ISBN 825839696. Key: D-flat major.
Premiered in 1930 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2 has long been the best-known and most popular of his pieces. In three colorful movements, the symphony has a heart-on-sleeve lyricism that has endeared it to audiences normally fearful of 20th century music. Score and parts were originally published by C.C. Birchard and Company in 1932, for the Eastman School of Music. Subsequently Carl Fischer acquired the rights to administer the copyright, and in 1948, published the familiar study score. There were known to be many errata and discrepancies between Hanson's original manuscript on deposit in the Sibley Music Library at the Eastman School of Music and the existing materials in the Fischer rental library. As a result of Maestro Sawallisch's interest in performing the symphony, Clinton Nieweg and his staff of librarians at the Philadelphia Orchestra prepared this critical edition of the score of the piece. New parts were also produced and are available from the Carl Fischer Rental Library. The first performance of the critical edition of the Hanson Symphony No. 2 was given on May 6, 1999, with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch.
