A neglected American symphony receives an impassioned revival at Grant Park Music Festival
Chicago Classical Review | By Lawrence A. Johnson
Beethoven may have been the box-office bait at Millennium Park but it was the timely excavation of Howard Hanson’s Symphony No. 2 that proved the most notable element.
Conductor Joseph Young made a solid local debut last season at Lyric Opera in the problematic Blue. On Wednesday night, Young was more impressive still, leading the Grant Park musicians in a powerful and richly textured performance of Hanson’s symphony.
Young took an aptly spacious tempo for the Adagio introduction of the first movement, yet segued deftly into the ensuing Allegro, while giving rich ardor to the indelible second theme—the work’s true motto.
There is nothing soft about Hanson’s brand of American Romanticism, and Young and the GPO put across the indomitable strength of the music as well as its lyrical essence in the second movement. The finale’s driving brilliance was duly rousing with the four Grant Park horns investing their imposing theme with majestic impact. Young built the final section with cumulative strength, pulling back for the intimate string quartet iteration of the main theme before the resonant coda.
Joseph Young seems to have an innate feel for American music in general and Hanson’s tricky idiom in particular. The conductor inspired the Grant Park Orchestra musicians to a polished, virtuosic and fully committed performance—all the more impressive for being done on short summer rehearsal time and in a score most have likely never played before. Back in town to conduct the final two weeks of the festival, Giancarlo Guerrero was in the audience to lead the enthusiastic applause for his podium colleague and the orchestra.
