Search - Alan Hovhaness, Gregory Short, Michael Young :: Mystical Mountains

Reaching for the Summits

Mr. F. E. Perry | UK | 11/26/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"It was with eager anticipation that I awaited the arrival of this CD. I love the music of Alan Hovhaness and I had a radio version of VISION FROM HIGH ROCK and the old LP by Louisville Orchestra of Symphony #15 'Silver Pilgrimage'. The delightful 'Mountain of Prophecy' was an added bonus plus the introduction to the music of the other two composers featured on this CD dedicated to mountains: - Michael Young & Gregory Short. I had always enjoyed the sound of the murmuring pizzicato strings in the 3rd movement ('River of Meditation') in Hovhaness' 15th Symphony as these very much seemed to conjure up this bubbling river timelessly moving ever onwards back to the Source - in the performance by The Louisville Orchestra under conductor Robert Whitney. Sadly these were inaudible (and questionably present at all) on the current version whilst the section lasted 7:32 on the LP and 11:02 on the CD whereas original tempo markings suggest a time around 5:00! Whilst VISION FROM HIGH ROCK closely resembled that of the radio performance, Symphony #15 for myself was sadly lacking in what Hovhaness called his 'spirit murmur'- aleatoric passages. If it was a case of a misunderstanding with regards to the levels of the different orchestral sections in the mixing sessions, then, perhaps this can be remedied and reissued - if so, please let me know. But one is left in considerable doubt as to whether they were present at the recording at all! - without the advantage of this previous LP recording I would never have known. Nevertheless, it must be stated that I felt that the flute playing was a big improvement on the LP version - sounding far more like a Shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) than its predecesor - and it could well be that to supply more of that mood the tempo was greatly reduced and equally possible that performing the rhythmless murmurings supplied by the strings didn't work so well at this slower tempo. The third offering from Hovhaness "Mountain of Prophecy" I'd not heard before and, therefore, cannot compare. However, it is a beautiful piece with many changes - brief spirit murmur's etc, and again comes from this early-middle period of the late composer. I would have dearly loved to recommend this new release wholeheartedly but, in view of the shortcomings mentioned, I am reduced to giving it only 3 stars."