Alan Hovhaness * Sinfonia n. 6 op. 173 "Celestial gate"

This is superb, thank you, I also love the paintings.

Some of my favorite pieces by the marvelous Armenian American composer Alan Hovhanness:
-(this piece) Celestial Gate - a tour de force; a trip. This piece is magnificent; beautiful, so precious
-Mysterious Mountain - first and last 5 minutes are some of the most magnificent chords I have ever heard.  Mysticism personified.
-Hymn to Glacier Peak - Soaringly beautiful
-Concerto #8 - my current favorite of his. So well done. So unique.
-Loon Lake - a magnificent nature journey
-St. Gregory - holy
-Alleluia and Fugue
-Arevakal
-Khrimian Hairig
-Cello Concerto
-The Spirit of the Trees
-Christmas Symphony
-City of Light
-Psalm and Fugue
-Artik

who is the artist

Some writers on classical music dismiss Alan Hovhaness as someone who wrote a lot but they also claim that everything sounds pretty much "the same". Nonsense. This piece disproves that and it is very, very different from say Mysterious Mountain or his "Mount St. Helens Symphony". Also very different is his beautiful piece for Trumpet and Organ, "Prayer of St. Gregory". And his harp and guitar music. In fact, I'm struck at how diverse the sounds are in Hovhaness (and the instrumentation). And no one has yet recorded much of his choral work (there's lot of it). Although there is a sense of mystery throughout his music along with traces of Eastern music (and sometimes instruments) and beautiful melodies played (often by strikingly unusual instruments) throughout most of his works, there is more variety than say in Philip Glass's compositions (which are also very good). This is a terrific piece.

great

Agreeing with Ronnie below. Much GRATITUDE for this channel this composer these fans! However, there was a time when I adored Sym 2--in youth, and was disappointed by the seemingly extreme similarity of his particular "signature" piece to his other works. Time and life experience led me to eventually see the special facets of each of his works. You could say the same of (the overly sanctified by contemporary culture), Mozart, for goodness sakes! Such similarity! Slavish Sonata Form! (Had he lived another 40 years...what would he have wrought?) We classical listeners have a twofold path of appreciation.: First; The adoration of the composer who puts forth a lifelong body of work of great craft, all stamped with somewhat the same personal harmonic/melodic/structural fingerprint: Mozart, Hovhaness, Sviridov. Second: the composer who does the same with their life's output, but successfully segues from one style to others, and does all quite well: Stravinsky, Lars Eric Larsson. There are composers that blended the 2 paths back and forth throughout life (Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Sibelius, to some degree). And then there are listeners who can see all 3 of these paths (oh, yes, I started with 2, and the 3rd is a Bell Curve of the first 2, just maybe?) Please feel free to share responses with me on BGcallahanCallahan on Facebook!

...he is a visionary!

JOHN CAGE AS WELL AS LOU HARRISON loved this man s music I am a fan as well underrated by many of the modernists

What a world

Música de beleza inesperada e solene. O que me impressiona nele é ser um exímio roteirista da música, assim como aqueles roteiristas de cinema que sabem narrar devidamente um filme. Congratulatons.

The Twentieth Century is over and the stifling atonality, serialism, and developments stemming from it are on the way out. In the 21st century it is once again acceptable for composers to write music that is beautiful, spiritual, consonant, and tonal (in the broad sense of having a tonal center). In light of this it is high time that Hovhaness finally receives the recognition he deserves as being one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.

He basically wrote the same piece over 400 times. But you have to admire the mystic element he expressed. Didn't Haydn write 104 symphonies in the same vein. Alan Hovhaness was a genius on the same scale as Gustav Mahler. The difference being Mahler wrote essence. If Hovhaness could have achieved this essence he would have been the greatest composer of music since Bach. I am a great admirer of his music and would urge us all to discover his mysticism. This is an an example of his genius, of that there are so many.

This is outstanding.

