Alan Hovhaness (1911 - 2000) (born Alan Hovhaness Chakmakjian) was one of America's most distinctive and prolific composers. He was of Scottish and Armenian descent. He best-known music, written from the 1940s onward, shows a deep interest in his Armenian background, an interest that extended itself to virtually all forms of Asian music. He wrote hundreds of published compositions including over 50 symphonies, often with inspirations in mysticism and in nature, particularly mountains.

This work represents a period of his output that is little known. In the mid-1930s Hovhaness was resisting the use of Armenian and other Near Eastern elements in his compositions, often writing works that have been described as bearing some resemblance to those of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. However, he did have an interest in older European polyphony, where harmonies arose from the interplay of horizontal lines rather than from chord structures, and in the older Church modes that were used in such music—elements that would be retained in his characteristic mature music.

In addition, he had already cultivated an interest in mysticism as a source of inspiration, a quality that is present in this seven-and-a-half-minute work in three movements.

The English horn and the bassoon are instrumental cousins. They are the modern alto and tenor voices now representing an ancient group of wind instruments with double reeds—the oboe is their soprano sister. The family has a sound with a pastoral connotation, and variants of English horn and oboe are particularly prevalent in the Middle East.

While Hovhaness avoids the Middle Eastern connection here, he does use ancient modes that sometimes suggest that region of the world. Actually, these modes derive more from the past than the East. The three movements of the suite are marked Adagio espressivo, Allegro grazioso, and Andante espressivo, and are pure melody throughout.

The middle movement is a gentle dance, while the outer movements have a quality of mystical contemplation. This is music that is unfailingly calm and soothing, and shows that Hovhaness had his well-known gift for long, flowing melodies from the beginning of his career.

© Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide