Bold Island Suite / Symphony No. 2 Romantic / Suite from Merry Mount

Hybrid/SACD DSD - 2 Channel Recording / 6 Channel Recording - Playable on all compact disc players.

"Erich Kunzel's taut grip on the score projects its clear symphonic structures while drawing out its wide-ranging emotions...this recording is essential." - Time Out New York

"Telarc's superb recording serves the music very well and practically brings the smell of sea air into one's living room.” - All Music Guide

"Hanson's fellow "Mainiac" Kunzel, who lives on nearby Swan's Island, clearly has the Maine land and seascape in his mind's eye and ear.” - Cincinnati Post

"A Hanson 'Romantic' in excellent sound not as satisfying as Gerhardt and an unusual Bold Island Suite definitely worth exploring"
(MusicWeb 2005)

"It is pleasant, beautiful music, and we are indebted to maestro Kunzel for deciding to record it.” - Copley News Service

"Kunzel has a particular rapport with music of this major American composer and lives next to Bold Island where Hanson spent much of his time.” - ClassicalCDReview.com

"The Bold Island Suite receives a world-premiere recording, and it's quite a substantial work in three attractive movements with the titles "Birds of the Sea", "Summer Seascape", and "God in Nature". Having it in such a beautifully played and recorded performance will delight fans of this appealing composer: it's completely typical of his conservatively romantic but well-crafted style. It's a mystery that it has taken so long for this piece to see the light of day.” - ClassicsToday.com


Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra follow-up on their critically acclaimed world premiere recording of Rozsa's three choral suites—Ben Hur, Quo Vadis and King of Kings—with stirring renditions of Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2, "Romantic”; Merry Mount Suite; and the world premiere recording of his Bold Island Suite.
Hanson was born in Wahoo, Nebraska, in 1896 to Swedish immigrants. He began studying piano with his mother when he was six, and took up cello soon after. In 1916, he was appointed to teach at the College of the Pacific in San Jose, California, and three years later, at 22, was named dean of the College's Conservatory of Fine Arts. In 1921, he was awarded the first American Prix de Rome, and spent the next two years in Italy, where he studied with Ottorino Respighi.

Hanson returned to the U.S. in 1923, and conducted the American premiere of his First Symphony in Rochester, New York—an event that brought him to the attention of George Eastman, founder of the music school bearing his name. Eastman invited Hanson to become the school's director, and thus began one of the most distinguished tenures in the annals of American musical academe. During the forty years of his directorship, Hanson raised the Eastman School to the front rank of American conservatories and initiated an annual festival of American music that became one of the most important forums for American composers. Among his many awards were 36 honorary degrees, membership in the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, a Pulitzer Prize, and the George Foster Peabody Award. Hanson died in Rochester in 1981