Negative - Shop now
$22.54
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Sunday, April 6 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or Prime members get FREE delivery Friday, April 4. Order within 6 hrs 56 mins.
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$22.54 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$22.54
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon
Amazon
Ships from
Amazon
Returns
30-day refund/replacement
30-day refund/replacement
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Hovhaness: Symphonies Nos. 4, 20, and 53 / The Prayer of St. Gregory / Return and Rebuild the Desolate Places

Keith Brion (Artist, Conductor), Alan Hovhaness (Composer), Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama Wind Orchestra (Orchestra), Format: Audio CD
4.6 out of 5 stars 32 ratings
$22.54
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime
FREE Returns
See all 2 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Listen Now with Amazon Music
Hovhaness: Symphonies Nos. 4, 20 and 53 Amazon Music Unlimited
Price
New from Used from
MP3 Music, November 15, 2005
$8.99
$8.99 —
Audio CD, CD, November 15, 2005
$22.54
$16.43 $15.86
Available at a lower price from other sellers that may not offer free Prime shipping.

Frequently bought together

Hovhaness: Symphonies Nos. 4, 20, and 53 / The Prayer of St. Gregory / Return and Rebuild the Desolate Places
This item: Hovhaness: Symphonies Nos. 4, 20, and 53 / The Prayer of St. Gregory / Return and Rebuild the Desolate Places
$22.54
Get it as soon as Sunday, Apr 6
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by RapidPrimePros and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
+
HOVHANESS: SYMPHONY NO.63
$18.45
Get it as soon as Sunday, Apr 6
Only 3 left in stock - order soon.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Symphonies Nos 7 14 23
$15.48
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Ships from and sold by CD's and Books.
Total price: $00
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
spCSRF_Treatment
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

Track Listings

1 Andante
2 Allegro
3 Andante Espressivo
4 Andante
5 Adagio
6 Andante Espressivo
7 Allegro Moderato
8 Andante Maestoso
9 Prayer of Saint Gregory, Op.62B
10 Maestoso Sostenuto
11 Moderato Sostenuto Con Molta Espressione

Editorial Reviews

Of Armenian and Scottish origins, the American composer Alan Hovhaness was a trend-setting pioneer who absorbed an eclectic variety of archaic and modern influences from East and West.

Product details

  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.46 x 5.08 x 0.43 inches; 3.17 ounces
  • Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Naxos
  • Original Release Date ‏ : ‎ 2005
  • SPARS Code ‏ : ‎ DDD
  • Date First Available ‏ : ‎ January 29, 2007
  • Label ‏ : ‎ Naxos
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000BK53H4
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 32 ratings

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
32 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • John E. Mack
    5.0 out of 5 stars Hovhaness at his Best
    Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2007
    Verified Purchase
    Hovhaness is one of those composers whom you are likely either to adore or despise. After a considerable apprenticeship, during which he wrote a fair amount of rather conventional contemporary music, Hovehaness received considerable criticism from composers like Copland. Taking this to heart, he destroyed almost all his unpublished works and set out in a wholly new direction, one which inclined him toward Eastern melodies and techniques, and which brought him back to his Armenian roots. So while several of his best known works, such as "Mysterious Mountain" and "St. Vartian" have opus numbers consistent with early works, they really represent mid-period Hovhaness.

    Hovhaness produced a large body of works which, after about his 30th symphony, began to sound alike. Of course, he lived to a ripe old age, and toward the end, his inspiration began to flag. But his early "Eastern period" works have an undeniable freshness and power, managing to be simultaneously weird, exotic, and conventional.

    Some of his best stuff is on this CD. The 4th Symphony is one of my favorites. Not only does it build on instrumental solos (the passage for contra bassoon is particularly effective) into a really impressive climax. It is almost an experimental work, showing how much can be done when an entire symphonic piece has virtually no fast passages. Another piece, "Return and Rebuild the Desolate Places" (a great name, that!) is also powerful and evocative. It is basically a series of catastrophic yelps, followed by an extended trumpet threnody. Hovhaness is famous as a proponent of harmonic consonance, but sometimes he only gets there after extended periods of dissonance and chaos. And his meters ( I recall one 11/2 passage) sometimes border on the alien. But they make sense when you hear them.

