Symphony No. 13 Op. 190: Full Score

Symphony No. 13 demonstrates Hovhaness's gift for orchestration that sounds both austere and emotionally direct. The score reveals how he builds architectural weight through layered instrumental color rather than harmonic complexity, making it rewarding for ensembles learning to shape sound through texture and timbre. Conductors consistently report that this work deepens an orchestra's sensitivity to intonation and ensemble balance in ways standard European repertoire often doesn't.

The symphony unfolds with the clarity and gravity of ancient ritual music, yet its orchestral language is unmistakably modern and spacious. Hovhaness creates moments of profound stillness alongside passages of accumulated power, always favoring clean sonorities and the resonance of individual instrumental colors over thick harmonic complexity.

This full score serves orchestras at the college and advanced high school level seeking to expand their repertoire beyond the Germanic symphonic tradition. Conductors interested in twentieth-century orchestration and composers working in non-Western idioms will find this score essential study material. The work suits ensembles with secure intonation and the ability to balance transparent orchestration.

• Pay close attention to the Edition Peters editorial markings and dynamic hairpins; Hovhaness's scoring often depends on precise dynamic gradations rather than abrupt contrasts.
• Balance the string sections carefully, as Hovhaness frequently divides parts to create transparent sonorities. Avoid doubling that muddies the harmonic clarity he intended.
• Mark bowings and articulation across all sections before rehearsal begins. The score's modal language and open intervals require consistent attack and release to project the intended sonority.
• Listen for moments where the full orchestra sustains a single harmonic color; these passages are structural anchors that need to feel still and centered rather than wandering.

Program this work alongside other twentieth-century symphonies that engage non-Western musical traditions, or pair it with contemporary American composers for a concert exploring cultural pluralism in orchestral writing. The work's 76-page score makes it manageable for a full concert program without overwhelming rehearsal schedules, and it works particularly well in spring or fall programs where you can dedicate adequate rehearsal time to mastering its distinctive sonoric demands.

• Reading and realizing complex orchestral divisi with transparency
• Conducting and balancing non-functional harmony based on modal and pentatonic pitch centers
• Listening for and maintaining pure intonation in sustained harmonic sonorities
• Recognizing twentieth-century orchestration techniques that achieve power through texture rather than density
• Interpreting articulation and dynamic shaping in works with minimal traditional phrase structure