Hovhaness: Guitar Concerto No. 2 (2008)

Exploring Hovhaness On Naxos

This is the fourth CD in Naxos's "American Classics" series devoted to the music of Alan Hovhaness (1911 --2000). The earlier CD's feature three Hovhaness wind symphonies, and two orchestral symphonies: Symphony no 60, "To the Appalachian Mountains" and Symphony no. 22, the "City of Light.". In addition, the Naxos disks offer an early cello concerto and Hovhaness' first guitar concerto together with various shorter works.

This most recent Naxos CD includes three world-premier recordings of the "Fanfare for the New Atlantis", op.281, the Concerto no. 2 for Guitar and Strings, op. 394, and the late Symphony no. 63, 'Loon Lake" opus 411, written when Hovhaness was 76. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is conducted by Stewart Robinson with Javier Calderon as the guitar soloist in the concerto. Hovhaness's widow Himako Fujihara Hovhaness, who is consulting with Naxos on the ongoing series, wrote the liner notes.

Hovhaness' music remains controversial but has been gaining recognition since the composer's death. The music features long, sinuous, slow and majestic orchestral themes, brass chorales, imaginative orchestration, and substantial use of counterpoint. The immediate accessibility of Hovhaness' music should not, I believe, be confused with shallowness. It has a broad visionary dimension, heavily influenced by eastern thought. Much of Hovhaness' music draws on themes pertaining to nature, and some of it has a distinctively exotic cast. Some listeners find a certain repetitiveness in Hovhaness' music. I would prefer to call it a recognizable style. Still his work is best approached by listening to him at different times, spaced between other music. The Naxos recordings, issued at fairly lengthy intervals, offer an excellent opportunity to visit and revisit Hovhaness. I love his music and find it seldom disappoints.

The Fanfare for the New Atlantis opens with a distant solo trumpet over a long held note in the low strings. The music soon turns into a solemn brass chorale which ultimately works itself into a majestic and triumphal close. This is a short, visionary work which has been too infrequently heard.

An earlier Naxos CD featured Hovhaness first guitar concerto, and this CD features the four movement second concerto with the Bolivian guitarist Javier Calderon. This work too has had limited exposure. It is a chamber concerto with the guitar playing mostly quiet but rhythmically strong passages against a small string ensemble. The outer movements open with slow introductions followed by dancing, idiomatic themes in the guitar. The second movement is more uniformly uptempo. The guitarist plays dance music of shifting, quirky rhythms interspersed with a counterpointed section for the orchestra. The long third movement contrasts slow broad orchestral passages with answering themes in the guitar. It includes a lengthy cadenza for the soloist, improvised here by Calderon. This is a pleasant work in an unusual genre which I enjoyed more after several hearings.

The symphony no 63 was commissioned by the New Hampshire Music Festival together with the Loon Preservation Society. As he was asked to do, Hovhaness included in this symphony music similar to the call of the loon, but he included on his own a theme based upon the call of the wood thrush, both of which are played by the piccolo. This is a peaceful, pastorale symphony.

The opening movement of this two-movement symphony is a brief, slow prelude which opens with an immediately appealing theme in the orchestra followed by a lengthy flowing solo for the English horn accompanied by bells and pizzicato strings. The second movement includes sections of contrasting texture and tempo for the orchestra and various soloists. There are lovely solos for flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, and horn, together with two appearances of the loon cry in the piccolo. The orchestral accompaniment and sections tend to be broad and peaceful with lovely passages for the harp and gongs, suggesting the ruffles on a remote New England lake. The work almost literally takes wings at the end with a passage for the orchestra together with the solo trumpet. This is a serene symphony which will reward hearing.

Listeners who love or who want to get to know the music of Alan Hovhaness will enjoy exploring these works, together with its companions in Naxos's American Classics series.

Robin Friedman