And God Created Great Whales, Op. 229, No. 1, is a symphonic poem for orchestra and recorded whale sounds by the American composer Alan Hovhaness. The work was commissioned by Andre Kostelanetz and the New York Philharmonic, who premiered the piece on June 11, 1970, in New York City. [1] The piece has been recorded numerous times and remains one of Hovhaness's most popular compositions. [2] [3] [4] It has also been credited as an early work in the movement to save whales from extinction, alongside John Tavener's 1966 cantata The Whale . [5] The title of the work comes from Genesis 1:21 in the King James Version of the Bible.
The music contains elements of melodic pentatonicism and asynchronous aleatoricism, which Hovhaness referred to as "free non-rhythm chaos." [1] Specially recorded whale vocalizations play intermittently throughout the work and include the songs of humpback whales and bowhead whales. [1] The whale recordings were done by Roger Payne and Frank Watlington, from the album Songs of the Humpback Whale .[ citation needed ]
Larry Rohter of The New York Times said the piece "can veer toward kitsch." [6] Edward Greenfield of Gramophone similarly gave the work mixed praise, stating:
With its fluent use of gimmicks, it would be easy to mock this, starting as it does with an aleatory twitter which leads on to pentatonic doodling of a kind that one improvised as a child on the black keys of the piano. Then comes the first of the tapes of the songs of the great humpback whale, recorded specially, followed by the first huge climax, very impressive except that the pentatonic melody which roars out on trombones (leading to whale-song imitations) is not distinctive enough, almost banal, punctuated by glockenspiel. [7]
Aleatoricmusic is music in which some element of the composition is left to chance, and/or some primary element of a composed work's realization is left to the determination of its performer(s). The term is most often associated with procedures in which the chance element involves a relatively limited number of possibilities.
Sir John Kenneth Tavener was an English composer, known for his extensive output of religious works, including The Protecting Veil, Song for Athene and The Lamb.
Although a concerto is usually a piece of music for one or more solo instruments accompanied by a full orchestra, several composers have written works with the apparently contradictory title Concerto for Orchestra. This title is usually chosen to emphasise soloistic and virtuosic treatment of various individual instruments or sections in the orchestra, with emphasis on instruments changing during the piece. It differs from sinfonia concertante in that it has no soloist or group of soloists that remains the same throughout the composition.
Alan Hovhaness was an American composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies and 434 opus numbers. The true tally is well over 500 surviving works, since many opus numbers comprise two or more distinct works.
Pines of Rome is a four-movement symphonic poem for orchestra completed in 1924 by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. The piece, which depicts pine trees in four locations in Rome at different times of the day, is the second of Respighi's trilogy of tone poems based on the city, along with Fountains of Rome (1917) and Roman Festivals (1928). It premiered on 14 December 1924 at the Augusteo Theatre in Rome with Bernardino Molinari conducting the Augusteo Orchestra, now known as the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Paul Winter is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He is a pioneer of world music and "earth music", which interweaves the voices of the wild with instrumental voices from classical, jazz and world music. The music is often improvised and recorded in nature to reflect the qualities brought into play by the environment.
John Royds Culshaw, OBE was a pioneering English classical record producer for Decca Records. He produced a wide range of music, but is best known for masterminding the first studio recording of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, begun in 1958.
Roger Searle Payne is an American biologist and environmentalist famous for the 1967 discovery of whale song among humpback whales. Payne later became an important figure in the worldwide campaign to end commercial whaling.
Biomusic is a form of experimental music which deals with sounds created or performed by non-humans. The definition is also sometimes extended to include sounds made by humans in a directly biological way. For instance, music that is created by the brain waves of the composer can also be called biomusic as can music created by the human body without the use of tools or instruments that are not part of the body.