    The works here are scored for wind band. Some of these pieces were also released in a version for full orchestra, but I like the wind arrangements better. The sort of orientalism (better, Middle-Easternism) which permeates Hovhaness' music somehow sounds better without the smooth gracefulness of strings. As the fan mags would say, "Highly recommended."
    7 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Michael Moore
    5.0 out of 5 stars Everything
    Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    By this composer I like. I heard him first on NPR's composers daily thing and then listened to some of his compositions on Pandora. Seldom do I really connect with a composer but I do with Hovhaness. I have now bout a number of recordings and will continue. I am not a musician but I try to personally relate to what I hear.
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • galen
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    received as described and on time
    Helpful
     Report
  • F. Mckenney
    5.0 out of 5 stars satisfaction
    Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    many thanks for this excellent service and product! i am delighted. ruth mckenney of springfield, Mo. 65804
    Helpful
     Report
  • robin friedman
    5.0 out of 5 stars Hovhaness' Wind Symphonies
    Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2005
    The late Alan Hovhaness (1911 - 2000)has received considerable popular attention but too little critical appreciation. Hovhaness was a prolific composer of 67 symphonies and over 400 works in a variety of forms. He wrote a great deal of music for band, and his output includes eight wind symphonies. Three of these symphonies are offered on this CD. Keith Brion conducts the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama Wind Orchestra. Brion first conducted Hovhaness' wind music in 1964 with a high school band and recorded an all-Hovhaness disk with Gerard Schwartz on the trumpet in 1969. He has also made extensive recordings for Naxos of the music of John Phillip Sousa.

    Hovhaness' symphonies are generally short and programmatic. The three wind symphonies on this CD emphasize the mystical, spiritual music of the composer. They consist of long choral passages for brass intertwined with solos for many different wind instruments, and for gongs, bells, cymbals, and drums. Much of the music, for the solos in particular, is modal in character, and it is contrasted with tonal passages in the larger ensembles. (Jean Sibelius did the same thing at times and Sibelius was a great influence on Hovhaness.) Hovhaness makes extensive use of counterpoint. The music is, and was composed to be, immediately accessible to a broad audience.

    The three movement Symphony no. 4, opus 165, probably Hovhaness' best-known wind work, was composed in 1958. It contrasts brass chorales for trombone and trumpet with long solo themes in the bass clarinet and bassoon. It closes with an extended fugue. The unusual second movement features a haunting solo for xylophone extending the length of the music. It reminded me of a Milt Jackson solo for the Modern Jazz Quartet, which was active at the time this work was composed. The final opens with an extended brass chorale followed by solos for trumpet and winds. Bells and gongs give a mystical character to this symphony throughout.

    Hovhaness' three -movement symphony no. 20, "Three Journeys to a Holy Mountain" opus 223 dates from 1969 and was one the composer's works commissioned and performed first by a high school band. Each movement represents a pilgrimage. The tripartite first movement opens with a clarinet solo, followed by an English horn solo, and a long, lyrical climactic section. The second movement begins with a long solo for alto saxophone, and the band gradually joins in over a low droning theme and the roll of drums. The finale features a brass chorale and fugue. Here again percussion and chimes add much to this piece.

    The final symphony on this disk, the two-movement "Star Dawn" opus 377 dates from 1983. Hovhaness apparently was fascinated by the possiblity of space travel, an interest I find it best to disregard in hearing the music. Chorale sections are contrasted with long, flowing solo passages for clarinet in the first movement. A drum-roll opens the second movement followed by a long reedy solo and a fugual close. The accompaniment of bells is to represent the stars or, perhaps,human yearning.

    The CD includes two short Hovhaness works for band. The "Prayer of Saint Gregory" is a short piece Hovhaness arranged from an earlier composition for trumpet solo, played here by John Wallace, and band The trumpet solo predominates in this brief work with a meditative, searching character. The other short work, "Return and Rebuild the Desolate Places" also features John Wallace on the trumpet. The work opens with a piercing trumpet solo, followed by a loud helter-skelter passage for the ensemble. The second movement also is lead by the trumpet and is a call to rebuild the world from chaos.

    This CD and its earlier companion will introduce the listener to the music of Alan Hovhaness. I understand that further releases of Hovhaness' music may be in the offing on Naxos. Naxos is performing a real service to lovers of music in its ongoing "American Classics" series.

    Robin Friedman
    26 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • happysalvo
    5.0 out of 5 stars Alan Hovhaness Symphonies 4/20/53
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 25, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    This is my first experience of the music of Hovhaness, and having read much about his output (some of which was none too complimentary) I was unsure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to find that, far from being outlandish, the music on the present disc was quite listenable. It may not be "symphonic" in the way of say Bruckner or Mahler (and I am certainly not sufficiently qualified to discuss the technicalities of composition), but it is an interesting listening experience, albeit probably not to everyone's taste.

    The performances and recording are of Naxos' usual standard, and if one requires an inexpensive introduction to the music of the man some refer to as an "American Mystic", then this is as good a place as any to start.
    Report
  • Martin Schindler
    2.0 out of 5 stars Ohne roten Faden
    Reviewed in Germany on October 15, 2010
    Verified Purchase
    Das ist definitiv die Klassik-CD, die ich am wenigsten mag. Die Einspielung ist glaub ich im Prinzip ganz ok, aber die Musik an sich gefällt mir überhaupt nicht. HOvaness - so scheint es mir - reiht, im grunde ganz nette Melodien, völlig uninspiriert an einander. Kein Spannungsbogen, keine Entwicklung, nichts.
    Report
  • Stig Jacobsson
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 16, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Not VERY good
    Report