Alan Hovhaness: Mysterious Mountains

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

Just bought the album Mysterious Mountains, and I'm blown away. I've recently been into Steve Reich and Phillip Glass, which are minimalists, I believe, but wanted to get back to the 'full' sounds of classical.

I'm hooked on Alan Hovhaness's first three tracks of the album, "Symphony No. 2, Op. 132 - Mysterious Mountain" parts I, II, and III. Part three (Andante Espressivo) has an epic moment right off the bat (about 30 seconds in). Ughhhh it's so good.

I wish classical made a mainstream come back. I think the world could use it.

 

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

what i like about classical music is how similar a piece is to a plot: exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution. when i noticed that, i had a greater appreciation of classical music. probably all music is like this, but with classical, i think the pacing is more relate-able to film.

Completely Agree.

Despite all music having these qualities, it is most profound, obvious, and daring in classical. Composers benefit from being a bit more long form. Pieces don't have to be cookie-cutter radio perfect three minutes long. They can be six minutes, thirty minutes, or longer. It gives them time to flush out the music and create and build toward a more varied, symphonic and powerful landscape. The layers and themes can be intertwined in ways shorter songs cannot benefit from.

 

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

I also just bought the stop-animation Oscar winning short film "Peter and the Wolf". I used to listen to Peter and The Wolf often as a child and it brought back many really great memories. Despite being thought of as also a 'children's story', the music is phenomenally written and is still top of my list. I love how the story is dissected as for the instruments represent characters. Wonderful.

The Trailer for the Oscar Winning Stop Animation Short:

Portions from the short showing the themes between instruments and characters:

The old disney breakdown I learned as a kid: