Hovhaness - Guitar Concerto No. 2 - Naxos: 8559336 - CD or download

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Alan Hovhaness's Second Concerto was commissioned by the great Narciso Yepes in 1985 but wasn't premiered until 1990, shortly before Yepes's death. It's classic Hovhaness, with numerous hymn-like... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 2nd Jun 2008
Catalogue No: 8559336
Label: Naxos
Series: American Classics
Length: 59 minutes

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Hovhaness: Fanfare for the New Atlantis, Op. 281

Work length6:59

$1.00

$1.30

Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Stewart Robertson

Hovhaness: Concerto No. 2 for Guitar and Strings, Op. 394

Work length6:03

$1.00

$1.30

Javier Calderon
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Stewart Robertson

I. Andante, allegro vivace

Track length6:03

$1.00

$1.30

Hovhaness: Concerto No. 2 for Guitar and Strings, Op. 394

Work length4:33

$1.00

$1.30

Javier Calderon
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Stewart Robertson

II. Allegro giusto

Track length4:33

$1.00

$1.30

Hovhaness: Concerto No. 2 for Guitar and Strings, Op. 394

Work length15:19

$4.00

$5.15

Javier Calderon
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Stewart Robertson

III. Andante misterioso con nobilita, andante maestoso

Track length10:54

$3.00

$3.85

IV. Adagio, allegro giusto

Track length4:25

$1.00

$1.30

Hovhaness: Symphony No. 63, ‘Loon Lake’, Op. 411

Work length26:18

Album only

Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Stewart Robertson

I. Prelude. Largo solenne, andante pastorale

Track length4:12

$1.00

$1.30

II. Andante misterioso, maestoso, presto, allegro

Track length22:06

Album only

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Fanfare for the New Atlantis is a symphonic celebration of the rebirth of the legendary island of Atlantis. The Guitar Concerto No. 2 is full of lively dance-like music and rapidly changing rhythmic patterns. Symphony No. 63 ‘Loon Lake’ is full of nostalgia for the New Hampshire countryside of Hovhaness’s youth. It was commissioned by the New Hampshire Music Festival in conjunction with the Loon Preservation Society, who specifically requested the sound of the loon cry to be in the symphony.

Reviews

2010

Alan Hovhaness's Second Concerto was commissioned by the great Narciso Yepes in 1985 but wasn't premiered until 1990, shortly before Yepes's death. It's classic Hovhaness, with numerous hymn-like passages for the strings contrasted with lively pizzicato sections and fugal textures; the guitar meanwhile rejoices in puckish, modally rich dances enlivened by frequent changes of time signature and broad cantorial utterances. Bolivian-born Javier Calderón's playing is tonally refined and rhythmically supple, qualities which are best savoured in his own third-movement cadenza.
The disc opens with Hovhaness's Fanfare forthe New Atlantis, in which a slumbering orchestra gradually awakens to the call of a solo trumpet before rushing strings, rumbling timpani and bold brass chords bring the work to a thrilling, Wagnerian climax as the lost city of Atlantis rises anew from the waves. The Symphony No 63, Loon Lake, was commissioned by the New Hampshire Music Festival and the Loon Preservation Society in 1987. Here, songs both avian and pastoral for a multitude of wind soloists punctuate a luminous, if occasionally overcast, orchestral skyscape.
The RSNO under Stewart Robertson is excellent throughout; good recorded sound and notes by Hovhaness's widow Hinako Fugihara Hovhaness further enhance what is another excellent release.

September 2008

Calderón's playing is tonally refined and rhythmically supple, qualities which are best savoured in his own third-movement cadenza.

2011 edition

Hovhaness's music is strangely haunting, when the performers are as dedicated and responsive as they are here, and the recording is worthy of the complex scoring.

Hovhaness - Guitar Concerto No. 2

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