MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS
Download: Classicsonline

 

Alan HOVHANESS (1911-2000)
Fanfare for the New Atlantis, Op. 281 (1975) [6:57]
Concerto No. 2 for Guitar and Strings,* Op. 394 (1985) [26:05]
Symphony No. 63 Loon Lake, Op. 411 (1988, rev. c. 1991) [26:27]
Javier Calderón (guitar)*
Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Stewart Robinson
rec. 12-13 January 2007, Henry Wood Hall, Glasgow, Scotland. DDD
NAXOS 8.559336 [59:29]
 

 

Experience Classicsonline


Alan Hovhaness was born in the
USA to Armenian and Scottish parents. All the traditional Western music written earlier in his career Hovhaness destroyed. From the 1940s he felt greatly inspired by the different cultures, legends, philosophies, languages, art and music of the East; with a special affinity for Armenia. A leading pioneer in contemporary music, Hovhaness successfully fused music of the East and West in a way that many listeners have experienced as fascinating, satisfying and accessible. 

His prodigious output of some five hundred or so scores often contains such a distinct individual personality that one can immediately recognise it as being by Hovhaness. His music is not inspired by organised religion in a conventional sense but guided by a profound spirituality, containing a deeply philosophical character, frequently exotic and recurrently served by an intense sense of the beauty of nature. 

Hovhaness had a tendency to give many of his scores descriptive titles, frequently of a colourful and often memorable quality. Several of his scores have received widespread attention, namely: Storm on Mount Wildcat; Symphony No. 50 Mount St Helens; Symphony No.2 Mysterious Mountain; And God Created Great Whales and Symphony No. 22, City of Light. 

The opening work on the disc Fanfare for the New Atlantis, Op. 281 was written in 1975. Evidently, the score is a musical representation of his visualisation of the rebirth of the mythical island of Atlantis that was swallowed up by the ocean following an earthquake. 

I was impressed by the extended trumpet fanfare that opens the score. The glorious trumpet writing reminded me, at times, of the horn melody from the prologue and epilogue movements of Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op. 31; composed over thirty years earlier. From point 1:32 one hears the chiming from deep under the sea of the ubiquitous bell of legends. The entrance of the strings at point 2:59 is entrancing and is soon joined by the full orchestra. The impressive conclusion of the score has an almost Wagnerian splendour. 

From 1985 the Concerto No. 2 for Guitar and Strings was composed as a result of a commission from the famous Spanish guitarist Narciso Yepes. On this premiere recording of the score the soloist is the Bolivian-born Javier Calderón who had commissioned Hovhaness’s first guitar concerto. 

In the opening movement one immediately notices the haunting nocturnal sound world complete with Hovhaness’s characteristic murmuring strings that develops a strong Middle Eastern flavour. The second movement Allegro is marvellously bright and cheerful with a distinct air of the dance. At the start of the slow movement the murmuring strings return with the solo guitar part alternating between blocks of dense string sound. The final movement feels similar in mood and style to the dance-like second movement with a guitar cadenza located towards the conclusion of the score. 

Hovhaness completed his Symphony No. 63 Loon Lake, Op. 411 in 1988. The commissioner of the symphony the New Hampshire Music Festival in conjunction with the Loon Preservation Society specifically requested that the score contain the call of the loon. The loon is an aquatic bird native to the locality of the lakes of New Hampshire, USA; an area that Hovhaness knew well from his childhood. 

The Loon Lake is divided into two sections: a short prelude and a substantial second movement. Dense string textures commence the opening section. Woodwind, solo bells, harp and pizzicato strings take centre stage. In the second section individual wind solos play in turn over pizzicato strings. The full bodied entrance of the orchestra at point 2:17 is impressive and is heard again at regular intervals during the work. The songs of the loon and the hermit thrush are prominent throughout and ringing of bells is never far way. Hovhaness made a revised version of the score for a performance in 1991 with a conclusion that contains a brilliant trumpet part. It is hard to believe that such a fascinating symphony the Loon Lake has never previously been recorded. 

The forces of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Stewart Robinson are on splendid form throughout these fresh and assured performances providing immaculate and characterful support. In the Concerto No. 2 for Guitar and Strings the talented soloist Javier Calderón demonstrates a secure and stylish technique. 

The disc is a fine example of the variety and quality of Hovhaness’s scores. Splendidly performed and recorded with comprehensive annotation. It is hard to fault the essay that accompanies the disc adding to the excellent Naxos presentation.

Michael Cookson

see also Review by Rob Barnett July BARGAIN OF THE MONTH





 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.