I'm pretty sure I've mention Einojuhani Rautavaara's music on this
list before. I hesitate to mention him again, but I was just listening
to the Violin Concerto, and blogging my thoughts (www.wirkman.net),
and then "Angels and Visitations" came on.

What an amazing soundscape it is. The use of a very busy orhcestra
can't help but remind me of Hovhaness's sound clouds - though I've
no idea what technique Rautavaara uses, since I haven't seen the
score. And then the brass come in full, followed by the strings.
On my blog, I went a bit poetic and called the effect a "secular
hymn" or "sacred dance." I couldn't help but think of "Fra Angelio."

And I should say a word about Rautavaara's title, "Angels and Visitations."
He did not mean it to evoke figures from "fairy tales or religious
kitsch," but "awe-inspiring figures of holy dread." From what I can
tell, an "angel" for Rautavaara is rather like a mountain for Hovhaness,
an inspiration, a focus for ecstatic and reverential awe. These two
artists seem to have a need, in their music, to reference things
of "vastness" that conjure up the numinous.

So now I'm wondering: did Rautavara find inspiration in Hovhaness's
career? Rautavaara's style has evolved, from neo-classicism through
serialism to his dreamy neo-Romanticism.

And he turned in the late '60s or early '70s, about the time when
Hovhaness had reached the peak of his artistic expression. (It is
also about the time that Arvo Part abandoned experimentalism for
his tintinabulary style.)

Further, both Rautavaara and Hovhaness have composed works for natural
animal sounds (recorded) and orchestra. Hovhaness, commissioned by
Andre Kostelanetz, wrote "And God Created Great Whales." A few years
later Rautavaara composed "Cantus Arcticus: Concerto for Birds and
Orchestra." The two are somewhat similar in style. Both have lovely,
simple music playing over the animal "songs," and both take that
simple music to levels of almost excruciating beauty. Both are impressive.
It's hard not to see Rautavaara deliberately following in Hovhaness's
footsteps, here.

Any thoughts?

t wirkman v





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