Violin|Viola and Keyboard Works [Limited Edition]

Alan Hovhaness (Composer), Christina Fong (Performer), Arved Ashby (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Christina Fong, Arved Ashby
• Composer: Alan Hovhaness
• Audio CD (January 4, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Limited Edition
• Label: OgreOgress productions
• ASIN: B00005RL83
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #347,882 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #18 in Music > Classical > Chamber Music > Duets

Editorial Reviews

Review

Christina Fong admirably adapts her violin and viola timbre to the music's flavour, obtaining a reed-like tone for sustained pitches, and 'bending' notes when appropriate. I'm particularly impressed with her beefy sonority and huge dynamic range in the unaccompanied Chahagir, and Arved Ashby's lucid, precise keyboard support and well-researched programme notes are everything they should be. --Jed Distler, Gramophone, March 2002

This CD caught my attention chiefly because it concentrates on rarely heard pieces by Hovhaness composed during the 1940s and 50s -- the period when he was writing his most inspired work. Most of the music on the disc has either not been recorded before, or was available on obscure and/or long-unavailable LPs. --Walter Simmons, Fanfare, March/April 2004

Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000) was an intriguing American composer of Armenian and Scottish descent. His accessible music often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation, which The Boston Globe music critic Richard Buell described as 'hushed, reverential, mystical, nostalgic'. Hovhaness was among the most prolific composers of the 20th century, writing 67 symphonies and more than 500 works in all. During the 1940s and 50s he was one of a maverick group of composers that also included Henry Cowell, John Cage and Lou Harrison, pioneering one of the great shifts in twentieth century American music by looking to non-Western cultures for creative renewal. Alan Hovhaness became one of the most recorded and acclaimed American composers in the 1950s and 60s but although his work has enjoyed a revival in recent years many of his works are still little known to audiences or performers. This fascinating CD is the third in an invaluable series from OgreOgress featuring previously unreleased works for violin/viola by well-known composers, and it contains several world premiere recordings. All of Alan Hovhaness's published works for violin/viola and keyboard are included, immaculately played by Christina Fong and Arved Ashby. This passionate, exotic and hauntingly beautiful music deserves to be much better known. --John Pitt, New Classics

Product Description

Fourth in a series with previously unreleased works by well-known composers, this 59-minute CD features several world premiere recordings and is first to encompass Alan Hovhaness's published works for violin|viola and keyboard.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent collection, January 20, 2005

By 

music lover "rdm" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Violin|Viola and Keyboard Works (Audio CD)

This is a wonderful collection of chamber pieces by the phenomenal Alan Hovhaness. America should make more of this man's achievements. Music poured out of him during his lifetime. Unlike so many 20C composers, beauty and harmony were his watchwords.

This particular cd is a wonderful opportunity for listeners to hear his all-too-rarely recorded chamber works. Performances and recording are nothing short of excellent.

Fong and Ashby have picked through Hovhaness' vast complete works and compiled a complete collection of his works for viola and piano. Hovhaness is said by some critics to have lost the plot compositionally in the last few decades of his life, but there's no sign of that here - there's also no sense of performer as completist anorak either, every piece here deserves its place on its own merits, every piece is bright and refreshing. In addition to the viola and piano works which will be unfamiliar to most people, there is the solo viola piece Chahagir which has been recorded before, so listeners can compare.

For me this is pure musical pleasure in a convenient package. Unhesisatingly, I would urge anyone who knows Hovhaness' music to snap it up straight away.

Anyone looking for a tonal, melodic, fresh, opimistic hour immersed in meaningful and beautiful music should do likewise.

I love this disc and I'm sure you will too.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buried Treasure, July 18, 2006

By 

Redgecko (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Violin|Viola and Keyboard Works (Audio CD)

With dozens of Hovhaness CDs on the market, it's unusual to find an offering where none of the pieces, as far as I know, are available on other recordings. Each piece was a delight to discover and reveals the spiritual side of the Hovhaness that I have come to love. The mysterious sounds of Armenian themes abound and I was quickly drawn into a haunted sound world. The music is evocative of ancient times, imaginative and addictive. The notes by Arved Ashby, the keyboardist, are excellent and tie together history and musical analysis, further adding to one's enjoyment of this brilliant recording.

Offering 60 minutes of lingering beauty, this is the jewel of my expanding Hovhaness collection. If you have already discovered Hovhaness, then this is a must have; if not, then this is the place to start.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good performances of little known works, May 16, 2010

By 

Howard M. Raymond (Valrico, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Violin|Viola and Keyboard Works (Audio CD)

Well-played works previously unknown to me. Bought the CD for a friend who tried to order it from a local store, but couldn't get the CD through their distributors. Old story. Glad Amazon was there for us.