring motif. At times, it can sound a bit like Sibelius, though Hanson very much remains his own man. Hanson being Hanson, he doesn’t really skimp on the lyricism, but he doesn’t exactly indulge it to the same extent he does in the earlier works. Still, predictably, the symphony was derided as old-fashioned by the genuinely austere musical establishment of the day.

The Bold Island connection is through Hanson’s “Summer Seascape No. 2,” written a few years earlier, and clearly the blueprint for the symphony. In fact, the opening of the symphony is identical.

Hanson’s first “Summer Seascape” forms the centerpiece of his “Bold Island Suite,” a separate work composed in 1961. The suite also contains movements with the descriptive titles “Birds of the Sea” and “God in Nature.”

The North Atlantic inspires some august music, on “August Hanson,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Keep in mind, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for the Trenton-Princeton area. Here are the respective air-times of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EDT)

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EDT)

Stream them here!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PHOTO: Not-very-austere Puffins off the coast of Maine

August 19, 2023
David Fetler Orchestra Leader Dies at 96

David Fetler, alleged to be America’s longest-serving music director of an orchestra, has died. Fetler directed the Rochester Chamber Orchestra for over 50 years, surpassing Arthur Fiedler’s record of 49 with the Boston Pops. (On the world stage, there have been longer.)

Fetler was born in Riga, Latvia, the tenth of a family of thirteen children. He came to the United States at the age of 12. He studied at Juilliard, Westminster Choir College in Princeton, and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, as well as with conductors Pierre Monteux and Leopold Stokowski.

His available recordings are few, but I recognized his named immediately from a lovely album of Howard Hanson’s music. Fetler conducted the premiere of Hanson’s ballet “Nymphs and Satyr” (1979). I’ve always been especially fond of the infectious scherzo, based on a melody the composer whistled to his Irish terrier, Molly, while feeding her biscuits. Hanson, best known for his Symphony No. 2, the “Romantic,” served as the Eastman School’s director for 40 years, beginning in 1924.

From the same album, here’s Fetler’s recording of Hanson’s Concerto for Organ, Harp and Strings (1926):

It was Hanson who invited Fetler to join the conducting faculty in Rochester. In that capacity, Fetler presented a wide variety of instrumental and choral music with the Eastman Collegium Chamber Orchestra and Singers. Fetler’s programs frequently juxtaposed composers from different eras and included plenty of new music.

He founded the Rochester Chamber Orchestra with musicians from the Rochester Philharmonic. Also written for the group was David Diamond’s “Lilac Festival Overture.”

He also founded and conducted Rochester’s Greece Symphony Orchestra. For many years, he was choral director at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

Fetler died on Sunday. He was 96 years-old.

April 19, 2023
Phillips, Hanson, and American Music

I began yesterday by cracking the back of my skull on the bathroom floor, and then I had to drag my carcass to the polls, so I hope you will forgive me for taking the day off. I just react poorly to vaccines. And before anyone suggests it’s because I had tiny submarines injected into me, “Fantastic Voyage”-style, I hasten to add I know very few people who suffer anything worse than a sore arm. I’m just lucky to be blessed with an overachieving immune system, I guess. Either that, or I’m a bigger threat than I thought, a threat that can only be eliminated by tiny Donald Pleasence.

Be that as it may, I hate to miss a day posting. It’s purely egotism, I know, since in the scheme of things, it doesn’t make any damn difference, but it does make me feel out of sorts. It’s part of my morning routine, like filling the birdfeeders and drinking a cup of coffee.

This lengthy preamble has nothing to do with Burrill Phillips, who was born on this date in 1907. Phillips was a product of the Eastman School, and later taught there. His best-known music is “Selections from McGuffey’s Reader,” which takes its name from the old schoolhouse primers. Its three movements – “The One-Horse Shay,” “John Alden and Priscilla,” and “Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” – are inspired by writings of Oliver Wendell Holmes and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and possibly the Revere painting by Grant Wood. Can’t get much more consciously “American” than that.

Phillips confided to his diary in 1933, “I don’t think anyone had written such ‘American-sounding’ music before. On the first night, the students said it was corny. And it was. But I didn’t care, because it was a huge success.” It still is.

Later, Phillips evolved from that early, populist style to embrace more experimental techniques. I confess I don’t know any of his later work, but I try to play “Selections from McGuffey’s Reader” every year around Thanksgiving.

Fortuitously, this also gives me the opportunity to tip the top of my skull to Howard Hanson, whose birthday (October 28, 1896) I passed over in the run-up to Halloween. For some 40 years, Hanson was director of the Eastman School. In that capacity, and as conductor of the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra, he did a world of good for American music. Hanson would be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1944 for his Symphony No. 4, “Requiem,” dedicated to the memory of his father. But his best-known piece is unquestionably his Symphony No. 2, “Romantic,” still mined by Hollywood composers.

Both Phillips and Hanson were Nebraska natives. (Phillips was from Omaha, and Hanson hailed from Wahoo). My heart is in the Heartland, even as the back of my head is on the bathroom floor.

“Selections from McGuffey’s Reader” (posted separately as a YouTube playlist, so you may have to skip ads in between movements)

Burrill Phillips’ Piano Concerto

Howard Hanson’s “Romantic” Symphony

History of McGuffey’s Reader

Go Eastman, young men: Burrill Phillips (left, with music typewriter) and Howard Hanson

November 9, 2022

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