The Mercury Living Presence recordings have acquired legendary status and have been much sought-after by audiophiles and “ordinary” listeners alike for their outstanding sound quality and roster of famous artists in both core repertory and less well-known music. As well as a wide variety of Central European music, Mercury Living Presence achieved distinction for the wealth of American music that appeared on the label.
Howard Hanson conducts Howard Hanson is another release in a group of box sets which makes more of these justly celebrated recordings available again — this time with the composer conducting a selection of his own works and with “his” orchestra — the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra.
This set presents a selection of Hanson’s works from the popular Symphonies 1-3 and the Piano Concerto as well as other orchestral works including the haunting Elegy in Memory of My Friend Serge Koussevitsky and the Merry Mount Suite and Mosaics. A fascinating document is the inclusion of the CD in which the composer talks about the compositional process with particular reference to three of the featured works.
