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0 13491 347127 1. Mikhail Glinka, arr. Mily Balakirev: 11. Sergei Rachmaninoff: Prelude in The Lark (5:09) G-Sharp Minor, Op. 32, No. 12 (2:38) 2. Aminollah Hossein: Prelude No. 1, Aminollah Hossein: Excerpts from “Homage to Omar Khayyam” (6:11) Mosaics, Op. 19 12. Scenes from Summer (4:41) 3. Aram Khachaturian, arr. Matthew 13. Sérénade Tartare (6:32) Cameron: Adagio from Spartacus (7:49) 4. Aminollah Hossein, arr. Delbar 14. Tara Kamangar: Etude “East of Hakimova: Caravan (2:27) Melancholy” (2:37) Dmitri Shostakovich: from Preludes, Loris Tjeknavorian: Excerpts from Op. 34 Fantastic Dances, Op. 2 5. Prelude No. 10 in C-Sharp Minor (1:53) 15. Festive Dance (2:05) 6. Prelude No. 12 in D Minor (1:15) 16. Lyrical Dance (2:29) 17. Dance of Elegy (3:55) Aminollah Hossein, arr. Tara Kamangar: 18. Dance of Ecstasy (2:42) Excerpts from Persian Miniatures, Op. 25 7. Solitude (3:46) Total Time: 60:56 8. Call of the Desert (1:05) 9. Call of Remembrance (1:31) 10. Invitation to the Spell (2:11) 2 “Love with us is always mixed with sor- row… There is no doubt that our melancholy, plaintive song, which is the child of the North, has also an oriental strain. Just listen to the Volga boatman’s mournful song—one almost feels the Ta- tars’ domination.” – Composer Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857) “The East was an Aladdin’s cave from which Russia drew endlessly. Love in the East was different…other melodies, other harmonies, a mixture of reserve and expansiveness. It was a land of dreams.” – Music Producer Marina Ilanova “Nowhere in Europe does the Oriental element play such a prominent role as in by Russian composers influenced by folk the works of our composers.” music from the Caucasus. There has been – Vladimir Stasov, Russia’s leading music a considerable interchange of artistic critic of the 1800s techniques and inspiration in this region – considered to be one of the most lin- East of Melancholy: Piano Music from guistically and culturally diverse regions Russia to Iran offers a pianistic guide in the world – and much of the Caucasus through a fascinating region in which was under Persian rule as recently as the continuous settlement and musical ac- mid-nineteenth century, when Imperial tivity dates back to 4000 B.C. Rarely per- Russia conquered the territory from the formed pieces by Iranian, Armenian, and Persian Qajars. Tajik composers born in twentieth-century Iran are showcased, as well as works The ancestor of the piano – thesantour , or dulcimer – is widely believed to have 3 originated in the land of present-day Music in Russia has long been subject to Iran over two thousand years ago. The the religious and political position of the modern piano, however, did not appear state. As recently as 1636, as part of a fight in Iran until 1806, when Napoleon gifted against the pagan spirit which lingered this instrument to the Persian emperor. on in legends and folklore, the Moscow The piano does not lend itself easily to Patriarch decreed that all musical pur- traditional Persian music, because the suits in the home were illegal, ordered the piano’s fixed tuning is incompatible with confiscation of all musical instruments, the microtones of Persian music. In addi- burned the instruments in bonfires, and tion, the piano’s ability to act simultane- dumped them in the Moscow River. It ously as melodist and accompanist is lost was not until Peter the Great made him- with traditional Persian music, which is self the virtual head of the Church that mainly monophonic. However, innova- secular music in Russia arose. From then tive composers have managed to incor- on, music was subject to the political ori- porate elements of Persian music into entation of the Russian court. their piano compositions, often using the harmonic minor scale to evoke a Middle Similarly, in Iran, music has been sporad- Eastern sound, and using quickly repeat- ically banned throughout the centuries. ed pedaled notes to recreate the distinc- Most recently, the Islamic Revolution of tive sound of the santour. 1979 dealt a major blow to the classical music scene in Iran. Many of the con- After the revolution of 1979, many Irani- servatory professors and highly skilled an composers’ lives were turned upside classical musicians fled the country, so down, and manuscripts were scattered there was a scarcity of capable instructors. and lost. As Iran’s best classical teach- Other casualties of the Regime included ers and performers left the country, few the Ministry of Arts and Culture, which remained to preserve and promote the had financially sponsored musicians and works of these composers, some of which composers abroad – including Aminol- are presented for the first time in this al- lah Hossein and Loris Tjeknavorian – and bum. the Shiraz International Arts Festival, for 4 which many important works were