Symphony No. 2, Op. 132, Mysterious Mountain is a three-movement orchestral composition by the Armenian-American composer Alan Hovhaness. The symphony was commissioned by the conductor Leopold Stokowski and the Houston Symphony, and premiered live on NBC television in October 1955 on the Houston Symphony's first program with Stokowski as conductor. The first and most popular recording of the work, released in 1958 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing under Fritz Reiner, is often regarded as the foremost performance of the piece. This recording, like early performances of the work, predates the composer's decision to categorize the work "symphony". Later on, the G. Schirmer published score was titled Mysterious Mountain with "Symphony No. 2" printed as a subtitle in smaller typeface.
Symphony No. 50, Op. 360, Mount St. Helens is a three-movement orchestral composition by the American composer Alan Hovhaness. The symphony was commissioned by former Hovhaness publisher C.F. Peters and was completed January 24, 1982. It premiered March 2, 1984, and was performed by the San Jose Symphony under conductor George Cleve. The piece commemorates the volcano Mount St. Helens, culminating in the events of its 1980 eruption, which Hovhaness had witnessed from his Seattle home.
The Symphony No. 1, Op. 17, Exile is the first symphony by the American composer Alan Hovhaness. The piece was composed in 1936 and was premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the conductor Leslie Heward in 1939. The work commemorates the genocide of the Armenian people, including Hovhaness's paternal family, during the Ottoman Turkish occupation of World War I. The symphony is dedicated to English writer and philosopher Francis Bacon.
The Symphony No. 60, Op. 396, To the Appalachian Mountains is a symphony for orchestra in four movements written by the American composer Alan Hovhaness. The work was commissioned August 6, 1985 by Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. for "Homecoming '86", an event celebrating the cultural heritage of Tennessee. It was composed in November and December 1985 and commemorates the geography and heritage of the Appalachian Mountains region.
The Symphony No. 22, Op. 236, City of Light is a four-movement symphony for orchestra by the American composer Alan Hovhaness. The work was commissioned by the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for the centennial of Birmingham, Alabama and was completed in 1970. The work has been recorded multiple times and remains one of Hovhaness's more popular compositions.
The Symphony No. 66, Op. 428, Hymn to Glacier Peak is an orchestral composition in three movements and the penultimate symphony by the American composer Alan Hovhaness. The work was commissioned by the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra and was completed in 1992, shortly before its premiere by the Seattle Youth Symphony, conducted by Ruben Gurevich, at the Seattle Opera House on May 10, 1992. The title of the work comes from the stratovolcano Glacier Peak in the Cascade Range, visible from Hovhaness's home in Seattle, Washington.
Lousadzak, Op. 48, is a 1944 concerto for piano and string orchestra by the American-Armenian composer Alan Hovhaness. The work is known for its use of aleatory that is said to have impressed fellow composers Lou Harrison and John Cage, and anticipated "many soon-to-be-hip" aleatory techniques.
Songs of the Humpback Whale is a 1970 album produced by bio-acoustician Roger Payne. It publicly demonstrated for the first time the elaborate whale vocalizations of Humpbacks, and became the bestselling environmental album in history, selling over 100,000 copies. By raising awareness of the intelligence and culture of whales the album helped spawn a worldwide ”Save The Whales” movement, leading to the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 10-year global moratorium on commercial whaling.
The Guitar Concerto No. 2, Op. 394, is a concerto for classical guitar and string orchestra by the American composer Alan Hovhaness. The work was commissioned by the Spanish guitarist Narciso Yepes. It was completed in June 1985 and later premiered at the Granada Festival in 1990.
The Symphony No. 63, Op. 411, Loon Lake is a symphony for orchestra in two movements by the American composer Alan Hovhaness. The work was commissioned in September 1987 by the New Hampshire Music Festival and the Loon Preservation Society. It was completed in early 1988 and premiered August 18, 1988, with conductor Thomas Nee leading the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra. The ending of the piece was later revised by Hovhaness at the request of his wife; the revised symphony premiered July 2, 1991, and is the only version available on recording.
Towards the Horizon is the second cello concerto by the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara. The work was commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra under the direction of Osmo Vänskä. It was first performed by the cellist Arek Tesarczyk and the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä in Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, on September 30, 2010. The piece is dedicated to the cellist Truls Mørk, who was originally scheduled to perform the world premiere, but had to drop due to health concerns.
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