The
Aznavoorian Duo, sisters
Ani Aznavoorian (cello) and
Marta Aznavoorian (piano), were born into a family that left Armenia during World War I but have maintained strong ties to that country and have performed there. Persistence of cultural ties is also visible in the
Aznavoorian Duo's program, which begins with five short pieces by
Komitas, a.k.a.
Komitas Vardabed or Soghomon Soghomonian. (Most of the music is arranged for cello and piano.)
Komitas was the founder of the Armenian national school of composition; he was trained in Germany and mastered Western counterpoint, but his melodies have a distinctly Central Asian tinge. What is striking is how the patterns he laid down have lasted into the late 20th century and the early 21st. The short pieces by
Aram Khachaturian, one of them the fairly familiar
Yerevan, proceed directly from
Komitas in their mood. Other layers are added in other works: Russian influences in the works of the Soviet-era composers
Arno Babajanian and
Avet Terterian, and more complex harmonic languages in the more modern works at the end (there is one work by an American composer,
Peter Boyer, on an Armenian subject), but there is a distinctly Armenian character that links it all. It is captured by the duo, and it would be hard to imagine non-Armenians getting it in quite the same way. Certainly, this is recommended to anyone with a connection to Armenian culture, but the thing is that outsiders will also find it both beautiful and interesting. Producer
James Ginsburg (son of U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg) garnered a Producer of the Year Grammy nomination in part for this release in 2022. ~ James Manheim
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