One of the certainties a listener may have when approaching an album of unfamiliar music by Alan Hovhaness is how unpredictable it is likely to be. Hovhaness may be the most erratic major composer of the 20th century, capable of writing masterpieces like the astonishing, transcendent Second Symphony ("Mysterious Mountain"), as well as the most amateurish drivel. His sincerity is never in doubt; he was clearly a composer with integrity who only wrote what he deeply felt, but he seems to have lacked sound editorial judgment ...
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One of the certainties a listener may have when approaching an album of unfamiliar music by Alan Hovhaness is how unpredictable it is likely to be. Hovhaness may be the most erratic major composer of the 20th century, capable of writing masterpieces like the astonishing, transcendent Second Symphony ("Mysterious Mountain"), as well as the most amateurish drivel. His sincerity is never in doubt; he was clearly a composer with integrity who only wrote what he deeply felt, but he seems to have lacked sound editorial judgment about what he produced. Most of the music on this beautifully performed collection of sacred choral works, From the Ends of the Earth, falls between his extremes, but it still represents a broad range in quality, some of it lovely and some of it embarrassingly clumsy. Among the most effective works is the ecstatically serene Ave Maria for women's voices, harp, oboes, and horns. "Wisdom," for mixed voices a cappella, is exquisitely chaste, and I will rejoice in the Lord conveys a mood...
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