Hanson's Merry mount

[Sean]

Anyone know this work? There's a Naxos recording under Schwarz I'm about to get into.

[springrite]

I have only heard parts of it and I liked it very much. Enjoy!

[jochanaan]

I don't know the opera (I may have heard some excerpts over the radio), but Howard Hanson is a worthy composer.  As much a musical progressive as I am, I still admire his NeoRomantic style--Romantic enough to suit even those who think music ends with Wagner but harmonically progressive enough to satisfy me.  And he's got a melodic gift and top-tier orchestral skills.

[Sean]

I like his subtlety also; his symphonies sometimes remind me of the contrapuntal complexity of a work like The Incredible Flutist with the surface charm remaining undisturbed.

[Superhorn]

   I  borrowed the live Naxos recording of Merry Mount on library interloan a couple of years ago or so, and enjoyed it very much .
It's conducted by Gerard Schwarz ,who has done so much for Hanson's music with a cast of not particularly well known but very good American singers . If you enjoy Hanson's other works you should  enjoy it too .
   It takes place in Puritan New England, and is the story of  a pastor's struggle between  Puritan  rigidity and  his lust for a married woman ,and includes attacks by Indians etc.  In my opinion , Merry Mount deserves to be better known . The Naxos recording has a synopsis  but no libretto, although I found  diction of the singers  good enough to  understand  anyway .
    The Metropolitan opera gave the world premiere back in the 30s conducted by of all  maestros Tullio Serafin !  and it was a huge success, but  never caught on somehow .   I would be delighted if they revived Merry Mount, conducted by Schwarz . 

[Sean]

Thanks Superhorn, I haven't started playing in yet actually but I'll finally get to it in the next few days and give it my usual five listenings.

Everything I read about says it's an important work.

I was in Seattle about eight years ago and luckily coincided with a Schwarz concert doing Brahms 2 and the Goldberg VC.

[Sean]

Just had a first listen- it draws on a whole bunch of obvious European influences of the time plus the American musical; for the first hour there's enough originality to keep the interest but overall the textures repeat and it seems too long. I'll be giving it my usual x5.