BMOP/sound
1020
October 2011
Disc 1: 67:39
  • Boston Modern Orchestra Project
  • Gil Rose, conductor

BMOP/sound revives the works of this century’s most influential Armenian-American composer.

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CD price: 16.99

Track listing

Disc 1 
1.Armenian Rhapsody No. 1, Op. 45 (1944)
 Song of the Sea (1933)
2.I. Moderato espressivo
3.II. Adagio espressivo
4.Armenian Rhapsody No. 2, Op. 51 (1944)
 Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Strings, Op. 344 (1980)
5.I. Andante; Fuga
6.II. Adagio espressivo; Allegro
7.III. Let the Living and the Celestial Sing
8.Armenian Rhapsody No. 3, Op. 189 (1944)
 Symphony No. 1, Exile, Op. 17, No. 2 (1936)
9.I. Andante espressivo; Allegro
10.II. Grazioso
11.III. Finale; Andante; Presto

News and Press

[CD Review] Fanfare reviews Alan Hovhaness: Exile Symphony

Back when I was a teenager, I was obsessed with the music of Alan Hovhaness, and was also uninhibited to an extent that is a bit embarrassing in retrospect. During that period, after attending a concert of the New York Philharmonic, I forced my way back to Leonard Bernstein’s dressing room, and asked him whether he ever intended to perform anything by Hovhaness.

Fanfare Full review
[CD Review] MusicWeb International reviews Alan Hovhaness: Exile Symphony

One doubts that the world will ever wholly manage to come to terms with the music of Hovhaness. The sheer volume of his output – over five hundred works including seven operas and sixty-seven symphonies, and that excludes his music before 1940 much of which was destroyed by the composer – rivals the prolixity of seventeenth century composers such as Bach or Vivaldi.

MusicWeb International Full review
[CD Review] Audiophile Audition reviews Alan Hovhaness: Exile Symphony

When a composer has written well over 500 works, one can assume that there will be some unevenness in his production. Despite the fact that a number of Alan Hovhaness's pieces have entered the standard repertoire and that recording projects turn up interesting, little-heard music by the composer on a regular basis, Hovhaness's production is indeed uneven. Remarkably, those 500 works are just the tip of the musical iceberg.

Audiophile Audition Full review
[CD Review] MusicWeb reviews Alan Hovhaness: Exile Symphony

For a composer known of because of his 67 symphonies and seven operas this disc presents Hovhaness the miniaturist.

MusicWeb Full review
[CD Review] Classical CD Review Reviews Alan Hovhaness: Exile Symphony

Imagined Armenias. Undoubtedly, Alan Hovhaness stands as an American original. He has taken from very few. He sounds like nobody else. You can tell a Hovhaness work within a few seconds. Others have even made use of his innovations without, of course, his unique poetry or giving him any credit at all. Hovhaness composed music easily -- like writing a letter, as he put it. Forget Mozart and the Marriage of Figaro overture. Hovhaness, dissatisfied with a symphony in rehearsal, did turn out an entirely new movement in a night.

Classical CD Review Full review
[Press Release] BMOP/sound Wraps Up 2011 With Two New Releases

BMOP/sound, the nation's foremost label launched by an orchestra and devoted exclusively to new music recordings, today announced the release of two new albums for 2011 – Alan Hovhaness: Exile Symphony (Release: 10/2011) and Eric Moe: Kick & Ride (Release: 11/2011). Marking 21 records to date, BMOP/sound continues to showcase orchestral works that are otherwise unavailable in recorded form.

Full review