Music of the Caucasus [Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia etc.]

[Jim Faston]

A number of works by Georgian composer Nodar Gabunia have, over the past few years, appeared at IMSLP:

http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Gabunia,_Nodar

Recent additions include the Dedication for piano and the 7 songs. Many of the works, including the Dedication and Piano Sonata no. 2, can be heard on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtvp0Exs ... A2B94EAC4A

As well, his second string quartet can be heard on the following MP3 album, along with Tsintsadze's 10th quartet and some of the latter composer's miniatures. Very nice disc:

http://www.amazon.com/Caucasian-Impress ... mpressions

Many thanks for the info. I love the Dedication. Here's a B&W version I generated:

Gabunia_Dedication.pdf

[mballan]

Thanks Jim.

Another 'Dedication'.....this one by Gayane Chebotaryan (1918-1998).

Chebotaryan G - Dedication (1967).pdf

Malcolm

[Jim Faston]

Thanks Jim.

Another 'Dedication'.....this one by Gayane Chebotaryan (1918-1998).

Chebotaryan G - Dedication (1967).pdf

Malcolm

Thanks Malcolm--printing as I type.

[mballan]

Arif Dzhangirovich (Jahangir oglu) Melikov. Born 1933, Baku. Azerbaijan composer and teacher. From 1945-54 he learned to play the Tar at the Baku Music Academy; then from 1955-58 he studied composition at Azerbaijan State Conservatoire under Karayev. His final examination work was his 1st symphony. In 1958 Melikov was invited to teach at the Conservatoire, a year later he became a member of the Azerbaijani branch of the Union of Soviet Composers. He is also a Member of the Union of Cinematographers of Azerbaijan SSR. Honorary Doctor of Khazar University (2112), Baku, Azerbaijan. Primarily an orchestral composer with works including eight symphonies, symphonic poems, chamber works, film music etc.

Piano works include:

Three Preludes (1953)
“Fugitive Visions” Piano cycle (1978)
Meditation
Slow Waltz
Scherzo
Nocturne
Shutka [Joke]
Four Pieces from the ballet “Legend of Love”
1. Dance of Farhad 2. Comic Dance 3. Scene 4. Adagio of Shirin & Farhad
Toccata

The posted album covers the majority of piano works by Melikov [given in italics above, in the same order within the album].

Malcolm

Melikov A - Pieces for Piano.pdf

[Alex]

Amazing! I can't wait to play through these pieces after work tonight. Thanks Malcolm.

[Scriabinoff]

I was searching on here for a biography but didn't get any hits w/ search, basic google just gives a few very short ones and a tiny wiki, thought folks might like a more substantial write up.
-Scriabinoff
lots of nice recordings (many I have not seen elsewhere)-http://www.georgian-music.com/free_musi ... shvili.php

Taktakishvili, Otar
(b Tbilisi, 27 July 1924; d 21 Feb 1989). Georgian composer, teacher, conductor and writer on music. He graduated from Barkhudarian’s composition class at the Tbilisi Conservatory in 1947 and then did postgraduate work at the same institution, where he taught choral literature (from 1947), counterpoint and instrumentation (from 1959) and served as rector (1962–5). In addition, he was appointed artistic director of the State Choral Kapella of Georgia in 1952, having previously worked as a choirmaster and conductor. He also served as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (fourth to sixth convocations), a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Georgian SSR and a member of the Presidium of the International Music Council of UNESCO. In 1965 he was appointed Minister of Culture of Georgia and held the post for nearly 30 years, in addition to serving as chairman of the Georgian Composers’ Union (1962), secretary and board member of the USSR Composers’ Union (1957–89), Presidium member of the International Council at UNESCO and as jury member and chairman of various international competitions. He is a three-time laureate of the USSR State Prizes and a laureate of the highest decoration in the USSR – the Lenin Prize (1982).

Taktakishvili’s output embraces almost all genres and, despite its variety, it displays a consistency of intention and thematic working. He achieved wide recognition right from his earliest creative years, from the mid-1940s to the early 1950s. The best works of this period, the two symphonies and the First Piano Concerto, are marked by technical mastery, the creative use of folk material and a reliance on international symphonic traditions. They also share a lyric-dramatic narrative quality and a loftiness of sentiment, which at times mutates into pathos.

In his subsequent development Taktakishvili has turned increasingly to vocal music and concrete images; his deployment of the expressive possibilities of the voice has been significantly affected by his continuing interest in folk choral singing, as well as by his early work as a choirmaster. This evolution led him naturally to opera, by way of a programmatic symphonic poem (Mtsïri, 1956), songs to words by Pshavela and Pushkin, and vocal orchestral cycles on texts by G. Tabidze and other Georgian poets (1957–9), works distinguished by an ever more noticeable social element. Mindia (1960) was the culminating opera, an organic solution of new problems, glorifying the wisdom of a harmonious union between man and nature. It is built on the transformation of folk styles and marked by a melodious character; dramatically it relies on the alternation of epic narration with lyric-dramatic scenes. A creative response to the traditions of the ancient theatre can be detected in the principles of plot development and in the endowment of each of the main characters with a distinctive philosophical symbolism.

