# SS 25.06.22 - Hovhaness # 22



## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:


*Alan Hovhaness* (1911 – 2000) 

*Symphony No. 22*, Op. 236, _*City of Light*_ 

I. Allegro moderato
II. Angel of Light (Largo)
III. Allegretto grazioso
IV. Finale (Largo maestoso)

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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

Alan wrote some 67 symphonies. Symphony #22 is the second one in our list, so we have still some work ahead of us. Symphony #22 was commissioned by the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, in the year of Birmingham, Alabama's, centennial. According to wikipedia the work has been recorded multiple times and remains one of Hovhaness's more popular compositions. I will listen this one:












one of the youtube sources:


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Hovhaness: Symphony No. 2 'Mysterious Mountain'

Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner
I am going to spin this one, I think this recording was the first time I ever heard the piece.


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

Rogerx said:


> Hovhaness: Symphony No. 2 'Mysterious Mountain'
> 
> Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner
> I am going to spin this one, I think this recording was the first time I ever heard the piece.


Wrong symphony . We are in 22 now.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I am so sorry, then I have to pass. 😞


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

Rogerx said:


> I am so sorry, then I have to pass. 😞


Oh no. Nowadays we don’t have too many participants in SS.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Mika said:


> Oh no. Nowadays we don’t have too many participants in SS.







Hovhaness: Symphony No. 22, Op. 236 'City of Light', etc

Reinhold Friedrich (trumpet), Lajos Lencsés (English horn)

Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Budapesti Vonósok Kamarazenekar, London Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop, James Sinclair, Béla Bánfalvi, James DePreist, Alan Hovhaness


Barber: Adagio for Strings, Op. 11
Copland: Quiet City
* Hovhaness: Symphony No. 22, Op. 236 'City of Light'*
Ives, C: The Unanswered Question
Mahler: Symphony No. 5
Mahler: Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor - Adagietto

Don't let you fool by the cover, it's really on it


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## bagpipers (Jun 29, 2013)

Hovhaness, a native Bostonian (Somerville actually) and was a member of the Armenian Apolastic Church in Watertown.


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## Xenophiliu (Jan 2, 2022)

Seattle Symphony
Alan Hovhaness conducting

Paired with his:
Symphony 50 'Mount St. Helens', op. 360


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## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

I have the excellent Naxos disc with Hovhaness conducting the Seattle Symphony. I've always enjoyed his music, serene and majestic. Great choice this week.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

Enjoyed this, but I'm worried that I've now heard every other Hovhaness work. The entire thing is basically a block-chord organ stately chorale and nothing else. Very little interesting going on dynamically. Sticks to forte/fortissimo and not much else.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

I once acquired a "best of Hovhanness" cd, with some individual movements from his symphonies.
Bored me to death. Either they cherry-picked all the spacey, hippy-dippy movements (it was at the height of the new-age craze) or everything by Hovhanness sounds the same.
Either way, it was very succesful in killing my interest in this composer.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)

Hovhaness is the 20th century equivalent of Vivaldi. Best listened to in small doses.


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## maestro267 (Jul 25, 2009)

I know it's not this symphony but a while ago I listened to the Mount St. Helen's Symphony (No. 50) and the movement titled Eruption was basically like any of these movement, just slightly more violent. Volcanic eruptions don't happen in block chords, Alan! Inject some absolute CHAOS into this! So so disappointing.


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## Xenophiliu (Jan 2, 2022)

I agree with many that once you have heard one Hovhaness symphony, the variety quickly wanes when traversing the others. However, I think my views lay more upon the positive side.

I enjoy his Eastern-tinged, gamelan-esque aesthetic married with what sounds like a love of Bach (those orchestral chorales and contrapuntal sections), plus a preference for solo trumpet and bells. Symphonically, I think Hovhaness is engaged more towards atmosphere rather than development, thus the sameness, but perhaps the diatonic, meditative qualities are important in this music.

In Symphony 22 'City of Light', it was the 3rd movement that surprised me most of all; almost a dancing reel or a rare bit of folksy wit from Hovhaness that ends much too quickly. The work is slightly overlong, even at 30 minutes, although I am glad to have revisited it.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Vasks said:


> Hovhaness is the 20th century equivalent of Vivaldi. Best listened to in small doses.



Not sure about Vivaldi equivalent , but the last words suits me fine, I did spin two symphonies last weekend that will do this year.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

I like Hovhaness ever since I first heard "Mysterious Mountain" on radio. I've got a handful of recordings of his music, including #22 (the same Naxos recording posted by Mika earlier). The tune of the third movement, which Xenophiliu mentions, came from an operetta by the composer. Overall, I think the symphony is more than the sum of its parts, and I especially like the finale which is a bit like a civilized Ives (in hymn tune mode).



Xenophiliu said:


> Symphonically, I think Hovhaness is engaged more towards atmosphere rather than development, thus the sameness, but perhaps the diatonic, meditative qualities are important in this music.


You make a good point because a lot of his music relates to a sense of being spiritually connected to nature. I've read it being referred to as non goal oriented music. Cage expressed some admiration for Hovhaness' music, which makes sense. Hovhaness used some controlled aleatoric techniques similar to Lutoslawski, although more as a highlight rather than being the main feature of a piece. I think he's also got some things in common with the minimalists - including those coming out of Europe like Part and Gorecki - although they where of a younger generation.


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