What Classical Music Are You listening to Now? IV

[Master Jacques]

Shalimar
Alan Hovhaness
Piano works, including the suites Komachi, Op.240 and Shalimar, Op.177, with the Sonata for Piano 'Prospect Hill', Op.346.
Alan Hovhaness, piano
(Fortuna Records CD 17062-2)

This has been a cherished collection, since I bought it as one of my very first CDs, c.1988. There are smoother-played and recorded versions around (notably by Marvin Rosen), but the composer's own performances convey a special spirit - not least the 'Prospect Hill' Sonata, one his most haunting works for any medium, and oddly reminiscent of Holst and Vaughan Williams.

As with 'Mompou plays Mompou', the composer provides a benchmark to show how these beautiful and strange pieces work. The first track (Ghazal No.1, Op.36 No.1) is a specially good introduction to Hovhaness's mesmerising sound world.

[smittims]

I've enjoyed some of Hovhaness' symphonies on Naxos, but I find a little of him goes a long way. His music is a refreshing change from that of some of his more intelectually-intense contemporaries.

[AuntDaisy]

Tallis "Ave, Dei patris filia" The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood. Currently on offer in Presto's Hyperion sale.



Catherine Bott's excellent / unusual "Delectatio angeli" & Guerrero's "Missa Congratulamini mihi" were on before it.

[Pulcinella]

Howells
In Gloucestershire (earlier version, thought lost)
London Chamber Ensemble

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9661779--howells-wood-string-quartets

[pastoralguy]

I've enjoyed some of Hovhaness' symphonies on Naxos, but I find a little of him goes a long way. His music is a refreshing change from that of some of his more intelectually-intense contemporaries.

My wife and I spent part of our honeymoon at the Corsewall Lighthouse Hotel in Stranraer. We stayed in what had obviously been a large stone outhouse that had been converted into a bedroom/sitting room combo. The sitting room had a rather nice Hi-Fi and I remember playing a Hovhaness Symphony very loudly one Sunday afternoon. Close to the suite was a field that had a number of cows grazing. As the symphony progressed, so the cows gravitated towards the wall separating the suite from the cow field. The cows were so appreciative that we repeated the symphony. When the work finished so the cows dispersed.

I must try to find that cd again.

[pastoralguy]

Dvorak, ‘cello concerto.

Maurice Gendron, ‘cello with the Paris Radio Orchestra conducted by Willem Mengelberg. Recorded on January 16th 1944. Very fine performance once one gets used to the limited sound quality.

[smittims]

I loved your story of the cows,pastoralguy. Many years ago I spent a holiday at Lochnaw Caste and on foggy days we could hear Corsewall point foghorn very clearly, about 5 miles away I think.

[cloughie]

My wife and I spent part of our honeymoon at the Corsewall Lighthouse Hotel in Stranraer. We stayed in what had obviously been a large stone outhouse that had been converted into a bedroom/sitting room combo. The sitting room had a rather nice Hi-Fi and I remember playing a Hovhaness Symphony very loudly one Sunday afternoon. Close to the suite was a field that had a number of cows grazing. As the symphony progressed, so the cows gravitated towards the wall separating the suite from the cow field. The cows were so appreciative that we repeated the symphony. When the work finished so the cows dispersed.

I must try to find that cd again.

…and play it ‘til the cows come home?

[Master Jacques]

My wife and I spent part of our honeymoon at the Corsewall Lighthouse Hotel in Stranraer. We stayed in what had obviously been a large stone outhouse that had been converted into a bedroom/sitting room combo. The sitting room had a rather nice Hi-Fi and I remember playing a Hovhaness Symphony very loudly one Sunday afternoon. Close to the suite was a field that had a number of cows grazing. As the symphony progressed, so the cows gravitated towards the wall separating the suite from the cow field. The cows were so appreciative that we repeated the symphony. When the work finished so the cows dispersed.

I must try to find that cd again.

I love this, thank you!

Perhaps one of those superbly-recorded Unicorn LPs, with various London orchestras conducted by the composer, superbly recorded by Bob Auger in Barking Town Hall? I like the idea of the cows dancing to the whirling last movement of the St. Vartan Symphony, Op.80and then quietly getting on with their lives.

[Pulcinella]

I love this, thank you!

Perhaps one of those superbly-recorded Unicorn LPs, with various London orchestras conducted by the composer, superbly recorded by Bob Auger in Barking Town Hall? I like the idea of the cows dancing to the whirling last movement of the St. Vartan Symphony, Op.80and then quietly getting on with their lives.

Or maybe their tummies were rumbling and about to erupt, like Mount St Helens (Symphony 50).

[richardfinegold]

Is it Mahler Six that has cowbells? Perhaps PG could repeat his stay with that record and see what the bovine response is.
Also regarding recent posts by PG, my first encounter with the Dvorak concerto was Gendron with Haitink and the LPO. The recording he referenced must have been made prior to the Normandy Invasion and it’s interesting that Mengelberg was conducting in occupied Paris

[richardfinegold]

I’ve been listening to Marriner and ASMF on EMI in the last six Mozart Symphonies. I had burned the 3 disc set to my server with the intention of discarding the oversized jewell case, and the the resulting copies are superb, but the performances are so lovely that I can’t bear to toss the discs.

[pastoralguy]

Is it Mahler Six that has cowbells? Perhaps PG could repeat his stay with that record and see what the bovine response is.
Also regarding recent posts by PG, my first encounter with the Dvorak concerto was Gendron with Haitink and the LPO. The recording he referenced must have been made prior to the Normandy Invasion and it’s interesting that Mengelberg was conducting in occupied Paris

Yes, it’s number 6. I got into trouble once for bringing a carton of milk to a rehearsal which was passed around the second violin section during the cowbell point!

[oliver sudden]

Yes, it’s number 6. I got into trouble once for bringing a carton of milk to a rehearsal which was passed around the second violin section during the cowbell point!

A pedant writes: also 7.

I don’t think there are any Mahler symphonies where this happens, though.

https://youtu.be/klm5dD1FdmM?feature=shared

[Petrushka]

A pedant writes: also 7.

I don’t think there are any Mahler symphonies where this happens, though.

https://youtu.be/klm5dD1FdmM?feature=shared

Mahler's use of the cowbells has no actual connection to cows but symbolises loneliness or, perhaps more accurately, remoteness from worldly troubles.

Now, Strauss in Eine Alpensinfonie...