Alan Hovhaness a connu une certaine popularité au cours de sa vie, mais semble être tombé à l'écart. Il était prolifique dans la manière dont Philip Glass était
prolifique, et Glass a sa part de détracteurs. Je me demande si cela pourrait être une sorte d'abandon de l'erreur périmée, inconsciente romantique ou moderniste. C'est une erreur qui s'interprète comme suit : "Quelqu'un si prolifique soit-il (et peut-être populaire aussi) ne saurait être génial  et ne vaut donc pas la peine d'être abordé"

Beautiful!

Hovhannes is God on Earth, communicating his divine message by Music. Sending his son wasn´t good enough, he came Himself to us, we just have to listen, now is the right time for us all.

I can hear so much of the Greek and Bulgarian folklore tunes in this sypmhony. Just check out Theodorakis' 2nd movement from Symphony No.1 ..

hey,i have this exact recording

Why in the world didn't someone tell me years ago!!

Most haunting. Plays in my head in quiet conflicted moments.

Who has created the delightful eastern font multilayerd art for these lovely works?

Bravo

Tonality became tiring, it took a nap, & now it's returned for a while. But there is always tonality. Whether one can appreciate what's heard or not is an individual capacity.

I hear some James Bond in there...

Delightful!

The ending brings such serenity

Very beautiful and appealing music. Thank you for sharing!

I love two types of music: this, and The Mosquitos (sic). Hoomeyow!!

This is transcendent... I adore it. Especially how it slowly builds.

Wish more orchestras performed Hovhaness! What a beautiful piece!

An amazing piece by one of America's greatest composers. Thank you Mr. Hovhaness. Lots of variety here too from lyrical music to the fugue. One of Hovhaness's great works.

Hovhaness' best piece, in my opinion

Fascinating. Could almost be Vaughan Williams, especially the modal sections.

Beautiful, melodic with lovely movement. Serene but not without power. Inspiring...hearing the influence of his rich ancestral Armenia and the beauty of its ancient folk and liturgical music.🤍

Edgard Varese is one of my favorite composers. To most people his music is unlistenable but I can find great adventure in it.

I think Hovhaness was not taken seriously by critics and academics, first of all because they thought of his tonality/modality as reactionary. But also because his themes and their variations were not thought to be particularly original or memorable. I could be wrong but I think this was intentional and anticipated the later "minimalists" in creating developing sound worlds and using eastern concepts of development.

Beautiful harmonies, rich instrumentation, lovely and mysterious! Thanks to ArmoniaRecondita ("Strange Harmony" or Recondita Armonia: Cavaradossi's aria from TOSCA of course! Very appropriate!) I had heard only "Mysterious Mountain" & "And God Created Great Whales"--didn't know that he had written over 500 different works! Just listened to "Alleluia and Fugue Op 40b" on KUSC--truly wonderful! Glad to see he has so many fans including myself!

Ալան Հովհաննեսը ծնվեց ԱՄՆում, բայց հոգով ու իր ստեղծագործություններում միշտ Հայաստանում էր։ Անձամբ իր ստեղծագործությունները բերեց հայրենիքին պահ տվեց ու հավերժության ճանապարհով գնաց։ Հիշյալ մնաս, մեծ հայ։

A very great composer. Let's hope his music becomes played by every major orchestra.

This is exquisite. They say they didn;t like Hovhaness because he didn't sound Anerican enough. That may be true, but this is otherworldly,

How have I never heard of Hovhaness until today in all my 43 years?…such sublime music ❤

Just beautiful ❤

I've loved Hovhaness' music for decades, and have only heard this now. There is still, apparently, much to listen to. I am not desirous of a funeral after my days on earth have passed, but if my survivors feel compelled, this is the musical backdrop I require.

Hovhaness and Vaughan Williams are arguably the two greatest 20th century composers.

"I propose to create a heroic, monumental style of composition simple enough to inspire all people, completely free from fads, artificial mannerisms and false sophistications, direct, forceful, sincere, always original but never unnatural. "

I used to live around Seattle and went to Seattle Symph, and saw and heard his "Mount St Helens Symphony", and also his "Mysterious Mountain" Symph number 2, great piece. Very spiritual.