There was a time where the name of Alan Hovhaness was lumped in with the avant-garde of his generation; older sources frequently cite him in the company of John Cage and Lou Harrison, who were his close friends and shared his genuine interest in what is now called world music. However, thinking of Hovhaness as an avant-garde composer does him a disservice; his music is among the most accessible and conservative of any composer of his generation, being stylistically only slightly to the left of Howard Hanson. Naxos American ...
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There was a time where the name of Alan Hovhaness was lumped in with the avant-garde of his generation; older sources frequently cite him in the company of John Cage and Lou Harrison, who were his close friends and shared his genuine interest in what is now called world music. However, thinking of Hovhaness as an avant-garde composer does him a disservice; his music is among the most accessible and conservative of any composer of his generation, being stylistically only slightly to the left of Howard Hanson. Naxos American Classics' Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 60 seems designed to highlight works of Hovhaness that have a universal appeal and therefore to broaden his fan base -- while he is among the most performed of twentieth century American composers, such efforts are worthwhile and certainly cannot hurt his reputation. Conductor Gerard Schwarz goes back with Hovhaness a long, long time; the composer made his home in Seattle for most of his latter years, and Schwarz has recorded, and probably...
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