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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000073.txt from 2005/05

From: "Lacy, Edwin" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: [DR-L] Hovhaness Wind Quintet and Peter Maxwell Davies Sinfonia Concertante for ww5 and Orchestra
Date: Sat, 28 May 2005 13:51:25 -0400

<<<Does anyone on the list have any experience with either of these
pieces
(Hovhaness Wind Quintet)? Impressions? Difficulty? Musicality?

Obviously, this will represent nothing more than my opinion, but I found
the Hovhaness to be very interesting from a musicological point of view,
but not much fun to play and even less fun to listen to. Parts of it
represent what is sometimes called "eye music." That is, there are
compositional techniques that can be discerned by studying the score, or
which look nice in the score, but which aren't audible upon a first
hearing. For example, there is an instance in one movement where the
flute plays nine whole notes in succession on the same pitch. The oboe
enters one measure later, and plays seven whole notes on another pitch,
ending one measure before the flute. Then, another measure later, the
bassoon begins to play five whole notes on another pitch, etc., etc.
The horn has one note in the middle of this passage. It makes a shape
in the score which is interesting and pretty, but almost no one would
ever be able to hear.

I like some of the music of Hovhaness, which is why I bought this one
long ago for student quintets, but I don't think we ever played it.

Again, that's only one person's opinion, for whatever it may be worth.

Ed Lacy
University of Evansville

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