September 2008  1950s MGM recordings released as digital downloads by Naxos

Since the Fall of 2008, digital downloads of some of the earliest recordings of music by Alan Hovhaness have been available from the Naxos Classical Archives. The music comes from three of the Hovhaness albums released in the 1950s by MGM records. MGM's contemporary music producer was Ed Cole, who became a staunch advocate for Hovhaness's music after pianist Maro Ajemian introduced it to him.

By the 1960s, when stereo arrived, MGM dropped classical to focus on film and popular music. Hovhaness himself tried to acquire the MGM master tapes to re-release the long out-of-print discs (of which there were several), but without success. This was probably why he re-recorded his Saint Vartan Symphony in London in the early 1970s for his own recording label Poseidon Society – the latter rendition being a vastly superior recording in both performance and engineering.

Due to copyright restrictions downloads may not be possible in certain territories.

Original release: 1950

1. Lousadzak [17:23]
2. Shatakh [5:36]
3. Achtamar [3:19]
4. Tzaikerk [9:55]
Total time: 36:13

Original release: 1956

Saint Vartan Symphony (Symphony No.9) [41:07]

Original release: 1955

1-7. The Flowering Peach [18:37]
8-14. Is There Survival? [18:37]
15. Orbit No.1* [3:19]