My mother’s background was Scottish.
ALAN HOVHANESSMy mother’s background was Scottish.
ALAN HOVHANESSShe came from an old family, some of whom lived in upper New York State and some of whom had come over from Scotland.
ALAN HOVHANESSWell, my grandfather was a minister and sort of Protestant, and this was rather depressing to me.
ALAN HOVHANESSI think that of my 21 symphonies, each has its own place.
ALAN HOVHANESSThe planets have the sun, the earth, the moon.
ALAN HOVHANESSI was much more interested in the orchestra than the piano.
ALAN HOVHANESSBut I did become fairly proficient as a pianist and my teachers felt I had talent and wanted me to become a good concert pianist and earn my living that way.
ALAN HOVHANESSI was born in Somerville, but I don’t remember very much about it because we moved from there to Arlington when I was five years old, and it was in Arlington that I spent most of my childhood.
ALAN HOVHANESSAs well as from the beginning, although I didn’t know anything about it.
ALAN HOVHANESSThe composer…joins Heaven and Earth with threads of sounds.
ALAN HOVHANESSMy purpose is to create music not for snobs, but for all people, music which is beautiful and healing.
ALAN HOVHANESSI’ve always regarded nature as the clothing of God.
ALAN HOVHANESSTo me, atonality is against nature. There is a center to everything that exists.
ALAN HOVHANESSIt’s hard for me to think of others because I’m not particularly in sympathy with the music of this century.
ALAN HOVHANESSI found a greater identity with my own emotions in the Armenian culture as I grew older.
ALAN HOVHANESSTo attempt what old Chinese painters called ‘spirit resonance’ in melody and sound.
ALAN HOVHANESS