Now, why are we featuring a big LP in this, the land of little LPs? Simple, because a valued visitor to this blog (David) asked if I had it, and I did.
I thought about starting another blog for 12-inch records, and then I thought about the huge number of such LPs in my possession. I have enough trouble choosing what to feature on a blog devoted to the relatively uncommon 10-inch variety. Another blog with such endless choice would be overwhelming.
We will be presenting 12-inch LPs here now and then - but mostly on special occasions.
Not to prolong the suspense any longer - the image above is of St. Vartan, who was the inspiration for a symphony by the Armenian American composer Alan Hovhaness. This is the cover of an album issued in the 1950s by MGM records, devoted to the work, Hovhaness's Symphony No. 9. For this recording, the MGM Chamber Orchestra was conducted by Carlos Surinach. This was one of a number of recordings that MGM did of Hovhaness' work back when that music was much less well known than it is today. The composer's real breakthrough, I believe, did not come until Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony recorded The Mysterious Mountain.
Saints and mountains - you might think that Hovhaness wrote program music, but that really wasn't the case. This is absolute music written (apropos the cover) in a mosaic fashion, heavily influenced by Armenian and other Eastern musics, but assembled in such a way that it leaves a striking impression.
There is at least one more modern recording of this music, but I haven't heard it. This performance and recording is good (although it could be more refined in the busier sections).
David - thanks for all your words of support.
Note (October 2024): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo.
LINK to St. Vartan Symphony
I, and I am sure, many other regular visitors to your wonderful blog, heartily approve of the occasional 12" LP here!
ReplyDeleteI'll happily second Mel's message. May I particularly ask for more items from the MGM catalog? There were some fascinating things there, and I don't think any of them have ever appeared on CD.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for all your super posts.
First of all, profound thanks. Although there is a modern recording of this work, this is still the standard bearer. You might be interested to know that Hovhaness tried to reissue this recording but was unable to locate the master tapes. Or so I read somewhere. It is my dream to hear this work played by the Philadelphia Orchestra, but I doubt that will ever happen. Hovhaness is popular, but the major orchestras always seem to ignore him. Thank you for retrieving this great, great record and restoring it to my life.
ReplyDeleteMr. Hovhaness did not mention that when I talked to him about this record, backstage at the San Jose Symphony sometime around 1984 or thereabouts (my memory isn't precise.) They did not play that work, if I recall; but I had the temerity to mention the Surinach recording of St. Vartan, and -- with the effrontery of youth -- I claimed that the old MGM record was much more persuasive than Hovhaness's own account (Poseidon LP?) that I had acquired years later. Hovhaness did not turn a hair and was, in fact, quite self-effacing, remarking on his inferior skills as a conductor. But, still: I wish I hadn't said it! If, however, this *possibly* persuaded AH to try to have the old version reissued, it wasn't entirely wrong.
ReplyDeleteSteve Waldee
Roper Piano Studio,
San Jose, CA.
What a fascinating anecdote! I believe the Hovhaness-conduced version is now on Crystal, although it may have originated on Poseidon, as you note, Steve. I do have a few of the Poseidon LPs, but not that one.
ReplyDeleteCould you double check some things about this post, if you please? I listened to the symphony in the order you presented it (as Part 1 and Part 2) but it did not seem at all right to me.
ReplyDeleteThe end of the work is a very imposing and repetitive, almost frenetic, chorale for brass. But it comes in the MIDDLE of your post!
So I checked the Crystal Records reissue of the old Poseidon Lp performance by Hovhaness himself. Yes: the symphony opens with a trombone solo. But THAT seems to open your "Part 2".
A saxophone solo opens Part 2, not Part 1 as you have posted.
Therefore I am pretty certain that MY old copy on MGM Lp (which I do not have any longer) had the labels in the correct order, since it agreed with the way it is heard on my Crystal CD. Could it be that YOUR copy of the LP had the labels reversed?
I could be wrong, or my copy of the CD recording could be wrong -- but it does not agree with yours, so it would be useful to know where the problem has occurred.
I do distinctly recall these details from the many times I've played the Surinach recording (which I even aired on some of my radio shows in the 1970s.)
