- Hovhaness composed this symphony in 1955.1 The work was commissioned by Leopold Stokowski, who conducted its premiere during his first concert as director of the Houston Symphony.
- This premiere concert was telecast, a factor which helped make this the best-known of Hovhaness’s symphonies. So did the great popularity of Fritz Reiner’s 1958 RCA Victor recording of the work with the Chicago Symphony.
- Listen for: the first movement features many chorale-like passages.
- Listen for: the second movement is a double fugue (a fugue with two subjects)
- According to Hovhaness, he thought of the final passage of the third movement in a dream.2
Sources
- Arnold Rosner and Vance Wolverton, “Hovhaness [Hovaness], Alan,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed March 15, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000013420.
- Walter Simmons, “Alan Hovhaness: Symphony No. 2, ‘Mysterious Mountain,’” AllMusic, accessed March 16, 2021, https://www.allmusic.com/composition/symphony-no-2-mysterious-mountain-op-132-mc0002366720.
Cut IDs
19303 45773 19304