Born in Nebraska, of Scandinavian heritage, Howard Hanson was influenced as much by Jean Sibelius as by his American surroundings. The plot of his 1933 opera, Merry Mount, set in New England in 1625 during a conflict between the Puritans and the Cavaliers, is anything but merry. However, the composer described the music as “warm-blooded…essentially a lyrical work [that] makes use of broad melodic lines as often as possible”. Listeners familiar with Hanson’s first two symphonies will find strong melodic and harmonic affinities with Merry Mount. This recording derives from a critically acclaimed pair of concert performances by Seattle Symphony and Gerard Schwarz in October 1996. Hanson’s Symphony No. 1 can be heard on Naxos 8.559072.