A world view was incorporated into the compositions of Somerville, Massachusetts-born Alan Hovhaness. While much of his music reflects his Armenian heritage, Hovhaness also utilized elements of Indian ragas, Japanese gugaku music and natural sounds. His mystical/contemplative gift can be heard in his lament for solo viola Chahagir (1945), which some say was the Armenian-American composer's homage to the Holocaust. Hear a performance of Hovhaness' Chahagir by violist Julia Rebekka Adler  . . . one of this week's FEATURED NEW MUSIC VIDEOS.


Hubert Culot (MusicWeb International) writes about the Chandos Records release Luigi Dallapiccola: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2, "Dallapiccola's music may not be easy but is ultimately richly rewarding on repeated hearings, especially when helped by committed and carefully prepared readings such as these. The recording and the production of this release are up to Chandos’s best standards. This is one of the finest discs to have come my way recently; and, before ending up in my list of Recordings of the Year, it will be my Record of the Month". Read the full review and hear excerpts from this recording . . . it's this week's FEATURED RECORDINGS.

Alban Berg's Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, op. 5 (1913) are the composer's only true miniatures. Berg's former teacher, Arnold Schoenberg, roundly criticized Berg (and possibly these particular works), attempting to discourage Berg from composing songs and small-scale works, and encouraging him toward extended instrumental composition. Critics have noted the irony in Schoenberg's attack on Berg in light of the fact that Berg's Four Pieces were strongly influenced by Schoenberg's own set of miniatures, the Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19 (1911). Berg's fellow Schoenberg pupil, Anton Webern, also wrote a number of miniatures, and indeed his music became best-known for its concise expressivity, its cool character, angular melodies, and pointillistic texture. In contrast, Berg's miniatures — and indeed, his music in general — are decidedly more Romantic in gesture, texture, and timbre. The Four Pieces are very brief and complex; Berg abandons motivic connections in favor of deep structural relationships beneath a perpetually moving surface. As with most of Berg's early works, there is a preponderance of quartal and whole-tone harmonies; like the String Quartet, Op. 3 (1910), the Four Pieces undergo constant changes in tempi, dynamics, and articulation according to Berg's intricate instructions (which sometimes change from beat to beat). The first and last of the Four Pieces are the longest, flanking a slow second piece and a scherzo (AllMusicGuide). Hear a performance of Berg's Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano . . . one of this week's PYTHEAS EARFULS.