I have a friend who met him several times over the course of decades and even premiered some works with the Bridgeport University Orchestra (the conductor was Harrison Berlanti who was a pianist and harpsichordist who was very well connected with the East Coast music world at that time). My friend recalls it was from 1969 through early 80's (perhaps longer but his involvement with that orchestra ended). Hovhaness conducted a few of his pieces in several concerts over the years. Hovhaness came in and sat down with them on the dress rehearsal of the concert featuring his music. He said "I just finished this small piece, do you mind if we give it a reading" for a new piece that he had just finished and passed out hand written parts. Friend doesn't remember the name of the piece but it was for full orchestra and brief. They rehearsed it a few times right before the concert then Hovhaness decided to add it to the program and they played it in the concert as an unannounced work ("featuring a world premiere"). My friend encounters with him were pleasant experiences. Some composers were crusty and not pleasant, but Hovhaness was consistently very gentle, very nice. I asked if he recalled if Hovhaness was a genius or something and he just says that he recalls being in awe of him like he was when they played with Dave Brubeck, Yo-yo Ma, or Aaron Copeland. Keep in mind, in this time frame, Yo-yo Ma was a local celebrity, not an international iconic figure I believe. Friend said in the 70's, Hovhaness was much more popular and programmed than he is now. He was fairly popular at the time but thinks he might have lost some of his popularity because he was so prolific but everything had sort of the same "drone or Russian feel...it became hard to tell one work apart from the rest".
