KOMITAS DIVINE LITURGY Arr. VACHE SHARAFYAN DE 3590 LATVIAN RADIO CHOIR SIGVARDS KLAVA, conductor 1 Komitas in Tbilisi, 1896 1 DELOS DE 3590 KOMITAS DIVINE LITURGY DIVINE LITURGY DELOS DE 3590 KOMITAS KOMITAS DIVINE LITURGY Arranged for mixed chorus by VACHE SHARAFYAN LATVIAN RADIO CHOIR SIGVARDS KLAVA, conductor Armen Badalyan, tenor Hovhannes Nersesyan, bass ♦ Total Playing Time: 79:47 SHARAFYAN ARR. VACHE DE 3590 © 2020 Delos Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 343, Sonoma, CA 95476-9998 (800) 364-0645 • (707) 996-3844 [email protected] • www.delosmusic.com KOMITAS: DIVINE LITURGY Arr. Vache Sharafyan 1. Hymn of Vesting (1:36) Armen Badalyan; Choir 2. Chosen of God (3:02) Hovhaness Nersesyan; Choir 3. With your Virgin Mother’s intercession (3:46) Deacon; Priest; Choir 4. Annunciation of the procession (1:53) Choir 5. Entrance Hymn (1:24) Deacon; Priest; Choir 6. Holy God (0:43) Choir 7. Pray for Peace (2:25) Deacon; Priest; Choir 8. Glory to You, God. Credo (7:37) Deacon; Priest; Choir 9. The body of the Lord (1:30) Deacon; Choir 10. Who is the Lord, our God (2:48) Choir; tenor solo 11. Again in Peace let us beseech the Lord (2:12) Deacon; Priest; Choir 12. Christ among us (0:59) Choir 13. Let us stand in awe (3:50) Deacon; Priest; Choir; tenor solo 14. Sanctus (4:33) Priest; Choir 15. Heavenly Father (1:19) Priest; Choir 16. O Lord, You are in all things blessed (1:23) Priest; Deacon; Choir 17. Son of God (1:07) Priest; Choir 18. Spirit of God (1:43) Choir 19. Be Mindful, Lord, and have Mercy (3:21) Priest; Deacon; Choir 20. From All and for All (0:27) Deacon; Choir 21. And the Mercy … , Amen. And with your Spirit (5:18) Priest; Deacon; Choir; tenor solo 22. The Lord’s Prayer (3:04) Priest; Deacon; Choir 2 23. The Holy One (2:09) Priest; Choir; soprano solo; tenor solo 24. Amen, Holy is the Father (3:14) Priest; Choir; soprano solo; tenor solo; baritone solo 25. Lord, have mercy (4:25) Deacon; Choir; soprano solo; tenor solo 26. Christ is sacrificed (3:07) Deacon; Priest; Choir 27. We have been filled with Your good things (1:29) Choir 28. We give thanks to You (3:15) Armen Badalyan; Choir 29. Pray in the Church and bless the name of the Lord (3:09) Priest; Choir 30. I will bless the Lord at all times (1:08) Priest; Choir 31. Pontifical Wishes (1:44) Choir Total Playing Time: 79:49 Latvian Radio Choir Sigvards Klava, conductor Armen Badalyan (tenor): Deacon; and Tracks 1, 28 Hovhannes Nersesyan (bass): Priest; and Track 2 Soloists from the Choir: Agate Burkina (Soprano): Tracks 23, 24, 25 Janis Kursevs (Tenor): Tracks 13, 21, 23 Karlis Rutentals (Tenor): Tracks 10, 24, 25 Gundars Dzilums (Baritone): Track 24 3 or the first time in history, a non-Arme- nian mixed choir, namely the Latvian Ra- Fdio Choir, performed and then recorded the full Liturgy of Komitas Vardapet, in com- memoration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of this great composer and priest. The concert, solemnly held in Riga on September 20, 2019, and the ensuing recording needed three full years of preparation. This unique project was undertaken with grav- ity and caution, due to the work’s historical sig- nificance. At the same time, there is also a cer- tain level of audacity in interpretation, a feature not unknown to this choir. Komitas completed his Divine Liturgy a few weeks before April 24, 1915. This date marked the first arrests of Ar- menian intellectuals, including Komitas himself, Tigran Mkrtchyan heralding the full-scale genocide of the Arme- nian people in Ottoman Turkey. Komitas sur- Conductor Sigvards Klava approached Komi- vived the mass killings, but his soul was dead tas’ music with incredible devotion. Paris-based when he was found and rescued. He spent the Komitas scholar and musician Mkrtich Mkrt- last 20 years of his life in a Paris asylum. chyan, and Latvian Armenologist Valda Salmina contributed greatly to the project. The Latvian The Liturgy is designated for performance Radio Choir had already performed parts of the by a male choir. Past attempts to transcribe Liturgy in 2017 and 2018; but with this recording, the work into a mixed-choir performance Maestro Klava and the Choir are making an in- were not warmly received by critics. But we delible mark in the history of spiritual music, and hope that this excellent arrangement by the in the history of Armenian and Latvian cultures. contemporary Armenian composer Vache Sharafyan may further enhance the musical From among the project’s supporters, I would world’s interest in Komitas. like to thank Armenia’s Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport for acknowledging its significance and stepping in with considerable 4 resources. I would also like to thank the OrganiQ Armenian soloists — Armen Badalyan and Hov- company — and especially Hovik Mkrtchyan, hannes Nersesyan, at the St. John church in Riga. Mkhitar