Alan Hovhaness

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Alan Hovhaness

(1911 - 2000)

(b. Somerville, Massachusetts (USA); 8 March 1911)

 

Alan Hovhaness (also spelt Hovaness) was an American composer of Armenian and Scottish descent; and perhaps the most distinctive figure in contemporary music... also one of the most prolific, with an opus tally hovering around 400.

 

Chronologically, part of the generation of composers who followed pioneers such as Henry Cowell, Gershwin, Virgil Thomson, Carl Ruggles, Copland and the rediscovery of Charles Ives (therefore roughly contemporaneous with William Schuman, David Diamond, Lukas Foss, Bernstein, etc); but stylistically a maverick, whose music reflects a love of Western counterpoint and a personal fascination with by Indian, East Asian and Armenian music more obviously than any contemporary musical thought.

 

Hovhaness is said to have begun composing aged four; then studied with Frederick Converse at New England Conservatory and with Bohuslav Martinu at Tanglewood. Despite an early interest in Indian music, his compositions prior to the Second World War tend to suggest a mixture of Baroque structures and late Romantic (particularly Sibelian) melody. The early "Exile" symphony (Symphony No. 1) (1939) and the String Quartet No. 1 ("Jupiter") (1936) - which includes the original version of his "Prelude and Quadruple Fugue" - are surviving examples (see below) of this early period of composition.

 

Rethought his approach to composition while working (as composer, organist and teacher) in Boston (1940-1952); partly in response to criticism of his work by Copland and others at Tanglewood. The imput of the mystic painter Hermon DiGiovanno (after whose work the "Celestial Gate" symphony (Symphony No. 6; 1959) was written) also became significant at this time. It should also be noted that much of Hovhaness's music during this period was written with a specific student ensemble in mind... like the Baroque composers Hovhaness admires, he found inspiration in the technique of writing for the musicians to hand.

 

Hovhaness's mature style was first revealed in a work for piano and string orchestra entitled "Lousadzak" ("Dawn of Light"; 1944); which introduced Hovhaness's quasi-aleatoric Senza Misura technique (often called "Spirit Murmur") to a wider audience. In this technique, individual sections of the orchestra are instructed to continuously repeat a cycle of melody without temporal reference to other members of the ensemble. Most obviously, this technique (one of the most common components of the "Hovhaness style"), creates a gorgeous sense of rhythmic mystery from which (in "Lousadzak") the solo piano slowly emerges... at other times, the technique clearly foreshadows the work not just of modern minimalists such as Terry Riley and John Adams but also the entire Ambient/New Age school of composition (indeed, Hovhaness later recorded a disc of his own piano music - "Shalimar" (see below) - for a "New Age" label).

 

(Composer Lou Harrison once claimed that the New York premiere of "Lousadzak" "... was the closest i've ever been to one of those renowned artistic riots.... In the lobby, the Chromaticists and the Americanists were carrying on at high decibels. What had touched it off, of course, was the fact that here came a man from Boston whose obviously beautiful and fine music had nothing to do with either camp....")

 

During this period, Hovhaness also lit the first of his legendary carthartic bonfires; and destroyed a large number of early works. While this gesture certainly reflected the depth of his stylistic rethinking, it's also true that the scale and terminality of these bonfires have grown with each retelling... at least one reference claims that more than a thousand works were destroyed in this particular flame. Hovhaness was also able to recycle supposedly destroyed works in later compositions: the Allegretto Grazioso third movement in his "City of Light" symphony (Symphony No. 22; 1970) originally derives from an operetta written and performed in 1920s.

 

Through the subsequent half-century, Hovhaness has tended to refine rather than fundamendally change his basic musical approach. This doesn't mean his music has been stylistically static (the New Grove has subdivided Hovhaness's musical career into five distinct periods)... rather, that underlining the differences in his musical texture has been a clear and uniform "voice". Extensive travel throughout India and Asia casts an obvious shadow over much of his music from the fifties and sixties, coloring but not disguising the composer's distinctive palette ("Korean Kayageum" (Symphony No. 16; 1962) was written for Korean percussion and strings); while the works of his "retirement" (from the early seventies onwards) have tended to return more to Western models... still, the composer of the early "Exile" symphony remains recognisably the same composer of the "Mount St Helens" symphony (Symphony No. 50; 1982).

 

The basic characteristics of the "Hovhaness sound" are easier to recognise than define; but one of the most obvious "markers" is the strong mystic/religious "feel" to all his works. Another is Hovhaness's distinctly "vocal" style (rather like Chopin, oddly) - even his orchestral work tends to sound as if it's being "sung"... an effect accentuated by Hovhaness's regular use of exposed solo lines over transparent string continuo (to use only the most obvious example, "The Prayer of St Gregory" for trumpet and strings from the opera "Etchmiadzin"; 1946). Again like Chopin, Hovhaness is primarily a minaturist - the longest "through-composed" work of his presently available on disc would be the "Majnun" symphony (Symphony No. 24; 1973), which in Hovhaness's own recording (see below) runs 48 minutes; but even this consists of nine distinct movements played with pause (the "St Vartan" symphony (Symphony No. 9; 1950) consists of no less than 24 sections).

