Underrated Composer

Sometimes referred to as "The American Mystic", Alan Hovhaness, is an altogether amazing composer who doesn't get half the recognition he deserves. He just passed away in 2000, but the amount of music he left behind, and its' diversity, is astounding. He was one of those composers who was also an ethnomusicologist. He traveled extensively to study foreign instruments, traditional sounds and techniques from cultures all over the world. Thus, Alan Hovhaness composed music with a wide variety of sounds. However, nearly every one of his compositions share a mystical, reverent, and inspiring tone. They sound like whispered magic.

Fun Fact - Leonard Bernstein once referred to Hovhaness' work as "cheap ghetto music". I do have a deep respect for Bernstein (I recently listened to a few of his songs at his graveside), but geeze... What a dick, right? I've read that Leonard was not a very nice man.

On the bright side, Alan Hovhaness was praised by other composers, like John Cage and Leopold Stokowski. He was also extremely close friends with Jean Sibelius, whose music greatly influenced him as a child. If you haven't heard any Sibelius (especially his violin stuff!) go check him out.

Another Fun Fact - Alan Hovhaness composed about 70 symphonies & 434 opus numbers.
His surviving works total more than 500 compositions.
Early in his career (1930-1940) Hovhaness burned over 1,000 pages 

of his own original compositions. The process took over a week.

If you like these selections, check out this 

orchestration entitled, "... And God Created Great Whales"