Search - Alan Hovhaness, Gerard Schwarz, Northwest Symphony Orchestra :: Hovhaness Treasures

If music be the food of love, PLEASE stop singing!

JJM Peters | Nijmegen, The Netherlands | 07/08/2009

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This disc starts of really nice with one of those lesser known works by Hovhaness, his Symphony no. 31 for strings. It's a typical Hovhaness work, with meandering melodies, mystical pizzicati and a fugue or two. Starry Night, for the unusual combination of harp, xylophone and flute also works really well.

However, it is from the Celestial Canticle onward that this treasure trove seems to turn into a Pandora's Box! My first impression was that some ancient old woman from the Armenian mountains was flown in to sing this music in the appropriate ancient Armenian way. However, when the bad intonation kept grating on my nerves like fingernails drawn over a blackboard, I checked and found out that Miss Hinako Fujihara is in fact the widow of late Mr Hovhaness. This, then, must be an act of love on his part, making clear in no uncertain terms what madness love can bring about! Perhaps Miss Fujihara was a fine soprano in her time, unfortunately that time has long been past and I regret to say that bad intonation is just one of her offences on this disc. It's a shame, because the music, if expertly sung, would be quite nice! The orchestral accompaniment is gorgeous and also the recording is fine, but shame on everyone involved not to protect Miss Fujiharo against herself...

Taht being said, the disc rounds of very nicely with Hovhaness Christmas Symphony.

All in all, lovely music, but because of the astoundingly bad performance of the soprano, still only 2 stars..."