Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Alan Hovhaness - The Holy City - Triptych: Ave Maria - Christmas Cantata - Easter Cantata - Meditation on Orpheus - Henry Cowell - Music 1957 - Synchrony - Royal P.O., Bamberg S.O., Japan P.O., Polish N.R.O. Citadel Records 1997

The only thing to do after posting one of the finest Hovhaness recordings out there is to post another equally fine Hovhaness recording with some splendiferous Henry Cowell thrown in to sweeten the already irresistible deal :) These works originate from several CRI recordings as well as one Bay Cities recording. The 20-bit digital transfers done by Bruce Leek for Citadel Records and Klavier Records (the subsidiary of Citadel) are uniformly excellent in my experience and it is the shining case here. These are all exemplary performances, and the only works here that have multiple recordings are AH's "The Holy City" and "Meditation on Orpheus" and these versions of those two works are I believe the finest to this date. 




I'm too tired to write about the music tonight so if you will excuse me I will do so tomorrow once awake and with coffee in hand. Or near hand. Probably safer that way.

Hovhaness with his wife Serafina, I believe in 1947

Hovhaness conducting his "Fuji" Cantata

Cowell thrashin those keys - Piano, meet tone-clusters. Tone-clusters, meet piano.......

Henry Cowell at the Brooklyn Museum

Enjoy quality sounds ladies and gentlemen!

Hovhaness_Holy_City_Triptych-Cowell_Music_1957-Tzadik.zip

http://www80.zippyshare.com/v/aEP4Lp4f/file.html

17 comments:

coppinsuk said...

And another one!

Slow down now, otherwise.......!

Much appreciated.

Cheers,

Douglas (UK)

coppinsuk said...

Interesting that many of the recordings of Hovhaness were recorded by "off kilter" orchestras. I do not know much about the composer so I am assuming he had "significant funds" in order to sponsor these recordings??

Very interesting for me, being a "megalomaniac" (only interested in orchestral music), so tend to "collect" orchestras.

Very much appreciated.

Cheers,

Douglas (UK)

Unknown said...

Dorado,aúrico cd de mi querido Hovhaness,y también del genial e insondable Cowell-uno de los más maravillosos composers de USA- UN Gran Abrazo Tzadik.

theblueamos said...

Baruch Hashem,you'r back.Thank you for the 3 A H post.Best wishes from Jerusalem.

theblueamos said...

Where have these beauties been hidding?Fantastic.All the best from Jerusalem.

nowhereman said...

Hi. Wellcome back and thanks. From Spain, greetings.

nowhereman said...

Hi. Wellcome back and thanks. From Spain, greetings.

cjvinthechair said...

Ah, Mr. T., I fear if your recovery depends on me espousing chamber music, you could be sick for a whole lot longer.
Thus, I delight in the return of 'proper' music from AH...& some I didn't have, either. So, welcome back to the full symphony world !

Anonymous said...

I found yet another site that offers an obscure (to me) Hovhaness work -- "Floating World _ Ukiyo". This may be a minor work, but to the completist, nothing is minor

I give both the web site and the download link, since the latter is might not jump out the reader.

SITE
http://lincoonnn.blogspot.ca/2016/03/world-premiere-recording-rachmaninoff.html

DOWNLOAD LINK
https://mega.nz/#!05JWHZBS!T_wTmRCXS3D3oiG5bZ7LrWpS3AAKNZwXv-m0Gv4ibVI


Best wishes.

Philip

Tzadik said...

I will get back to everyone by Sunday night - I just want to thank you -all- quickly for commenting! I know I am a broken record, but truly your comments and thoughts mean everything :)

-And Philip thank you for posting the info for Floating World; I have all existing versions but I am certain
that most visitors will be extremely pleased! Feel free to keep it up friend :-)

TZ

Tzadik said...

Hi Douglas, it's always really nice to hear from you. Well, I am going slow mostly :) I'm exhausted in general but there should be a little 'noise' around here! Hovhaness had 'decent' funds, early on he founded his own record label "Poseidon" in order to record and get his music out there - many of those wonderful recordings have found their way to Crystal records, still AH's greatest champions. Most of the orchestras involved in the early recordings are very very good I find. Then again with Hovhaness conducting the magic is going to be, to a certain degree, inevitable!

-Do you have a favorite (or top 5 or 10) obscure or lesser-known orchestra(s)?

I have many, but I would have to stop and think about it haha - have a bit of a headache at the moment!

Cheers,

TZ

Tzadik said...

Sí doctor T este es un disco especial. Las piezas Cowell están muy bien haber incluido aquí! El tríptico Creo que nunca se ha realizado tan bien - el cielo de verdad! Lo mismo ocurre con las otras obras también.

Su TZ

Tzadik said...

Thank you Blue my friend :) You are very welcome, I am always happy to spread the AH around!

TZ

Tzadik said...

Hello nowhere man,

Thank you for your kind words! I really like to see new names around here :-)
Keep on listening my friend,

TZ

Tzadik said...

The full symphony world, ay? pffffffffffffff to you I say Cjv..........just pfffffffffffffffffffffffff!!!!

-Oh yes and thanks for welcoming me back hehe

TZ

mostergren said...

I just came across this Hovhaness performance yesterday and thought this would be a good audience here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viAZwmdP-w0

Again, many thanks for the great music!

coratogia said...

Hi , Tadzik, you could help me

in your blog I can read that:


SITE
http://lincoonnn.blogspot.ca/2016/03/world-premiere-recording-rachmaninoff.html

DOWNLOAD LINK
https://mega.nz/#!05JWHZBS!T_wTmRCXS3D3oiG5bZ7LrWpS3AAKNZwXv-m0Gv4ibVI

and I never could find a downloas link in Lincoonnn blog

am I so stupid , may be ,, please clear my bindness

pace e salute !
bernard (from France and Corsica)