Hovhaness: Mysterious Mountains

"Warmly recommended: this would make an excellent introduction to Hovhaness's music.� Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

�It's easy to dismiss the music of Hovhaness, who was was suspiciously prolific, with opus numbers nearing 500. But despite such sustained productivity over more than seven decades, his work is stylistically consistent � so much so, in fact, that some only half-jokingly claim he wrote the same symphony 67 times. Certainly, the profusion of sing-song fugues and modal, hymn-like tunes throughout his output can give a feeling of predictability.

 And yet listening to the opening movement of the Mount St Helens Symphony (1982), it's difficult not to be entranced, even awed, by the music's sensuous beauty � those luminous clouds of strings, that majestic rising theme in the horns, then, a little later, the delicate spinning of the harp and a procession of ecstatic, exotic woodwind solos. Perhaps the depiction of the volcano's eruption is a bit primitive, though it's fascinating that Hovhaness seems to view the explosion not only as an elemental event but also as a ritualistic one.

Hymn to Glacier Peak (1992), the composer's penultimate symphony, is also appealing. As the title suggests, it has a preponderance of hymnlike melody, yet there's a touching valedictory quality to the music. The finale is particularly effective, moving from hymn to one of Hovhaness's most tuneful fugues via a darkly atmospheric interlude.

"Warmly recommended: this would make an excellent introduction to Hovhaness's music.� Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010