HANSON / Hanson - "Nordic Symphony" - Mercury Living Presence 1960 1st pressing

"Howard Hanson was among the first twentieth century American composers to achieve widespread prominence. In contrast to the angular Stravinskian and Americana-influenced sounds that dominated American concert music prior to World War II, Hanson wrote in an unabashedly Romantic idiom influenced by his Nordic roots. Of particular importance to the composer was the music of Sibelius; however, he also acknowledged the influence of composers such as Palestrina and Bach.

Hanson was always considered a "Romantic" composer, looking back at and retaining many popular elements of Romantic era music even when that style was considered ouy-dated. This writer considers the Second Symphony, composed in 1930, to be the first of his major works in which that description applies; Hanson even named it the "Romantic" as though to signal his retention of elements of Romantic style in 20th-century music. This symphony, though, was composed in 1920, before many elements of 20th-Century style had permeated into American concert halls. So it is not "neo-romantic" or "looking back at" Romantic; rather it is a genuine and un-self-conscious work of the Romantic Era, similar to music being written at the same time by such composers as Alfven, Madetoja, Magnard, and Bax. The subtitle is a proud one, for Hanson was, as his name indicated, of Nordic descent and his subject was his forebears, particularly in their role as pioneers in the Northern tier of states. While the relative immaturity of the composer shows here in the relative looseness of the symphony's organization, this is a work with grand, sweeping ideas which is good listening." - AMG

"If you can ignore the tape hiss these Mercury Living Presence recordings are the finest ever made. Along with the tape hiss, Mercury's engineering captured every nuance of the performances with a clarity and lucidity that few later recordings could match." - AMG.

This LP is a Mercury Living Presence Stereo recording from 1960.

This LP is a 1st Pressing with RFR1/RFR1 as part of the Matrix.

This series is highly regarded by Audiophiles as being some of the finest recordings ever made, even by today's standards and techniques.
These recordings are considered to be of true Audiophile quality.

Mastered by George Piros.

The record is Exc++.
The jacket is NM.
The LP plays/sounds Mint.

Spectacular sound. Incredible detail and tonality. Tremmendous power and dynamic range. The soundstage is massive and has pinpoint imaging. Instruments are surrounded by 'air' and have presence. A powerfull, sweeping recording and performance.

Each record is washed on a VPI cleaning machine using a proprietary 3-5 agent process which is determined by the needs of the individual record. Each record is then listened to 100% to insure that the posted description is exactly what you can expect to get.

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