Hovhaness - Mystery of the Holy Martyrs & Symphony No. 3

Posted By : dino63 | Date : 26 Oct 2008 02:47:00 | Comments : 7 |

Commissioned by the Armenian church, Alan Hovhaness composed his "Mystery of the Holy Martyrs" op. 251, subtitled 'Seventeen Prayers for Oud, lute, or Guitar and String Quartet or String Orchestra,'in 1976. The piece refers to attempt by Persia to wipe out Christianity in Armenia in 451 AD. The deaths of 1000+ Armenian Christians strengthened and unified the Armenian church.

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Soundset are not exactly (or even vaguely) a company with a profile in the catalogue. In the circumstances it is all the more important that this disc is documented.

Hovhaness has been rather decently served on Koch Internationand, overwhelmingly by Crystal - the heirs to the Poseidon catalogue and by Delos. A search of the internet revealed the present disc after the author of the catalogue of Hovhaness's works (now featured fully revised on this site) mentioned that there was an obscure CD of the third symphony.

Interestingly the forces used suggest the tape might originally have been made for Koch. Surmise on my part.

The Symphony is conventionally structured in three movements rather than the smaller pieces of mosaic used by the composer elsewhere. The first movement is an example of the dancing energy we all associate with Hovhaness as well as deploying the mysticism typical of the man. There is a dourly incantatory trombone and some Sibelian string and wind writing. The soulful andante broods in benevolence and mystery bathed in subtle light. The finale dances with spiky energy in which the voices of Sibelius (of Lemminkainen and En Saga), Holst (Brook Green and St Paul's), Elgar (Introduction and Allegro) and Vaughan Williams can be easily enough identified. There is a greater sense of continuity than many will expect from knowledge of his 60+ other symphonies.

The Mystery is a great concertante work for orchesta and guitar. Its overwhelming homage to the famous Finn's Swan of Tuonela is patent. What a tide of sound Mravinsky might have made of this work if only ..... There are seventeen patins in the work each with an Armenian title. The plangency of the guitar's slowly paced meditational role is set against music echoing Myers' Deerhunter (Oorakh Ler and Hayr Mer) a coolly oriental equivalent of Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain, tenderly pietist hymnals in the strings and slantwise versions of the softer-centred Hovhaness (cf the wilder wastes of the Vishnu Symphony and Mountains and Rivers Without End). This is undoubtedly one of Hovhaness's finest works on record and is not to be missed. It is well subtitled 'Seventeen Prayers'.

Recording quality: very acceptable, conjuring an open acoustic.

Music: sincere and of a gently ecstatic inclination. A true Baedecker of Hovhaness's palette; in the symphony conveying a stronger sense of linear development than in many of the less obscure symphonies. In the Martyrs it communictaes as a great tapestry of devotional serenity.

Rob Barnett

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http://rapidshare.com/files/157348867/Hovhaness_HolyMartyrs.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/157353474/Hovhaness_HolyMartyrs.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/157358104/Hovhaness_HolyMartyrs.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/157359052/Hovhaness_HolyMartyrs.part4.rar

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Posted By: carrak Date: 26 Oct 2008 19:57:51

Thank you.

Posted By: trench Date: 26 Oct 2008 21:11:16

Wonderful......thank you

Posted By: Piterets Date: 28 Oct 2008 23:49:24

thanks again!

Posted By: pestola Date: 10 Nov 2008 23:03:11

Muchas gracias

Posted By: galbatro Date: 30 Nov 2008 03:06:58

thank you very much!

Posted By: Igone Date: 16 Dec 2008 22:40:06

Thank you very much

Posted By: afghan Date: 12 Apr 2009 13:40:22

Thank You!!!

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