Symphony No. 14 Op. 194 (Ararat): Full Score

Hovhaness constructs this symphony from luminous, sustained harmonies and modal melodies that reward careful ensemble balance and sensitive dynamic control. The full score reveals an orchestrator who trusts the inherent color of individual instruments rather than relying on thick doublings, making it an excellent study in how concert band sonority can sound both spare and full at once. Directors appreciate how the work avoids overwrought climaxes in favor of contemplative exploration, creating a powerful impression within a focused timeframe.

The symphony unfolds as a meditation rather than a dramatic narrative, with long lines of modal melody floating over sustained harmonic foundations. Hovhaness creates moments of austere beauty through careful use of space and silence, allowing individual timbral colors to emerge from the ensemble texture. The overall effect is contemplative and architecturally strong, evoking something ancient yet timeless.

Advanced high school and college concert bands seeking substantial, non-Western influenced repertoire that expands the ensemble's artistic palette. Conductors drawn to twentieth-century American composers and those programming music that explores spiritual or contemplative expression will find this symphony essential. The full score allows directors to study Hovhaness's orchestrational approach in detail and make informed interpretive choices about balance and phrasing.

• Balance the sustained harmonic foundation in the lower voices with the modal melodic lines above; avoid letting either layer disappear into the texture.
• Attend to Hovhaness's careful articulation markings and dynamic shadings, which often shift by single instruments rather than full sections. These details create the work's distinctive transparency.
• Treat silence and sustained tones as active musical moments rather than resting places; the work's meditative quality depends on maintaining harmonic tension throughout.
• Consider the tuning of sustained chords with particular care, especially when modal inflections create sonorities that require precise intonation to achieve their intended resonance.

Position this work on a concert that explores non-Western musical traditions or twentieth-century American voices; it pairs well with other Hovhaness symphonies or with compositions influenced by folk and sacred music. The contemplative character makes it an effective centerpiece of a program rather than an opening or closing piece, giving audiences time to settle into its particular aesthetic world.

• Reading modal melodies and understanding harmonic language built on sustained tones rather than functional harmony
• Executing controlled dynamic shadings and articulation changes that occur at the individual instrument level
• Balancing transparent orchestration where each voice layer must remain audible without doubling or reinforcement
• Sustaining long tones with consistent intonation while maintaining musical shape and phrase direction
• Responding to less familiar twentieth-century concert band repertoire and non-Western musical influences