Howard Hanson - Hanson conducts American Music Vol.2 (1953/54) [2011]

Hanson conducts rare recordings of symphonies by Piston and Cowell

Plus Loeffler's Poem for Orchestra all in superb Mercury Living Presence

Each of these recordings, made in the first half of the 1950s by Mercury and never previously issued on CD, was however reissued in the 1970s on Mercury's "Golden Imports" label, a collaboration with Philips in Holland. The latter's contribution was to repackage the recordings, apply some particularly unpleasant electronic stereo effects, then ship them back to the States having re-pressed them in Holland in their own factory. The transfers here all come from mint copies of these Dutch pressings, first processed to remove the noxious effects of electronic stereo, then passed through Pristine's 32-bit XR remastering process.

All of this music is rare, and all of it well worth hearing.

Andrew Rose


Tracks:

PISTON Symphony No. 3
COWELL Symphony No. 4
LOEFFLER Poem for Orchestra

Personnel:

Eastman-Rochester Orchestra
Howard Hanson, conductor