This recital disc introduces
us to many pieces never previously recorded.
It should appeal to those who enjoyed
the Hartmann
(Naive) and
Këngë (Guild) piano miniatures
as well as to anyone who bought and
relished the two Koch CDs of Hovhaness's
piano music.
Komitas's piano
music has been heard before. The 1970s
Poseidon label which was owned by and
a vehicle for Alan Hovhaness issued
one maybe more LPs of this ethnocentric
music. The Three Dances here are otherworldly,
chiming in strange carillons and note
sequences all cross-cut with delicate
minuet-style figures having an unmistakably
Oriental caste. There are no traces
here of Ketèlbey kitsch. After
the lulling beauty of these open air
scenes the Khachaturian Toccata
grips with its vertiginous, hammered
and volleyed assaults. It is magnificently
done by Shaboyan. I know it from the
Moiseiwitsch recording which is tame
by comparison with Shaboyan’s apparent
delight in flirting with danger. Then
come five arrangements by Robert
Andreasian of Komitas songs. These
lilt and sigh like flowers in a verdant
valley but always with that Oriental
sway and twist; a sort of Armenian equivalent
of Peterson-Berger’s Frösöblömster.
The Kashmatsa (tr. 7) is superb
and catches the most lyrical essence
of Medtner and Rachmaninov. Georgy
Saradian's takes a more dissonantly
impressionistic to arranging Komitas.
Arutiunian is already well known
for his concertos recorded on Chandos
and elsewhere. His music here is lullingly
restful, like John Ireland at his most
relaxed, perhaps with some insurgency
from Cyril Scott. In the second of the
two pieces here there is a businesslike
underpinning troika that links
with Prokofiev. Babadjanian we
know from an ASV CD. His Vagarshapat
Dance is a work of hauteur and iron-clad
elegance; quite irresistible. This is
followed by his Six Pictures from
1965. Here the exotic accents are presented
but they emerge and play chase with
a whole palette of cut-glass avant-garde
paraphernalia - both clamantly violent
and dreamily disengaged.
The Mirzoyan Poem
is the grittiest piece here. It begins
with great thundering fistfuls of dissonance
after which a fragile, fragmented soliloquy
and mirrored hall of memory follows.
Sargsian's tribute to Komitas
is in three movements.
The booklet notes are
in German and English. They include
a profile as well as photographs of
Shona Shaboyan.
The pieces are fully
listed on the back insert which is virtually
useless as the contrast, size and weight
of the font against the background makes
the names of individual pieces almost
impossible to read - another triumph
of design over utility. Oehms Classics
are a serious company. They will I am
sure hold their designers in check in
future. This is not good enough and
does scant service to a provocative
and engaging conspectus of Armenian
solo piano music. I hope that Shaboyan
will give us a volume 2 and start to
explore the legacy of Armenian piano
concertos including those by Andreasian,
Arutiunian, Hovhaness, Babadjanian and
Sargsian..
A survey of Armenian
piano music drawing on but not dominated
by autochthomous voices. The music reacts
with a varied landscape of early to
late twentieth century techniques and
motivation from an oriental brand of
lyric consonance to melodic disruption
and dysjunct gestural drama..
Rob Barnett
Sona Shaboyan (piano) 
