Violin|Viola and Keyboard Works [LIMITED EDITION]

Alan Hovhaness (Composer), Christina Fong (Performer), Arved Ashby (Performer)

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
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #84,996 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #39 in	Music > Classical > Instruments > Strings > Viola
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Editorial Reviews

Review

This release compiles Alan Hovhaness's complete published output for accompanied violin plus all his works for unaccompanied violin and viola. The influence of Eastern folk and religious idioms inform the vast majority of this prolific composer's works. Even the Lullaby he penned as a teenager, which opens the disc, foreshadows the spacious modal style he forged in the 1940s.

Most of the pieces here are short and evocative, making their points with succinct simplicity. Varak for instance, begins with gently spinning melodies in the violin's lower register, supported by the piano's progression of fifths. The sombre atmosphere is quickly dispelled by whirling sixteenth notes from both instruments, colliding in and out of unison accord. Certain pieces such as Shatakh and Yaraz for violin solo strike me as rather two-dimensional in mood and harmonically static, although the slowly unfolding patterns throughout Saris (also for violin and piano) cast an agreeable spell during the course of its 15 minutes. By contrast, Khirgiz Suite's three brief movements are garnished with more rhythmic variety and discreet dabs of dissonance, while more elaborate harmonic motion colours the piano part in the Three Visions of Saint Mesrob.

The 1954 Duet for Violin and Harpsichord stands out for its spiky Webern-like registral leaps and utter unpredictability as to where each aphoristic gesture is headed. The concluding 'Aria' features a seemingly innocent, lyrical violin tune, accompanied by steadily hammered harpsichord chords that transform from Jekyll to Hyde within a mere minute-and-a-half. 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.

The packaging pushes space-saving to its extreme limits on all levels, but at least there's no skimping when it comes to Glenn Freeman's excellent engineering. --Jed Distler, Gramophone, March, 2002

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.

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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

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Redgecko (USA) - See all my reviews

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.