Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness (1911–2000) was an American composer of Armenian and Scottish descent. One of the most prolific of the twentieth century, he left dozens of numbered symphonies and hundreds of works in a hushed, mystical and often exotic vein.
Armenian liturgical modes and church work shaped much of his middle period, while later research in India, Japan and Korea fed a lasting interest in non-Western melody and ritual. Early scores already used floating, uncoordinated phrase clouds he called spirit murmur; the piano concerto Lousadzak is a clear example. Wider notice came with Symphony No. 2, Mysterious Mountain. He settled in Seattle in the early 1970s and kept writing symphony after symphony into old age.
Compositions by Alan Hovhaness appear on
Music for Trumpet and the King of Instruments
In the world of classical music, one of the most special and enduring combinations of instruments is that of the trumpet and the pipe organ. Dating back over a millennium, the pairing has produced a tradition of heroic and majestic music-making.