A wonderful compilation from an underrated composer Hovhaness wasn't the typical American composer, so his music isn't all that well known beyond Mysterious Mountain. However, he wrote a wealth of music, including almost 60 symphonies.
Delos is the label that has recorded more music of his than any other label, much of it with the composer conducting, and this is the first of two double-CD compilations of those recordings. The only reason I say this is the better one is that it's more diverse, and contains two of my absolute favorites. Prayer of St. Gregory is a geogeous piece for trumpet and strings, and I simply have not heard very much music that betters it. Beyond that, A Rose Tree Blossoms is a beautiful a capella chourus piece that is unfortunetly too short.
The rest of the compilation contains some very interesting music. The flowering Peach is incidental music for a play, for symphonic band, that is probably the most "modern"/"contemporary" music that I've heard from Hovhanness, along with Fantasy on Japanese Woodprints. The later is a very colorful piece containing many references to Japanese folk music.
The Symphony #22 "City of Light" is a piece that seems to look forward to the later Mount St. Helens Symphony in viciousness, and the Bagatelles are short little pleasent pieces for string quartet.
If you haven't heard Hovhanness's music, this is an exilent place to start, and if you like it, get volume 2 as well.
A good place to start This is a great way to savour the delights of Hovhaness' work. He died today (6/22/00), so there will hopefully be plenty of tribute programs coming soon and this 2 disc set from Delos will give you a good idea why he was so much admired.
Delos recordings are always crystal clear and, despite the Seattle Symphony and Ohio State University Concert Band being not quite as well known as the Berlin Philharmonic, the performances are pretty good too.
He probably suffered from too much success too young (Stokowski conducted the premiere of his second symphony to rave reviews from the press), that and the fact that his compositions weren't as atonal and fragmented as the music critics of the 50's and sixties liked.
Mysterious Mountain, the second Symphony is probably his most well known piece and included here, but all the pieces are well written and not too demanding to listen to. Star Dawn Symphony and Celestial Fantasy give a good idea of his fascination with the bigger picture and the almost whimsical And God Created Whales show he had at least as good an ability to mimic nature as Prokofiev or any other composer before him. Religion and spirituality was always a big part og his life and you get a constant feeling of awe and joy from all his writing.
In conclusion, buy this disc and experience a great writer, incredibly prolific despite his lack of critical acclaim, you won't regret it!
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