play pause radio-play skip-back skip-forward playing search copy check embed close plus caret-down caret-left caret-right caret-up chevron-down chevron-left chevron-right chevron-up arrow-left arrow-right open-in-new-tab filter menu more-horizontal more-vertical share share-android select star star-block volume-block volume-mute-block volume-mute volume lock settings recording composition devices laptop speaker
Log inCreate account

Hanson: Symphony No. 1, 'Nordic' - The Lament for Beowulf

3/6/2012, 1 Track, 19:07

Featuring

  • Gerard Schwarz
  • Seattle Symphony
  • Seattle Symphony Chorale
  • Howard Hanson

Did you know?

1/7

Composer's Artistic Vision

For The Lament for Beowulf, Howard Hanson intended to capture 'the austerity and stoicism and the heroic atmosphere of the poem,' viewing it as a basis for American music.

Source: Booklet

Compositional Technique

Hanson's 'Nordic' Symphony incorporates cyclical form, a compositional technique inherited from Saint-Saëns and the Romantic era.

Source: Booklet

Composition History

Howard Hanson began sketching The Lament for Beowulf while in Scotland, finding the environment 'rugged, swept with mist, and wholly appropriate' for the epic poem.

Source: Booklet

Performer Biography

Gerard Schwarz, the conductor on this album, was Music Director of the Seattle Symphony from 1985 to 2011, leading them to international prominence with over 140 recordings.

Source: Booklet

Composition History

Howard Hanson completed his Symphony No. 1 'Nordic' during a two-year stay in Italy, where he studied with Ottorino Respighi, an Italian composer.

Source: Booklet

Composer's Artistic Vision

The 'Nordic' Symphony reflects Howard Hanson's Swedish ancestry and the influence of Jean Sibelius, a Finnish composer who grew up speaking Swedish.

Source: Booklet

Composer Biography

Howard Hanson, born in Wahoo, Nebraska, had Scandinavian heritage and drew inspiration from Jean Sibelius, a Finnish composer, as well as his American surroundings.

Source: Booklet

You might also enjoy...

Lokshin: Symphony No. 4, "Sinfonia Stretta" / Three Scenes From Goethe's Faust
Bloch: America - Concerto Grosso No. 1
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op.14; Tristia, Op.18
Kirchner: Sinfonie "Totentanz" / Requiem "Messa di Pace"
Vaughan Williams: A London Symphony; Serenade to Music
Giya Kancheli: Mourned by the Wind
Santoro: Symphonies Nos. 13 & 14, Viola Concerto & Concerto for Chamber Orchestra
Vaughan Williams: Symphonies Nos. 6 and 8 / Nocturne
Ives: Symphony No. 2; Symphony No. 3 "The Camp Meeting"
Sallinen: Sunrise Serenade / Symphony No. 2 / Symphony No. 6
Vaughan Williams Symphonies Nos. 6 & 9, Fantasia on 'Greensleeves'
Madetoja: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 & Okon Fuoko Suite
Clifford: Symphony 1940 / Bainton: Symphony No. 2 / Gough: Serenade
Guerra-Peixe: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 "Brasília"
©℗ 2011 Naxos