Hovhaness: Symphony No. 1 'Exile'

One of the most intriguing and individual of 20th century American composers, Alan Hovhaness rejected the cosmopolitan modernism of other leading composers of the 1930s and ’40s. The connection Hovhaness felt with his Armenian heritage is evident in his Exile Symphony, which commemorates the flight forced upon those people by the Ottoman Turks after World War I. Delicacy, charm and vitality in the Fantasy on Japanese Woodprints evoke the composer’s love for Japan, and the 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens inspired the Symphony No. 50, with its remarkable evocation of the violent power and hauntingly mystic beauty of nature in “startlingly realistic engineering” (Gramophone).

This important new CD is set to become one of the the most significant releases in the hisoric recordings field for several years. The disc collects together no fewer than four symphonic premieres conducted by the legendary Leopold Stokowski: the American premieres of the first Symphony 'Exile' of Alan Hovhaness, the New York premiere of Darius Milhaud's wartime First Symphony, the American premiere of Aaron Copland's Symphony No 2 and the world premiere of the First Symphony of Jose Serebrier, written when hewas 16 years old and who thereafter became one of Stokowski's most significant proteges. The result is a disc of more than exceptional interest - a winner through and through.