Hovhaness Orchestral Works
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Alan Hovhaness
Label: Koch Schwann
Magazine Review Date: 7/1998
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 61
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 37422-2

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Armenian Rhapsody No. 1 |
Alan Hovhaness, Composer
Alan Hovhaness, Composer Gerard Schwarz, Conductor Seattle Symphony Orchestra |
Armenian Rhapsody No. 2 |
Alan Hovhaness, Composer
Alan Hovhaness, Composer Gerard Schwarz, Conductor Seattle Symphony Orchestra |
Armenian Rhapsody No. 3 |
Alan Hovhaness, Composer
Alan Hovhaness, Composer Gerard Schwarz, Conductor Seattle Symphony Orchestra |
Symphony No. 38, Movement: My Soul is a Bird |
Alan Hovhaness, Composer
Alan Hovhaness, Conductor Alan Hovhaness, Composer Hinako Fujihara, Soprano Scott Goff, Flute Seattle Symphony Orchestra |
Symphony No. 38, Movement: Lullaby |
Alan Hovhaness, Composer
Alan Hovhaness, Conductor Alan Hovhaness, Composer Hinako Fujihara, Soprano Scott Goff, Flute Seattle Symphony Orchestra |
Concerto No. 10 |
Alan Hovhaness, Composer
Alan Hovhaness, Composer Charles Butler, Trumpet Gerard Schwarz, Conductor Martin Berkofsky, Piano Seattle Symphony Orchestra |
Author:
Hovhaness is nothing if not prolific. The most recent work here, the Tenth Concerto, Op. 413, dates from 1988, so Op. 500 cannot be far off. Unsurprisingly, this oeuvre is uneven and the present issue exemplifies its best and worst aspects: ecstatic melodism (anticipating Part, Gorecki and Rautavaara by decades), enchanting harmonic writing resonant of East and West but without the internal tensions of either, beguiling orchestration, empty note-spinning and a lack of contrapuntal purpose.
Hovhaness has made much over the years of his international heritage. The three Armenian Rhapsodies (1944) are full of local colour and each ends well within its length, yet somehow they neither cohere as a triptych nor fully satisfy individually. The aforementioned Tenth Concerto is in six meandering movements (the finale’s title, “Wandering in Space”, is more apposite than may have been intended) reprising the Vaughan Williams-like sound base of much of his music for strings. Laid out for piano, trumpet and strings, the concerto has little of the memorability of similarly scored pieces by Shostakovich (Piano Concerto No. 1) or Jolivet (Concertino, 1948). As with the Rhapsodies, Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle orchestra play it for all it is worth. The composer conducts two of Symphony No. 38’s five movements, with his wife singing the very high soprano part. The effect is not unlike a Lark ascending of some rare Asiatic breed. What we are given of this 1978 composition (amounting to 19 minutes of music) feels very incomplete, and a misrepresentation of the whole. Hovhaness’s cause has been better served elsewhere.'
Hovhaness has made much over the years of his international heritage. The three Armenian Rhapsodies (1944) are full of local colour and each ends well within its length, yet somehow they neither cohere as a triptych nor fully satisfy individually. The aforementioned Tenth Concerto is in six meandering movements (the finale’s title, “Wandering in Space”, is more apposite than may have been intended) reprising the Vaughan Williams-like sound base of much of his music for strings. Laid out for piano, trumpet and strings, the concerto has little of the memorability of similarly scored pieces by Shostakovich (Piano Concerto No. 1) or Jolivet (Concertino, 1948). As with the Rhapsodies, Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle orchestra play it for all it is worth. The composer conducts two of Symphony No. 38’s five movements, with his wife singing the very high soprano part. The effect is not unlike a Lark ascending of some rare Asiatic breed. What we are given of this 1978 composition (amounting to 19 minutes of music) feels very incomplete, and a misrepresentation of the whole. Hovhaness’s cause has been better served elsewhere.'
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.

Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
Subscribe
Gramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.