Early Recordings by Howard Hanson

Howard Hanson

As a companion piece to the posts of Howard Hanson recordings as presented on my main blog, here are a few of the earliest disks that conductor made, back in 1939.

Hanson (1896-1981) was one of the most active proponents of American music, as demonstrated by his 40 years as founding head of the Eastman School of Music and by the dozens of recordings he made starting with these Victor disks, set down during a busy May 1939 session.

Not only did Hanson record the four pieces on today's program, he also tackled compositions by John Knowles Paine, Leo Sowerby, Edward MacDowell and George Whitefield Chadwick, along with his own Symphony No. 2.

Our program begins with an item by the American impressionist Charles Tomlinson Griffes (1886-1920), The White Peacock, introduced by Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra near the end of the composer's short life. The work was orchestrated from one of Griffes' Roman Sketches, which can be heard here in a performance by Lenore Engdahl.

Charles T. Griffes, William Grant Still

The second selection is one that Hanson himself premiered - it is the Scherzo from the Afro-American Symphony by William Grant Still (1895-1978), which dates from 1931. The conductor later led the first performances of a number of other compositions by Still.

Joe Clark Steps Out is a genre piece by Charles G. Vardell, Jr. (1893-1962), reflecting his own North Carolina heritage. Vardell, a long-time educator in that state, was a doctoral student at Eastman when this recording was made.

Kent Kennan, Charles Vardell

The Night Soliloquy by Kent Kennan (1913-2003) is perhaps his best known work. Kennan was another graduate of Eastman, later a longtime professor at the University of Texas. Hanson was to record the piece twice more, in 1954 and 1962. The earlier rendition is available on my other blog.

These recordings are remastered from Internet Archive transfers.

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