Tag Archives: Marta Aznavoorian

The Aznavoorian Duo Plays New and Recent Chamber Music from Armenia


Cedille CDR 90000 209

Listeners of a certain age and those versed in recent classical music history will recall another fine pair of Armenian American musicians (also sisters) whose performances and recordings introduced many to the work of Armenian American composer Alan Hovhaness (1911-2001) as well as John Cage, Aram Khachaturian, and others. I am speaking of pianist Maro Ajemian (1921-1978) and her sister, violinist Anahid Ajemian (1924-2016). And these fine musicians (pianist Marta Aznavoorian and cellist Ani Aznavoorian) carry on some generations later along a similar path, honoring their heritage and promoting its art.

The disc under consideration is this beautiful sampling of Armenian composers of the past 100 years (or so) beginning with Komitas Vartabed (1869-1935), a monk, composer, historian, and ethnomusicologist. Armenian music enters modernism and the twentieth century via Komitas. This is followed by music of four Soviet era composers and three contemporary era composers.

The liner notes are by local historian and producer Gary Peter Rejebian and the Aznavoorian sisters. In this ,their debut album, they speak of their connectedness to Armenian culture personally and musically. In fact Ani’s cello was made in Chicago by her father Peter Aznavoorian. This album is an auspicious debut and an homage to this rich culture.

They begin with five pieces by Soghomon Soghomonian (1869-1935), better known as Komitas Vartabed, the name bestowed upon him after his ordination as a priest in 1894. These are lyrical and beautiful folksong arrangements that grasp the listener immediately. These five pieces ranging in duration from about 1 1/2 minutes to about 4 minutes. These five pieces, four for cello and piano are punctuated by a sad lament for solo piano played as the third track. Komitas, after witnessing 1915 the Armenian genocide, composed no more and, in fact, spent his remaining years in a sanitarium until he died in 1935.

The next two pieces are by one of the best known Armenian composers of the twentieth century, Aram Khachaturian. Though long subsumed into the Soviet straightjacket his individual voice produced many substantial works and his work has done much to preserve and rejuvenate his Armenian culture. These two pieces are not among his best known work but demonstrate his ability to write in smaller forms and, at least in these brief pieces, display his personal style and his love for his native culture.

These are followed by three pieces of another Soviet era composer whose voice is less well known in the United States, Arno Babajanian. Elegy (among the composer’s last works, written in homage after the passing of Aram Khachaturian) is one of two tracks for solo piano on the album and it is followed by Babajanian’s “Aria and Dance” for Cello and Piano. Certainly this is a composer whose works deserve a proper hearing and evaluation. These pieces suggest a composer with a strong voice, another to come out from the Stalinist/Soviet oversight to be heard now with new ears.

Avet Terterian is another Soviet era name whose work is virtually unknown in the west, another whose work deserves at least a second listen. His large three movement sonata for cello and piano (1956) is a major work both in duration and in content. The style is a friendly mid-twentieth century post romantic one that very well may become a regular repertoire item after hearing the powerful and convincing performance documented here.

With the next track we hear the first of the “recent” works on this recording, Serj Kradjian’s transcription of a traditional song, “Sari Siroun Yar”.

The all too brief experience of this small work by another major Soviet era composer, Alexander Arutiunian, this charming Impromptu (1948, one of his earliest compositions) is a beautiful piece but it is a mere appetizer to lead a listener to hear more from this composer who has produced work in pretty much all genres big and small. Arutiunian’s work deserves some new attention. Best known for his 1950 Trumpet Concerto, his output was large and he composed in large and small forms that demand the attention of post Soviet ears.

Back to the 21 st century with this next track, Vache Sharafyan’s Petrified Dance (2017). Sharafyan was a student of Terterian and this work was adapted from a film score.

The Aznavoorians end with the world premiere recording of “Mount Ararat”, a paean to the Holy Mountain that dominates the landscape in the Armenian capitol city of Yerevan. It is the mountain upon which Noah’s Ark was said to have come to rest after the flood. Like Mount Fuji to the Japanese, Mount Everest to the Tibetans, and “Tahoma”, (better known now as Mount Rainier) to the Puyallup and other Native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest, Mount Ararat is considered a holy mountain.

Peter Boyer‘s “Mount Ararat” (2021) was written for the Aznavoorian Duo. Boyer is the only non-Armenian represented here but his composition embraces the spirit of Armenian music and this is a dramatic and heartfelt love song both to the holy mountain and these musicians whose performance provides an ecstatic and virtuosic finale to this fine disc.

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The Lincoln Trio: Trios for Big Shoulders


Cedille CDR 90000 203

The Chicago based Lincoln Trio turns their creative radar to chamber music by two now virtually unknown Chicago composers, Ernst Bacon (1898-1990) and Leo Sowerby (1895-1968). (Sowerby’s music has enjoyed no fewer than 7 CD releases on this label.) Both of these composers were rather prolific and well known during their lifetimes but, for whatever reason, they are no longer household names. These are composers who wrote in a largely post-romantic idiom which one might translate as “audience friendly” and one might suggest that their home grown romanticism was eclipsed by modernism but these guys aren’t only audience friendly, these works have the weight of substance. This is not ear candy, this is serious music that reveals more depth and significance with each hearing.

On the surface these are simply two piano trios, a form which emerged in the early classical era and which continues today as a sort of genre on its own and generally is a work of three or four separate movements much like the form of a symphony or sonata. The first piece on the disc is Bacon’s trio from 1987, a late work in his oeuvre which is cast in no fewer than 7 movements, so there goes my generalization already.

The first movement, the longest of the seven, is marked “Lento” and is a slowly evolving movement which goes through many moods from quiet to intense. The second which is actually part of the first is a rather brief march tune and is followed by a slightly longer second movement entitled, “an easy walk”. The more somber mood returns in movement three entitled, “Gravely expressive”. It is followed by a more sprightly Allegro, a brief movement marked, “commodo”, and a finale which gets the blood flowing entitled, “Vivace, ma non presto.” It is difficult to characterize this piece in the context of Bacon’s other work since I’ve heard very little of his significant output but this work suggests that there’s more gold to be had in his compositional vaults.

The Sowerby Trio is from 1953 and is a large work clocking in at nearly 40 minutes. It is cast in the more or less classical tradition of three movements. The first two are large Brahmsian movements which are followed by a (somewhat) shorter finale. Cedille has revealed much of the rich legacy that Sowerby has left us and this trio serves to validate the choice of focusing on getting more of this man’s work to the ears of eager listeners. It is a major addition to the repertoire and this reviewer hopes that this recording may help this work to be a more regular part of live programming.

The trio discharges its duties with an amiable virtuosity which demonstrates their passion for this work. As usual, the recorded sound is top notch. This is a great chamber music recording as well as another fine document of Chicago’s rich musical history, world class music by world class performers.