Alan Hovhaness Symphony No. 8 Arjuna Op. 179 (1947)

Performers: Lynda Cochran (piano), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ken Young (conductor) This intriguing work was originally conceived as a double concerto for piano, timpani, and small orchestra, according to Brian Q Silver, an expert on Indian music. It was entitled Ardos, after a mountain in Armenia near the Lake of Van, and exhibits a confluence of Armenian and Indian melodic styles. According to Hovhaness, the piece was never properly performed because “the Armenians weren’t ready for it“. Much later the score was taken to India, with the only alterations being the change of title to Arjuna and a substitution of mrdangam for the timpani. The newly-titled work was ’premiered’ at the Madras Music Festival on February 1, 1960. Handel Manuel conducted the orchestra with Hovhaness on piano. Written when Hovhaness was “writing Armenian music with an Indian slant“, the Indian newspaper critics heard it as being in the Indian ’nata bhairavi’ mode, thus substantiati