Chanelling Howard Hanson?

Among several CDs I picked up on a recent Amoeba Records binge, I think I’ve stumbled across a musical ancestor. This 1989 Seattle Symphony recording of Howard Hanson‘s Symphonies 1 and 2 was sitting there staring at me from the clearance bin, so I idlely grabbed it, thinking ‘what the heck’.

Having never paid any attention to Hanson before, I listened to it for the first time with great interest. About two thirds of the way through the final movement of Symphony No. 1, I heard something that made me stop and rewind.

Keep in mind that I’ve never heard this Hanson symphony before in my life, and check this out. It’s an excerpt from my 2000 orchestra piece Misterium Tremendum.

It’s funny to me, because a review of a 2003 performance of Misterium picked on it for ripping off Sibelius, and I actually wasn’t familiar with Sibelius when I wrote the piece. I eventually got to know and love Sibelius, partly thanks to that review (which was actually quite fair and astute).

Turns out I was ripping off Hanson without realizing it. Hanson, I found out from the liner notes, was a Sibelius fan himself. What’s particularly interesting is the news that one of Hanson’s students was William Bergsma who taught my last teacher, Conrad Susa. I suppose that makes him a musical great-grandfather of sorts.

Addressing Sondheim

Well, I just did a search, and in over a year of blogging, the name “Sondheim” has only been mentioned in passing in 7 posts. I’m not sure why this is, considering that Stephen Sondheim is by far the most influential composer upon my aesthetic and even my choice of a career.

To catch up on that, rather than create a huge mega-post that no one will read, I’ve decided to do several normal-sized posts that no one will read. This one is just a little bit of background for starters.

When I was in my teens, I was interested in music and musical theater, but not in any focused way. Hearing the score of Sweeney Todd for the first time in the early Eighties changed all that forever. That was the first score that motivated me to learn how to read music properly, because I’d never heard anything like it, and I wanted to understand what made it tick. (After over 20 years, I’m getting closer to that goal )

Having quickly moved on to get familiar with other Sondheim scores, in particular Company, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures and Merrily We Roll Along, I began to explore some of the composers who were reported to have influenced Sondheim, but whom I hadn’t heard of. Starting with Stravinsky, I checked out an album at the public library, almost at random. Turns out it was the Dumbarton Oaks Concerto along with a bunch of what I now know to be fairly obscure works.

So, skipping ahead, by the time college-pickin’ time came around I already knew I wanted to be a composer. Of course, in college I was exposed to all sorts of other things, but I never stopped wanting to be Sondheim when I grew up. All of my music is influenced by him in one way or another, however remotely in some cases.

In recent years I’ve gone in and out of periods of oversaturation with Sondheim, and I’m just coming out of one of these now. During these periods I avoid listening to his music, because I’m just so familiar with everything already, and it just becomes sort of noise. But, at the moment, I’m in the middle of reading the new book How Sondheim Found His Sound, which has gotten me interested in listening with fresh ears. More on that coming up.

To Mutual Admiration

It’s been a while since I’ve added a new blog to the set of feeds that I monitor regularly, and I almost never add anything new to my “Other Blogs” list (see the flyout menu to the left). Recently I added Red Black Window the blog of composer and Renaissance man Roger Bourland, who may be the most like-minded music blogger I’ve encountered so far.

For one thing, Roger shares my interest in the study or non-”classical” music, and we’ve both been caught analysing 60′s rock, only he’s a lot better at it. Here’s a post I wish I’d written. I wish I had time to piece together exactly what he’s up to, but there are several posts where he appears to be giving composition lessons to Rufus Wainwright, about whose music he is now preparing a book.

I’ve only scratched the surface. Please also take a look at Roger’s “traditional” web site, which is a work of art in itself (you’ll need your Flash plugin in working order). Having spent some time in the “Listening Area” there, I can say that he and I are like-minded aesthetically as well as, uh, bloguetically.

P.S. – Roger and I also share views on botanical-infused spirits.