Subsequent works testify to Taktakishvili’s continuing development of this tendency. The oratorio Rustavelis nakvalevze (‘In the Steps of Rustaveli’, 1964) creates an image of the great poet of the 12th-century Georgian renaissance through the epic strength of its choral frescoes, which draw on folk choral polyphony, and it also raises the question of the place of the past in the present. Another oratorio from the same year, Tsotskhali kera (‘The Living Hearth’), addresses the theme of war and peace, extolling the value of the latter and the immortality of the people. Taktakishvili’s third such work, Nikoloz Baratashvili (1970), is deeply imbued with the spirit and words of the outstanding Georgian Romantic poet of the first half of the 19th century; its underlying theme is the inseparable link which binds the creative artist to the history and fate of his country, and this theme is developed on three planes: those of the poet himself, his world view and his relationship with the composer. The scoring of the work supports quasi-dramatic functions: a tenor soloist expounds the lyrical and philosophical burden, an octet of male voices symbolizes time arising (the proximity of their music to an ancient chorale assists this) and the chorus is used in an epic and dramatic role, commenting and summarizing.

The trilogy of one-act operas Sami novela (‘Three Stories’, 1967) marked a new development in the Georgian musical theatre. Set in pre-revolutionary Georgia, the pieces concern the tragic fate of the country’s simple people, employing a wide range of expressive means from developments of banal urban street songs to parodies of genre music and the music of everyday life; the result is a musical narrative of posterlike boldness. The cantata Guruli simgerebi (‘Gurian songs’, named after a region of western Georgia having a particularly highly developed tradition of folk choral polyphony) extended Taktakishvili’s expressive use of folk materials, employing as it does quite specific folksong features in music that contrasts characteristic, lyrical and heroic ideas.

Averse in equal measure to reckless innovation and to conservative protectionism, Taktakishvili was a true heir of the great Georgian composer Paliashvili, developing his traditions by projecting them onto modern life. A melody from one of his works was adopted as the national anthem of Georgia and was in use from 1946 to 1989. He wrote a number of articles which appeared in Sovetskaya muzïka and Sabchota khelovneba.




Bibliography

A. Tsulukidze: ‘Tvorcheskiy put′ Otara Taktakishvili’ [The creative path of Taktakishvili], Sovetskaya muzïka; stat′i i materialï, i (1956), 187–93

G. Toradze: ‘Geroi Vazha-Pshavela v opere’ [The Heroes of Pshavela in opera], SovM (1961), no.9, pp.22–6

D. Romadinova: Opera ‘Mindia’ O. Taktakishvili (Moscow, 1963)

G. Toradze: ‘Oda sulmnats’ [Ode to a great poet], Sabchota khelovneba (1966), no.10, pp.66–70

A. Tsulukidze: ‘Droshebi chkara’ [Raise up the banners], Sabchota khelovneba (1967), no.10, pp.23–7

G. Toradze: ‘Po sledam Baratashvili’ [In the steps of Baratashvili], SovM (1971), no.10, pp.9–12

A. Shaverzashvili: ‘“Guriyskiye pesni”; O. Taktakishvili’, SovM (1973), no.7, p.32 only

M. Akhmeteli: ‘Otar Taktakishvili’, Sabchota khelovneba (1974), no.12, pp.21–32

G. Toradze: ‘Gruziya’ [Georgia], Istoriya muzïki narodov SSSR, ed. Yu.V. Keldïsh, v/2 (Moscow, 1974), 150–90

L.V. Polyakova: Otar Taktakishvili (Moscow, 1979)

V. Donadze: ‘Otar Taktakishvilis shemokmedeba: pirveli periodi’ [The art of Taktakishvili: first period], Sabchota khelovneba (1984), no.7, pp.37–49

Evgeny Machavariani/Gulbat Toradze

[caostotale]

From a search with his name in Cyrillic:

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/ ... YUte-OLjAw

The links underneath the primary article might also be useful.

[Jim Faston]

I just came across this today; Arno Babajanian's Nocturne arranged for two pianos by Alexander Prikhodko (per Google Translate). (NMS - apologies if this has been posted previously: I didn't find it with search function.)

Babajanian-Prikhodko_Nocturne (2 pianos).pdf

[Aggelos]

great finding Jim!
I was listening to this in the following two CDs. Badadzhanian's Fantasy for orchestra was unforgettable.
ANd the rest of Armenian music was beguiling.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u197 ... 65e797.jpg
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u197 ... 4ed085.jpg

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u197 ... f5046e.jpg
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u197 ... 9ac454.jpg

[fleubis]

Well Aggelos, we'll sure have fun trying to find those CD's, but worth the effort as I, too, am a big fan of music from the Caucasus.

(Seems they were smart enough to skip Schoenberg.)--> IMHO