I know Schwarz Hanson is praised by many: The Penguins Guide, Grammophone and others. But I don't like it. For example the 2nd symphony with Montgomery on Arte Nova is much better than Schwarz. Schwarz has spectacular sound and faboulus playing. But is this important? With Montgomery the 2nd is a genuine symphony, everything makes sense, it is full of this special romantic charme. There may be even better recordings which I don't know and the Jena Philharmonics are not a top orchestra, but always when I want to hear Hanson, it's always Arte Nova. Schwarz in my view is not able to let the symphony flow. You sometimes realize: This is a transition episode, but Schwarz seems to spell it correctly, the momentum is completely lost, the symphony fells completely apart, as Schwarz never develops any kind of thrust. So I never listen to Schwarz, but to Montgomery, or for the first symphony to Schermerhorn ( Naxos). There is also another recording of the 6th (Landau, Vox Box) I posses but I haven't heard that very often. Other proposals for Hanson?
It is anyway astonishing that Schwarz is praised so loudly by so many, but I know that there are people who share my view. Of course I have not listened to the Schwarz very much, I listened yesterday to the 2nd again ( after Montgomery) but this reconfirmed my view.