com- of the introduction to Rimsky-Korsakov’s missioned and premiered. Music – with Scheherazade. the exception of sacred religious chant- ing – was banned in Iran from 1979 until MIKHAIL GLINKA (1804-1857), known 1988, throughout the duration of the Iran- as the “father of Russian classical music,” Iraq War; it was even illegal to buy pianos was the first composer to integrate Rus- during this time. Though this ban has sian folk idioms into well-crafted classical gradually been lifted, musicians perform- compositions. Glinka’s protégé was the pi- ing in the Western classical style in today’s anist and composer Mily Balakirev (1837- Iran are subject to the demands of the 1910) – the self-appointed leader of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Mighty Five, a group of Russian nation- alist composers from the second half of The Russians have a word called “nega,” the nineteenth century, whose members which refers to the lush languor of the included César Cui, Mussorgsky, Borodin Orient as viewed through European eyes and Rimsky-Korsakov. (Taruskin-On Russian Music). Such exoticism is not always guileless; Borodin’s The Lark was originally written for voice Prince Igor is a prime musical example of and piano by Glinka, and later arranged “nega,” and yet one can argue that its sub- for piano by Balakirev. The original song text was the racial justification of Russia’s is set to Russian verses by Nestor Kukol- militaristic expansion to the East. Iranian nik, about a lark singing into the wind for composers writing in the classical idiom his lost beloved. – many of whom studied Western classical music in Russia – appear to have AMINOLLAH HOSSEIN (1905-1983) been influenced by works like these that was born in Ashkhabad to Iranian par- display musical exoticism, whether con- ents. Hossein learned to play the tar sciously or subconsciously. In the pieces (Persian lute) as a child from his mother, I selected for the album, the most strik- and recordings of his tar performances ing example is the opening of Aminollah are still venerated in Iran today. After Hossein’s Solitude, strongly reminiscent the Russian Revolution of 1917, Hossein 5 moved to Stuttgart, Germany to study The Prelude No. 1 is inspired by the poet medicine at the insistence of his father, Omar Khayyam, whose complete verses and simultaneously studied the piano Hossein could recite by heart. Persian with Artur Schnabel. In 1927, he moved Miniatures have been excerpted from to Paris, and studied composition and Hossein’s eponymous ballet, and I have orchestration privately under Paul Vidal arranged them for solo piano. Scenes at the Paris Conservatory. Hossein’s from Summer and Sérénade Tartare are first work, the ballet Toward the Light, excerpts from the Mosaics Suite, a set of was performed in 1938 at the Paris Op- six pieces dedicated to Hossein’s wife, era House, and his later ballets, Persian Anna, a Jewish-Ukrainian actress. For Miniatures and Scheherazade, were cho- Scenes from Summer, Hossein writes the reographed by George Skibine, one of following notes: “(Scenes from Summer) Diaghilev’s dancers. His other orchestrat- depicts the light atmosphere of a sunny ed works include Symphony of the Sands day, clear and sonorous. To be played (1946), Persepolis Symphony (1947), Arya with an airy execution.” For Sérénade Symphony (1976), and three piano con- Tartare, he writes: “A gloomy sketch – certos. He also composed twenty film feeling very sad for no reason.” Caravan scores – many for films directed by his was originally written for tenor and or- son, the famed French actor and director chestra, and has been arranged for solo Robert Hossein – under the pseudonyms piano by Delbar Hakimova (b. 1958), a Andre Hossein and Andre Gosselain. Tehran-based professor and pianist of Hossein’s works have seen a revival in Tajik origin. recent years: his Persepolis Symphony was performed and recorded by the BBC ARAM KHACHATURIAN (1903-1978) Symphony Orchestra, and his Symphony was one of the leading composers of the of the Sands was performed and recorded Soviet Union, and the most celebrated by the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Or- composer of his native state of Armenia. chestra with tenor Roberto Alagna. When he arrived in Moscow in 1921 from his hometown of Tbilisi, he had virtually no formal training in music, but was ad- 6 mitted on the strength of his talent to the LORIS TJEKNAVORIAN (b. 1937) was Gnessin Academy. His international rep- born in Borujerd, Iran. He studied violin utation was established with the success and piano at the Tehran Conservatory of the Piano Concerto in 1936, composed of Music, and composition at the Vien- at the same time that he became active na Music Academy. As Director of the in the newly founded Union of Soviet National Music Archives in Tehran, he Composers.

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