Did you remember to “spring forward?” This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” now that we’ve all lost an hour, thanks to the time change, I figured everyone ought to be pretty drowsy by 10 p.m. So I had better be damn well sure to choose some very loud music. Also, it’s Alan Hovhaness’ birthday.
Hovhaness composed his Symphony No. 50 in the wake of Mount St. Helens’ cataclysmic eruption in 1980. When Helens blew, she killed 57 people, reduced hundreds of square miles to wasteland, and caused over a billion dollars in damage. This is music calculated to keep everyone awake.
Hovhaness viewed mountains as symbols of man’s attempt to know God – symbolic meeting places between the mundane and spiritual worlds. The friction of the natural and the transcendent informs the progression of the symphony, from a sense of grandeur in the first movement, a prelude and fugue in praise of Helens; the placidity of Paradise Lake, the beauty of which disappeared forever; and the volcano itself, recalled in the third and final movement, most percussively rendered. The violence subsides, and the dawn hymn of the opening returns in triumph.
Hovhaness’ volcano symphony is like a walk in the park alongside the mad inspirations of Icelandic genius Jon Leifs. Leifs’ “Hekla,” from 1961, is probably the closest you’ll ever want to get to a volcanic eruption. Requiring 19 percussionists banging away on anvils, stones, sirens, plate bells, chains, shotguns, cannons, and a large wooden stump, it has been called the loudest piece of classical music ever written. For their own well-being, the performers were instructed to wear earplugs.
As a bonus, with what’s left of our hearing, we’ll also enjoy “Volcanic Eruption and Atonement” from Leifs’ ballet, “Baldr.”
Down a six-pack of energy drinks and leap into a pool of ice. Then tune in for an hour of volcano music. If there was a degree awarded for distinguished achievement in volcanology, these composers would have graduated “Magma Come Loudly.”
Prepare to be blown away, this Sunday night at 10:00 EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.