Gems from Armenia | Cedille Records CDR90000209

Gems from Armenia

£13.25

In stock - available for despatch within 1 working day

Label: Cedille Records

Cat No: CDR90000209

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Chamber

Release Date: 6th January 2023

Contents

About

Cellist Ani Aznavoorian and pianist Marta Aznavoorian, each a renowned soloist and chamber musician in her own right, together celebrate the sounds of their ancestral homeland on Gems from Armenia. The album marks the Chicago-raised sisters’ recording debut as the Aznavoorian Duo.

Their panoramic survey of Armenian classical music opens with ancient folk songs arranged with haunting harmonies by early 20th-century Orthodox priest, composer, and musicologist Komitas Vardapet.

The Armenian musical renaissance of the Soviet era finds expression in Aram Khachaturian’s glorious ode to his hometown of Yerevan; Arno Babajanian’s impassioned tribute to his mentor Khachaturian; the early Sonata for Cello and Piano by Avet Terterian, whose admirers included Dmitri Shostakovich; and the Impromptu of Alexander Arutiunian, winner of many Soviet and Armenian musical honours and awards.

Contemporary voices include Serouj Kradjian, whose Sari Siroun Yar is an arrangement of an Armenian troubadour love song. Vache Sharafyan’s Petrified Dance is haunted by the memory of Armenian soldiers lost in recent battles. American Peter Boyer’s Mount Ararat, commissioned for this project and receiving its world-premiere recording, evokes the snow-capped twin peaks of biblical fame central to Armenian national and religious identity.

The Los Angeles Times calls cellist Ani Aznavoorian an artist “who shows great sensitivity and great virtuosity at all moments.” She made her Cedille Records debut with celebrated composer-pianist Lera Auerbach on Celloquy, featuring the world-premiere recording of Auerbach’s 24 Preludes for violoncello and piano. The Strad extolled the cellist’s “scorchingly committed performances that wring every last drop of emotion out of the music.” She performs on a cello made in Chicago by her father, Peter Aznavoorian.

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