Riegger, Hovhaness and Cowell with Howard Hanson and the Eastman Rochester Orchestra

Another wonderful recording, Mercury MG 40005, generously loaned to me by Ray in Montana. This record had appeared on another blog and Ray felt the transfer did not do the music justice. He sent along his copy of the lp to me and asked that I have a go at it. More then happy to oblige since this is a terrific program from start to finish. Maestro Hanson put together a concert for this record, from a zippy opening piece to a concertante culminating in a sadly neglected symphony of stature.

The Riegger pieces, New Dance, is a gem of a gem. This is an awesome piece to open up any concert program. It's extremely accessible, driving yet not overtly forceful or in your face. This is probably one of Riegger's more "mainstream" works since he experimented with rhythm and harmonies on much of his music and it can make for rather dense listening.

The Hovhaness work is from early in that composer's creative life. It's tuneful, ingenious and not minimalist like much of this composer's later works. Delightful contrasts are heard between the movements which keep the listener fully engaged.

The Cowell Symphony No 4 is in the same tradition as the best of Copland, Harris and Schuman's symphonic works. I think this symphony can stand confidently alongside the best of the mid 20th century symphonies, surely a work that could be included on the short list for the "great American symphony." This work is chock full of great ideas that are skillfully developed and marvelously orchestrated.

Howard Hanson and his band of students, professors and professionals give each work its full due. Clearly, Hanson loved this music and was able to convey his feelings to the orchestra, receiving musical results that are an A+. Great record and thank you Ray!


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Carlos Surinach conducts Hovhaness

I like the music of Alan Hovhaness. Maybe being half Armenian, I somehow relate to the rather "oriental" melodies that Hovhaness incorporates into his works. Or, perhaps the composer's minimalistic approach is like a balm after the listening intensity of say, Mahler's 6th symphony. Well, I don't really know why, I guess, this fascination for Hovhaness though his music does speak from his deeply spiritual and honest heart....I respect that immensely.

This Heliodor lp, from an MGM original, features a piano and violin concerto. It  is extremely fine and a fitting introduction to this most fascinating, yet open of composers. Certainly having the excellent composer Carlos Surinach on the podium is a huge bonus. Boy, oh boy,  one of the great shames is that Surinach's small but vital recorded legacy is all but locked in the vaults! The soloists, sisters Maro and Anahid Ajemian, prove to be the very best advocates for this music since both not only sympathesize with Hovhaness' art (they were strong advocates for the composer), and they were very much artists that made a specialty of music of their century.

Coming back to Alan Hovhaness. Born a few miles down the road from where I live, a man who gravitated to the east searching for answers and exploring the origins of culture, first towards his father's homeland in Turkey and then farther towards orient and birthplace of his Japanese wife. No doubt, Hovhaness was a brilliant man, an intellect of the highest order who sought to speak his message of brotherhood and decency through seemingly uncomplicated and accessible music.  I think a key to understanding Hovhaness is through his own words, here in an interview from 1971 in Ararat magazine, a publication of the Aremain General Benevolent Union:

"We are in a very dangerous period. We are in danger of destroying ourselves, and I have a great fear about this ... The older generation is ruling ruthlessly. I feel that this is a terrible threat to our civilization. It's the greed of huge companies and huge organizations which control life in a kind of a brutal way ... It's gotten worse and worse, somehow, because physical science has given us more and more terrible deadly weapons, and the human spirit has been destroyed in so many cases, so what's the use of having the most powerful country in the world if we have killed the soul. It's of no use."

Wow.

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