Robert Clements: >I've been listening to some of his best scores [...] over the last few >days to toast his memory I always think a small act of homage such as Robert describes is a thing worth doing, even if it's a purely private event. I also devoted some listening time to Hovhaness over the weekend. I remember well my first encounter with his music: the Prelude and Quadruple Fugue conducted by Howard Hanson on a secondhand Mercury LP (we may never see it re-released), followed not long after by Mysterious Mountain (Reiner's incomparable version) and the fourth symphony, also on Mercury, regrettably a CD I missed out on. Among Hovhaness I've been unable to acquire is a piano concerto I heard on the radio (from an ancient MGM LP) and just recently, some enchanting harp music in a new recording. I suppose it would now be appropriate to play the Celestial Gate symphony. Thanks to Floyd Wige for posting the news of Hovhaness's death, again showing the value of the List. It's unlikely the news would have reached us in Australia until we read of it in one of the music magazines. As it was, I had to do a little drilling before I found a short obituary at The Washington Post's web site. Richard Pennycuick [log in to unmask]