Dennis Russell Davies, American Composers Orchestra, Keith Jarrett: Alan Hovhannes: Mysterious Mountain - Lousadzak; Lou Harrison: Elegiac Symphony CD Track Listing

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Dennis Russell Davies, American Composers Orchestra, Keith Jarrett Alan Hovhannes: Mysterious Mountain - Lousadzak; Lou Harrison: Elegiac Symphony (1989)
This disc unites works by two distinctly original American\ncomposers who, while maintaining their own identities, share\nmany similarities. To begin with, both men live on the West\nCoast: Alan Hovhaness in Seattle, Lou Harrison just outside\nSanta Cruz, California. This is more than an accident of\ngeography: the Eastern seaboard has been the traditional\ncenter of American musical life and both Hovhaness and\nHarrison are, to a degree, outsiders. They follow no\nleaders, lead no followers. Yet such is the appeal of their\nwork that they have brought the musical mainstream to them\nrather than bending their esthetics to public or\nprofessional taste,\n\nThere are other similarities. They are near-contemporaries:\nHovhaness was born in 1911, Harrison in 1917. They share a\nfascination with cultures beyond the central European\nmusical mainstream, as Hovhaness work owes much to his\nancestral Armenia, while Harrison has been strongly\ninfluenced by the music of Indonesia. There is also a strong\nstrain of mysticism running through the music of both\ncomposers.\n\nFinally, and most importantly, both men are confirmed\nmelodists. "I believe in melody, and to create a melody one\nneeds to go within oneself," Hovhaness said in a recent\ninterview. "I was very touched when John Cage said my music\nwas like inward singing. I must admit there is always music\nin my head."\n\nMany have found a pronounced serenity in much of Hovhaness\nwork. "I think thats based on my inward experiences," he\nexplained. "Ive always listened to my own voice. I was\ndiscontented with the kind of music that everyone said that\nI should write - all clever and dissonant, intellectualized.\nI wanted to write music that was deeply felt, music that\nwould move people."\n\nThere is no doubt that Hovhaness has written a lot of music:\nas of last count, he has composed 63 designated symphonies.\nThe second of these, which dates from 1955, was subtitled\n"Mysterious Mountain," and it is by that name that it is\nbeat known. Because of a classic recording by Fritz Reiner\nand the Chicago Symphony (now a much sought-after\ncollectors item in its original pressing), it has become\nperhaps the most popular of all Hovhaness works. This is,\nhowever, his first major recording in 30 years.\n\n"I loved mountains very much," Hovhaness said, "and I used\nto climb them a great deal. So I titled this symphony\nMysterious Mountain. I named it for that mysterious\nfeeling that one has in the mountains - not for any special\nmountain, but for the whole idea of mountains, a universal\nmountain if you will. This could be about any mountain that\none loves,"\n\nLousadzak (Hovhaness pronounces it "loo-sod-zock," without\naccent, and explains that it is a "made-up Armenian word\nmeaning, roughly, dawn of light") dates from 1945. "I\nplanned it as a piano concerto in one long movement, with\nmusic rising from the depths throughout the piece,"\nHovhaness said. "I wrote it to play and conduct myself with\nan amateur orchestra. We played it in Boston in 1945, and my\nhands were so busy all the way that I couldnt give many\ncues. Ill never do that again!"\n\nOne of the audience members at the New York premiere of\nLousadzak was the young composer Lou Harrison. "I remember\nthe premiere of that work in Town Hall, and the enormous\nexcitement that Alans sudden appearance in New York\nproduced," Harrison wrote in a recent letter.\n\n"The intermission that followed was the closest Ive ever\nbeen to one of those renowned artistic riots," Harrison\ncontinued. "In the lobby, the Chromaticists and the\nAmericanists were carrying on at high decibels. What had\ntouched it off, of course, was the fact that here came a man\nfrom Boston whose obviously beautiful and fine music had\nnothing to do with either camp and was in fact its own very\nwonderful thing to begin with. My guest John Cage and I were\nvery excited, and I dashed off to the lamented Herald\nTribune and wrote a rave review while John went back to the\nGreen Room to meet Alan."\n\nHarrison had already begun work on his "Elegiac" Symphony,\nbut it would be another quarter-century before he finished\nit. The first sketch for the symphony is dated October 11,\n1942, but it was nor completed until 1975. It is dedicated\nto the memory of the longtime conductor of the Boston\nSymphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky, and his wife\nNatalie. Harrison credits another great conductor (who was\nalso associated with the BSO), Pierre Monteux, with\nencouraging the creation of movements two and five. There is\na strong spiritual impulse to Harrisons music. The five\nmovements of the "Elegiac" Symphony are titled "Tears of the\nAngel Israfel," "Allegro, poco presto," "Tears of the Angel\nIsrafel II," "Praises for Michael the Archangel," and "The\nSweetness of Epicurus."\n\n"The large orchestra includes two harps, a piano, and a\ntackpiano," Harrison has written. "Serge Koussevitzky was a\nbrilliant virtuoso on the contrabass viol, and that fact is\nreflected in my writing for two solo contrabassi in the\nthird movement (the second of the Tears of the Angel\nIsrafel) only on harmonics; they play a mode first noted\ndown by Claudius Ptolemy in third-century Alexandria.\n\n"The angel of music, Israfel (whose heartstrings are a\nlute - Edgar Allan Poe) stands with his feet in the earth\nand his head in the sun," Harrison further has written. "He\nwill blow the last trumpet. Six times daily he looks down\ninto hell and is so convulsed with grief that his tears\nwould inundate the earth if Allah did not stop their flow,\nFor three years he ministered to Mohammed before Gabriel\ntook this office, although Israfel is nowhere mentioned in\nthe Koran,"\n\nHarrison has added two particularly poignant epigrams:\n"Epicurus said of death: Where Death is, we are not; where\nwe are, Death is not; therefore, Death is nothing to us";\nand, perhaps even more revealing, from Horace: "Bitter\nsorrows will grow milder with music."\n\nHere is beautiful music - straightforward, deeply felt,\nexpertly made yet far removed from deliberate cleverness,\nserene, affirmative, even holy. Harrison and Hovhaness\ncomplement one another with rare synergy, and one suspects\nthat this album will find new admirers for both men.\n\nTim Page\n\nOver the past 20 years, Keith Jarrett as a pianist,\nimproviser and composer has come to be recognized as one of\nthe most creative musicians in contemporary music, Born in\n1945 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, he began playing the piano\nat age 3. He began formal music composition studies at 15,\nsoon after moving to Boston to attend the Berklee School of\nMusic for a brief time. Further studies with the great Nadia\nBoulanger in Paris were arranged, but then passed up in\nfavor of moving to New York to play jazz. After sitting in\nat the Village Vanguard and other jazz clubs, he soon was\ntouring with jazz notables Art Blakey, Rahsaan Roland Kirk\nand Charles Lloyd. A one-year stint with Miles Davis\ngroundbreaking electric group in 1970/71 signaled Jarretts\nlast gig as a jazz sideman. During the past decade, Jarrett\nhas divided his performance schedule between playing jazz\nand performing classical and contemporary piano repertoire.\n
This classical cd contains 9 tracks and runs 67min 0sec.
Freedb: 860fb209

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Dennis Russell Davies, American Composers Orchestra, Keith Jarrett: Alan Hovhannes: Mysterious Mountain - Lousadzak; Lou Harrison: Elegiac Symphony CD Track Listing

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