ABSTRACT
Mysterious Mountain is typical of Alan Hovhaness’s ‘Armenian’ style before the impact of Far Eastern culture had affected him. The tranquillity, mystery, sublimity and ecstacy have a parallel with the works of Messiaen, but for Hovhaness it is unspecific, neither Christian nor Eastern, maybe pantheistic or pagan in its reverence for the natural world. ’Symphony’ is a term Hovhaness uses for almost any large-scale composition. On the morning of 18 May 1980 in Hovhaness’s home state of Washington, Mount St Helens erupted violently, causing massive destruction as the side of the mountain was blown away. Like any imaginative artist, Hovhaness maintains a tight control of the form of his work while sustaining a sense of freedom of invention. The movement, Allegro Moderato, has the feel of improvisation, independent modal lines free to expand at will, in the manner of Hovhaness but without his oriental inflections.