Furthermore, the Crystal CD identifies the St. Vartan Symphony as "No. 9". Does your Lp say "7" as you indicated in your description? If so, it *might* have been a mistake, or Hovhaness of course could have re-ordered the symphonies much later, after the MGM Lp was made. If I recall correctly, my Poseidon Lp also said "No. 9".
Apologies if these are MY mistakes, and the errors are mine, not yours -- if so please ignore.
Steve Waldee
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteI have certainly been known to make mistakes, to put it kindly, so I will be sure to check as soon as I can.
Steve (and all),
ReplyDeleteI think you are quite correct on both counts. The numbering issue was just a mistake on my part. However, the other issue (the side order) is more intriguing.
On my copy of the MGM record, the music begins with a saxophone solo. This is listed as side one both on the label and in the dead wax. The second side begins with a trombone solo. However, I checked the liner notes, and they say the right order is trombone solo opening the work, and saxophone solo later. The transposition of sides was apparently a mastering fault on MGM's part.
Thanks very much for your cordial and most helpful note. I will reupload the files tonight and put a note on the main page of the blog.
I don't know whether to be glad to be right, or not! That's the problem with the Internet. No matter what you post, sooner or later you'll run up against some person, somewhere, who has *slightly* greater familiarity with one little particular detail. It's always embarrassing when this happens: for instance, a certain NY area record producer once posted on usenet that I was a lying "manure-spreader" because of a few mistakes in one of my old websites (no longer on the Net); so I've been in exactly the same situation myself.
ReplyDeleteOne isn't likely to find anybody with a copy of the score of the Hovhaness, so if I didn't have a vague memory of the piece, from the last time I played the MGM record decades ago, I wouldn't have had a second thought about the order of the symphony. For, it is scarcely conventional, and I suppose that on casual listening, one can't discern much of its form or compositional progression; it's more a suite (or tone poem) than a symphony, and Hovhaness's style is very bardic and discursive.
Some of the artistic character of those old MGM performances comes, no doubt, from the very tight and dry acoustic. That, and the generally fast and intense tempi that Surinach and Winograd tended to employ (plus the audio compression), give the performances a great intensity that isn't matched by modern, spacious, digital recordings made with much more glamorous sound.
There is much the same contrast of tension in the old MGM record of Hovhaness's "Flowering Peach" incidental music, compared to the laid back version on Delos.
An old music professor of mine once told me many years ago that "Toscanini adjusted to the tempo of the times. In the forties, the world seemed to move faster. So the movies and music did, too." Perhaps this was also true even in the mid and late fifties, compared to our time. The crisp, no-nonsense style of the Warner Bros. movies; the intense and fast radio performances; and these MGM records (played, I assume, by film studio musicians) all seem to share a certain commonality. Whereas today, in the post-Timothy Leary era, influenced by the Eastern philosophy that has supplanted 19th-century European determinism, interpreters look more to the contemplative style of a Furtwaengler, rather than the incessant (almost sexual) drive of a Toscanini.
Today we play Hovhaness in the "Furtwaengler" manner; yesterday it was done -- as it is on this MGM record -- in the "Toscanini style". (My own personal preference would be something exactly in the middle!)
Steve Waldee
Steve,
ReplyDeleteGreat, great points. I do agree that the acoustic plays a part (as it did, of course in Toscanini's recordings). And the tempo of the times is involved as well. I am all for a middle of the road approach - but all types of approaches are interesting to hear. Fortunately, recordings make that possible.
I recently found your site and this is the first recording I've downloaded. Super stuff, a reminder of just how GOOD the Hollywood Studio musicians were in the 40's and 50's! I do think that Surinach makes a more persuasive interpreter of this wonderfully atmospheric work. Thanks much!
ReplyDeleteHi Martin,
ReplyDeleteGlad you found the site. You're my kind of person - you leave comments! Thanks!
thanks for this - a little late I see (my comment here, I mean) but I've been playing this all morning - looking for more by the Hov-meister...
ReplyDeletew
I recently came upon your site and am enjoying it very much. As far as the MGM records go, including the St. Vartan, they were recorded in New York with the NY freelance monsterplayers. I will try to dig out my MGM record and give you the names of some of the solo players.
ReplyDeleteThank you for a wonderful post. The music here is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI missed this the first time round. Many thanks Buster.
ReplyDelete