Hovhaness recommendations please!

[Amphissa]

Hovhaness
Concerto for Harp and String Orchestra, op. 267
Kondanassis, harp
Flanders Fiamminghi Orchestra
Werthen, conductor

Available on SACD
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Alan-Hovhaness/dp/B00004S8A8/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335319831&sr=8-1-spell

[shamokin88]

No questions that such a large output is hard to sort through.

I would add to the list of suggestions his 7th Concerto for Orchestra, a Louisville/First Edition production and the first piece to gain him wide attention, a concerto for piano and strings Lousadzak, meaning "The Coming of the Light." This first appeared as a 78 rpm set.

The baritone horn/wind version of his 29th Symphony is available but not the full orchestra version, which I should post. I heard it live when the Minnesota Orchestra presented it at a runout concert in Rochester. I took my daughter Alexandra, then twelve. Hovhaness sat directly in front of us in the Mayo Auditorium. Alexandra was greatly impressed to meet a real, live composer who wrote symphonies, and he returned the compliment with great seriousness as if she had been the critic for one of the Twin Cities papers. I think he often wrote the same piece over and over again. And sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. A lot of misses but then a lot of hits.

[TerraEpon]

Incidently, the Naxos disc of 'City of Light' is the same recording as the Delos one, available on the aforementioned Collection Vol. 1 (...though now that I look at Amazon, it appears to be rare enough that three sellers are selling it for $45+, though the other one can be had for a reasonable price).

I wanna reiterate about #4 though -- it's for wind ensemble and is a fantastic piece...the Naxos disc is great, as is the Mercury disc under Fennell/Eastman that couples Giannini and Gould with it.

[semloh]

OK, thanks! I get the picture and will report back in due course...

Hovhaness has an amazing talent for creating atmospheres ranging from dark and dramatic (e.g. St Helens)through to delicate and beautiful (e.g. Harp Concerto), and I could make recommendations (I can't help but mention his Guitar Concerto) ...... but I'll wait for your report, Alan! 

Sorry, Colin.....the "Harp Concerto"

I don't seem to have it in my recently posted catalogue   Does it go by another name

It's Op.267, Colin - Concerto for Harp & Strings (1973) (available on a Telarc CD)
.... one of 22 concertos listed in my discography. 

[semloh]

Hovhaness
Concerto for Harp and String Orchestra, op. 267
Kondanassis, harp
Flanders Fiamminghi Orchestra
Werthen, conductor

Available on SACD
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Alan-Hovhaness/dp/B00004S8A8/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335319831&sr=8-1-spell

Apologies Amphissa - I didn't see that you had already answered Colin's query! 

[Dundonnell]

Thanks to both Amphissa and Semloh for answering my question and thereby correcting my oversight No idea how I missed it-well, I do really (just too many works and therefore easy to miss one ).  Anyway....now added to the catalogue.

[febnyc]

I am a sucker for his 1970 work, "And God Created Great Whales."

This "concerto" for whale sounds and orchestra really packs a punch - in the manner of, say, a Tintagel or a Fingal's Cave, in its feeling of the power of the deep.  And the actual whales communicating with each other are touching to hear, especially considering the majesty of these wonderful creatures who always live in peril from man's plundering.  I find it all a testament to their lives and, also, a compelling piece of music.

[TerraEpon]

I love that harp disc as well. His style lends itself very well for that instrument, unsurprisingly.

[Hovite]

Since I am not yet a convert, perhaps members could recommend three CDs of Hovhaness' music for me to start my investigation of this composers' output...

I have several discs of this composer's music, but it all sounds much the same, and I have resolved not to buy any more. There is nothing wrong with it, but it tends to be a bit bland and shapeless. It has been said that "Hovhaness comes from a small planet where it always Christmas and where there are no bad sounds". Indeed, I find that there is even a Christmas Symphony, Symphony No. 49, Opus 356. His Symphony No. 22, Opus 236, is titled City of Light, and the 2nd movement is called Angel of Light, and is "a memory of a childhood vision I had ... I was always affected by Christmas". So my recommendation would be to avoid the mystical works and try something more formal, such as the Prelude and Quadruple Fugue, Opus 128.

[Latvian]

It seems most of us either love or hate Hovhaness' music. Perhaps not quite those extremes for everyone, but I don't see much indifference. I confess I'm in the "love" category. I've listened to it, performed it, and enjoyed it for decades. That being said, yes, there is a tremendous amount of seeming repetition and note-spinning. Part of that is due to the modes he chose to work in, which have very distinctive colors and progressions. I think there's a lot of subtlety in his best writing, though there's also a discomfort with, and rejection of, the traditional inner workings of forms such as concerto and symphony, though he retained the titles and fashioned them to his own ends.

Personally, my favorites are:
Concerti for Orchestra Nos. 1 & 7
The Holy City
Visionary Landscapes, for piano
Twelve Armenian Folksongs, for piano
the final movement of Symphony No. 20, titled "Grand Final Processional" (a knockout piece of grandeur!)

There's much more that I enjoy, but I freely admit I don't listen to Hovhaness every day, or even every week!

[Leea25]

Personally, I find that I 'have it in my head', if you know what I mean, that I like Hovhaness very much, and seem to keep buying his music, but with a few exceptions, I find it a little disappointing when I listen to it. I much prefer his miniatures or larger works with shorter movements. The many works for strings like the Armenian Rhapsodies, or some of his piano works are about the right amount and right style of Hovhaness for me I think.

[chill319]

Hovhaness has different 'phases' in his symphonic sound worlds. In the late 1940s and earlier 1950s his music was sparsely triadic with color chords. In the late 1950s or early 1960s he discovered a way to use half-diminished seventh chords without sounding like Wagner. There is a phase of about 10 symphonies that unfold in these lush half diminished progressions. IIRC these include Symphony 15, op. 199 ('Silver Pilgrimage'), in the traditional four movements, and the choral/orchestral Symphony 24, op. 273 ('Majnun'), one of Hovhaness's most ambitious works, in two parts, together lasting about 50 minutes. In the mid 1960s Hovhanness apparently tired of the half-diminished sonority and started using aleatory passages as well as occasional Japanese modes in his scores. After Symphony 2, I would recommend works from the early 1960s, half-diminished phase, as being quite approachable.

[chill319]

Further on Hovhaness...

Regarding what I'm calling Hovhanass's 1940s-50s phase, besides Symphony 2 ("Mysterious Mountain") I would recommend Symphony 9 ("St. Varten"), a work lasting 45 minutes or more. 

Speaking of Symphony 2, it's worth mentioning that Hovhaness revised this symphony after Reiner recorded it in 1958 (the revised score was published 1962). As good as the Reiner/Chicago recording is, more recent performances will be presenting a different score. I have not had a chance to compare the two scores directly, but my impression from listening is that substantial cuts were made.

[semloh]

chill319 - thanks for these insights. It hadn't crossed my mind that there may be phases in Hovhaness' composing ( ) so this is interesting. Since I am a fan of his music, I really ought to know more about it. 

[Delicious Manager]

My only recommendation would be: DON'T BOTHER!