Few composers can boast of their music being performed during their lifetime by people like Sergei Rachmaninov or Keith Jarrett. Even fewer could claim to be admired by Ornette Coleman, Philip Glass, Leopold Stokowski or Ravi Shankar, and to have had the support of John Cage himself or the great choreographer Martha Graham. The American composer Lou Harrison (also a friend) said "he was one of the greatest melodic writers of the 20th century". And yet Alan Hovhaness remains unknown in France.
The piano music of Alan Hovhaness occupies a special place amongst his works (as it does, moreover, for Debussy or John Cage). For him it is a kind of musical laboratory, where his inspiration is set free to discover new sonorities, to experiment with new rhythms and audacious aesthetic combinations. But it is also an emotional refuge, a kind of intimate diary, a close friend who will be by his side forever.
The first piece on this recording was composed in 1930 and the last in 1989. Although separated by almost sixty years the stylistic constancy and distinctive touch is inimitable. © Ad Vitam Records