This disc emanates from an inspired, inveterate and dedicated Hovhaness
source. Peter Christ’s Crystal Records remains the home of the
composer’s own key-note recordings from the
Poseidon LP label of the 1970s. This Cristofori product has been accommodated
within the Crystal stable. It reintroduces familiar Hovhaness recordings.
I say ‘familiar’ although the original Black Box issue from
2005 - minus some of the tracks here - never seemed to gain much prominence.
The Black Box was reviewed
here by Jonathan Woolf in 2005.
An assertively muscular and forward-surging
Prayer of St
Gregory
features an urgent solo from Andrei Ikov. This is reverential music which
in
this performance remains in touch with a fast pulse - no suggestion of
static
noodling here. The 1954
Concerto for two pianos is a fascinating
three-movement
piece. The long, sinuous woodwind and violin lines course passionately
forward
in an
Andante and are punctuated by harshly stony dissonance from
the
pianos. Thrumming strings exacerbate the apocalyptic tension with the two
pianos
carrying forward their hieratically dark role from the first movement.
Brass
and tam-tam pile the atmosphere higher. Anxiety mediates with consolation
in
the final
Moderato but soon reverts to dissonantly swirling angst.
This
is a work closer in spirit to the dark intimations and clashing rites of
the
Odysseus and
Vishnu symphonies rather than to
Hovhaness’s
softer-contoured works such as
St Vartan and
Mysterious
Mountain.
Martin Berkofsky is no Hovhaness tyro. He recorded
Khaldis,
the
concerto for piano, four trumpets and percussion (1951), the
Mount
Katahdin
piano sonata (1987) and the piano solo
Fantasy (1944) in the 1970s
and
these are on
Poseidon
CD814.
Then come the
Three Pieces for two pianos where Berkofsky is
joined
in the first by Atakan Sari and in the other two by Sergei Podobedov.
Mihr(1945)
comes as balm after the complexities and tensions of the Concerto. The
language
reminded me of the folk-like exotic piano pieces of Komitas Vartabed as
recently
recorded for Kalan by Sahan Artzruni. The very brief
Ko-ola-u(1962)
chimes with hypnotic sweetness and the bass line anchors and earths the
music.
There’s something quite Baxian about this writing with its setting
of
extreme treble against extreme bass.
Vijag (1946)
rushes
forward with a quick repetitive carillon. One can see how Steve Reich
might
well have been influenced by these three pieces.
Lousadzak
carries
the suggestion of the sitar and the sway of North African music to which
the
piano lends dynamism and momentum. It’s a meaty single movement work
without
the out-and-out vanguard clashes of the Concerto for two pianos and
orchestra.
The rippling piano solo often recalls the most Mephisto outbursts of Liszt
in
Totentanz. About halfway through Berkofsky is joined by a violin
solo,
here taken by Nikolai Zherenkov - an imploring submissive line to the
piano’s
cantorial confidence and self-absorption.
Lousadzak knows the
mysteries
but here, by contrast with the Two-Piano Concerto, the arcane spirits are
benign
and dignified and expound celestial delights.
The liner booklet runs to an unstinting 32 pages, overwhelmingly in
English.
It is decked out with pictures and reproductions of concert bills; all in
all
a major contribution to the Hovhaness literature, audio and written. It
also
serves to contrast the lyrical and dissonant sides of Hovhaness.
Rob Barnett
Review index:
Alan
Hovhaness