 

Hovhaness's music uses consonant harmonies, organised modally or chromatically rather than tonally; and balances out the rhythmless sound of Senza Misura ("Spirit Murumur"; see above) with an almost riotous love of counterpoint. His music is generally and deliberately easy to play; although the exposed solo lines in works such as "The Prayer of St Gregory" can be subtly terrifying for the soloist. Throughout his career, Hovhaness has continued to find musical inspiration in the practical challenges of "gebrauchsmusik"... most famously, perhaps, in the "Symphony for Metal Orchestra" (Symphony No. 17; 1963), which was commissioned for - and premiered at - a Cleveland metallurgical convention (the symphony was therefore scored for the unique ensemble of six flutes, three trombones and metallic percussion). One of Hovhaness's most famous works - "And God Created Great Whales" for prerecorded whalesongs and orchestra (1970) - may also fit into this category; having been commissioned by Andre Kostelanetz (a regular patron of Hovhaness's music) to "fit around" a set of pre-existing tapes of whalesongs.

 

In the United States, at least, Hovhaness has generally been considered a popular composer; although in most other territories, his music is usually only available in recorded form. As more of his music becomes available on disc, it can only be hoped that non-American ensembles will be more willing to take on the subtle challenges of his music. ~">Robert Clements

 

Additional Information:

 

Selected Discography & Recommended Listening

 

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Armenian Rhapsodies

 

Armenian Rhapsody #2/Crystal CD508

David Amos/Isreal Philharmonic Orchestra

Armenian Rhapsody #3/Crystal CD804

Alan Hovhaness/Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Symphonies

 

Symphonies #2 "Mysterious Mountain", Op. 132 and "And God Created Great Whales", Op. 229/Delos DE3157

Gerard Schwarz/Seattle Symphony Orchestra

Symphonies #22 "City of Light", Op. 236 and #50 "Mount St. Helens", Op. 360/Delos DE3137

Gerard Schwarz/Seattle Symphony Orchestra

[MJ]

Chicago Tribune

Feb 26 2001

 

FERRIS CHORALE FINDS GEMS IN SELDOM-HEARD MUSIC

 

By Dan Tucker

Special to The Tribune

 

 

The William Ferris Chorale keeps more than its late founder's name

alive. Under Paul French, the newly appointed music director of Our

Lady of Mt. Carmel Church--the chorale's home base--it keeps the big,

glowing sound that Ferris made its trademark. It also retains his

knack for unearthing interesting, seldom heard, music.

 

Friday's program, which contained 10 works by Gian-Carlo Menotti and

Alan Hovhaness, there was one familiar selection--the Shepherd's

Choruses from Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors." The rest of

the program was surely new to most of the audience, new in the

agreeable sense of finding out something interesting about a friend.

 

There was also the pleasure of hearing impressive young voices. Of

three solo singers, Michelle Areyzaga had the most demanding role,

and carried it out with distinction.

 

French established his authority right away with the scene from

"Amahl." It was crisp, light, and understandable, the choir's diction

clear in spite of the way big spaces like this church tend to

swallow consonants.

 

Areyzaga appeared in Menotti's setting of "Muero Porque No Muero," a

prayerful poem by St. Teresa of Avila. Her affinity for Spanish

culture is clear, and this poem is Catholic Spain distilled--Teresa

grieves because she cannot die immediately and be one with her God.

In setting it, Menotti used his Puccini-like gift for exploiting the

poignancy of the human voice to his fullest.

 

Most of this long poem is the solo voice pouring out emotions--a

complex of them including love, grief, frustration and joy.

Areyzaga's voice is full and live; it seems to leap out of her throat

of its own volition, and all she has to do is shade it

expressively--which she does.

 

Hovhaness turned out an enormous amount of music, much of it stamped

with his own Armenian-Scottish, east-west ethnic background. The

eight settings of hymns and biblical texts show it.

 

For all their wealth of musical material, they also showed a certain

sameness. Hovhaness sometimes relied more on skill than inspiration.

His Easter hymn "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" starts like a jig,

turns into a canon, and takes on an Middle Eastern cast with timpani

and tam-tam. All these pieces seem fairly traditional but take

unexpected harmonic turns and colorings.

 

Mezzo-soprano Jody Doktor displayed a rich, focused voice in "Out of

the Depths," Oswaldo Iraheta a strong baritone in "The God of Glory

Thundereth."

 

Trumpeter Kevin Hartman, paired with organist Thomas Weisflog, gave a

laser-like intensity to "Prayer of St. Gregory," an unwinding skein

of modal sound. In the "Gloria" from Hovhaness' "Magnificat," a soft,

clotted blur of sound grew into a massive choral climax.