Lousadzak

Last updated

Lousadzak (The Coming of Light), Op. 48, is a 1944 concerto for piano and string orchestra by the American-Armenian composer Alan Hovhaness. [1] Duration of the piece is about 18 minutes. The work is known for its use of aleatory that is said to have impressed fellow composers Lou Harrison and John Cage, [2] and anticipated "many soon-to-be-hip" aleatory techniques. [3]

Contents

History

Shortly before composing Lousadzak, Alan Hovhaness had received a severe reprimand from Aaron Copland and, as a result, destroyed a thousand earlier pieces before making a fresh start. While being a student under Fredrick Converse at the New England Conservatory, Hovhaness had already familiarized with Indian classical music and, later on, embraced music from different cultures such as Korean, Japanese, and Chinese music. [4]

Aleatory

The aleatoric technique used in the piece is what Hovhaness called a “humming effect.” It occurs several times throughout the piece in the string section. The string players are instructed to play several pre-composed motives at a free tempo throughout various measures to achieve the effect. [5] The aleatory nature of the technique was also controversial. In Arnold Rosner and Vance Wolverton’s writing on the piece: “… is hardly aleatory, since exact pitches are carefully controlled and any two performances will be substantially the same.” [6]

Reception

Andrew Farach-Colton of Gramophone lauded Lousadzak, saying, "the music has a spare sensuality that’s [...] delectable." [3] The work was also praised by BBC Music Magazine's Anthony Burton for its "Eastern emphasis on ornamented melody over a drone bass, and its almost complete absence of conventional harmony." [7] On the other hand, John R. White, writing in the mid-1960s before the wider usage of minimalist and aleatoric devices in American art music,[ citation needed ] singled out the work's aleatory passages as a particular weakness, observing that even though the "delicious humming effect" they produce "may delight an audience that has never before seen an orchestra turned loose on chance music", such basic assumptions mean that "this easily playable work sounds static and after a while simply has to cease on a shimmering sound." [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

A concerto is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typical three-movement structure, a slow movement preceded and followed by fast movements, became a standard from the early 18th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleatoric music</span> Music in which some element of the composition is left to chance

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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Hovhaness</span> American composer (1911–2000)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pascal Dusapin</span> French composer

Pascal Georges Dusapin is a French composer. His music is marked by its microtonality, tension, and energy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Diamond (composer)</span> American classical composer (1915–2005)

David Leo Diamond was an American composer of classical music. He is considered one of the preeminent American composers of his generation. Many of his works are tonal or modestly modal. His early compositions are typically triadic, often with widely spaced harmonies, giving them a distinctly American tone, but some of his works are consciously French in style. His later style became more chromatic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Berkofsky</span> American classical pianist (1943–2013)

Martin Berkofsky was an American classical pianist, known primarily for his interpretations of music by Franz Liszt and Alan Hovhaness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dial Records (1946)</span> Record label

Dial Records was an American record company and label that specialized first in bebop jazz and then in contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1946 by Ross Russell. Notable artists who recorded for Dial include Charlie Parker, who signed an exclusive one-year recording contract with Russell on 26 February 1946, as well as Miles Davis, Max Roach, and Milt Jackson. Dial Records initially pressed its music for the Tempo Music Shop of Hollywood, California, but soon relocated to New York City.

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.

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. The piece has been recorded numerous times and remains one of Hovhaness's most popular compositions. 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. The title of the work comes from Genesis 1:21 in the King James Version of the Bible.

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.

The Concerto for Orchestra is an orchestral composition in five movements by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra with contributions from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Philadelphia Music Project, and Peter Benoliel. It was premiered at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia June 12, 2002, with conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch leading the Philadelphia Orchestra.

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.

A percussion concerto is a type of musical composition for a percussion soloist and a large ensemble, such as a concert band or orchestra. Two notable figures in the genre are the percussionists Colin Currie and Evelyn Glennie, who have separately commissioned and premiered numerous entrees to the repertoire. Two common subsets of the percussion concerto are the timpani concerto and the marimba concerto.

The Symphony No. 3 is a composition for orchestra by the American composer Ned Rorem. The work was first performed by the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Leonard Bernstein at Carnegie Hall on April 16, 1959.

The Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 39, is the second piano concerto by the Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera. The work was commissioned by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra for the pianist Hilde Somer, to whom the concerto is dedicated. It was first performed by Somer and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra conducted by Izler Solomon on March 22, 1973.

The Concerto for Viola and Orchestra is a musical composition for viola and orchestra by the American composer Walter Piston. The work was written in 1957 for the violist Joseph de Pasquale, who first performed the piece with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on March 7, 1958.

The Symphony No. 5 is the fifth symphony by the American composer George Rochberg. It was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which first performed the piece under the direction of Georg Solti on March 13, 1986. The symphony has a duration of approximately 28 minutes and is cast a single continuous movement. It was a finalist for the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

References

  1. ↑ Johnson, Bret (June 27, 2000). "Alan Hovhaness: American composer synthesising music from east and west". The Guardian . Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  2. ↑ Rohter, Larry (November 4, 2011). "A Composer Echoes in Unexpected Places". The New York Times . Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Farach-Colton, Andrew (November 2005). "Hovhaness Concerto for 2 Pianos; (3) Pieces for 2 Pianos". Gramophone . Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  4. ↑ “Alan Hovhaness.” The Musical Times 141, no. 1872 (2000): 6–7. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1004388.
  5. ↑ Alan Hovhaness, Lousadzak: Coming of Light (New York; Peermusic, 1944).
  6. ↑ Rosner, Arnold, and Vance Wolverton. "Hovhaness [Hovaness], Alan." Grove Music Online. 2001; Accessed 10 Sep. 2024. https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000013420.
  7. ↑ Burton, Anthony (January 20, 2012). "Hovhaness: Concerto for two pianos and orchestra; Three pieces for two pianos; Lousadzak Concerto for piano and strings". BBC Music Magazine . Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  8. ↑ John R. White, [untitled review], Notes, Second Series 22, no. 1 (Autumn, 1965): 822–23.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.