Mkhitaryan and Aram Arutyunyan — for their generous support, without which this proj- This new version follows the original male choir ect would hardly be realized. In addition, I would version as closely as possible. However, it also like to thank our sponsors from Armenia, the Bal- has some slight differences, due to the specif- asanyan Family Foundation, whose contribution ics of sound interpretation and logic by mixed to the Armenian musicians’ participation in the choir. It also adds new colors and brightness to concert and recording was vital. the male choir version, following the possibili- ties of a choir that includes female voices. I would specifically like to thank Delos for enabling this recording of the Patarag-Litur- The aim was to create a version of the Litur- gy of Komitas to be enjoyed by millions of gy that would be most satisfying for concert music lovers. performances. That is the reason why not all —Tigran Mkrtchyan of the work’s sections are included in this re- Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia cording — only those that encourage listeners to the Republic of Latvia to concentrate more on the musical aspect and the logic of the musical dramaturgy of the Lit- urgy rather than on its ritual aspect. This mixed-choir version of the Liturgy by Komi- tas is based on the composer’s male-choir ver- Armenian churches are viewed as temples, sion published in Yerevan (7th volume by Robert not concert halls. The Komitas Liturgy has Atayan), as well as the version published in Paris musical treasures — a specific melodic tetra- in 1933 (Vardan Sarkissian) and reprinted in Jeru- chord structure and absolutely new harmo- salem in 1993 (by the Patriarch Torgom Manoo- nization and polyphony — that fit its unique gian, revised in collaboration with myself.) content. It should be presented in concert halls as well as recordings; and the current The idea originated with Tigran Mkrtchyan, the version gives us that opportunity. Ambassador of Armenia in the Baltic states, who also organized the premiere performance and The creation and recording of this version was recording by one of the leading choirs in the done in consultation with a team of profes- world: the Latvian Radio Choir under the baton sionals, including Sigvards Kļava (the Latvian of Sigvards Kļava, and with participation of two choirmaster), Mekertich Mekertichyan (singer 5 and choirmaster, France), Varuzhan Margaryan coupling of romantic ideals and ideology (cantor of the Armenian Church in Jerusalem), with a keen search for the authentic music Armenian priest Fr. Asoghik Karapetyan, dea- of his people, Komitas created a paradigm of con and bass soloist Hovhannes Nersesyan. Armenian music which, for those interested in exploring and understanding this cultural The idea and importance of creating an Arme- form, offers definition, structure and insight. nian concert mass has always intrigued me. In Komitas’s musicological treatises collectively 2005-2009 I composed a cycle of four separate offer a comprehensive picture of a musical compositions, which were included in the musi- tradition replete with spiritual pellucidity cal/ liturgical Canticum Armenum. The base of and rhetorical clarity. His figure, indeed his those were pure Armenian sacred texts by Ners- very life with its melding of tragedy and es Shnorhaly (12th Century) translated to Latin an enduring creative spirit, personifies the from the original old Armenian. Each movement modem consciousness of his people. All was premiered in different countries: Canticum of this assures Komitas’s firm place in the Gratiosum in New York (St. Peter’s Church), Of- Armenian pantheon of creative geniuses. fertorium in Budapest, Surgute Gloriae in Italy (Elba Island Duomo) and Russia (Moscow Grand Devotion to music (a vocation in the Biblical Hall), Dolorosum et Pacificum in Armenia. sense) manifested itself in activities of singing, conducting, composing, collecting, — Vache Sharafyan researching and teaching that colored every aspect of Komitas’s life. Throughout his career, he sought to identify and confirm the KOMITAS’ LIFE AND MUSIC1 set of governing principles that sustained and shaped the musical art of his people. At the FOREWORD same time, he endeavored to give a scientific Among Armenian musicians and structure to the principles and practices of musicologists at the turn of the 20th Armenian composers and musicians so century, Komitas Vardapet was a towering that their music might be recognized and figure — an artist, who in a span of about appreciated in international circles. And he twenty years discovered, preserved and succeeded brilliantly, even though his work transformed for the Armenian people the had to be completed in the midst of the rich, cultural heritage of song that had tragedy that befell both his personal life and been theirs since the earliest times.