Arno Babajanian - Complete Original Works for Piano Solo (Hayk Melikyan)

Information

Composer: Arno Babajanian

• Polyphonic Sonata
• Six Pictures
• Melody and Humoresque
• Elegy
• Reflection
• Prelude
• Vagharshapat Dance
• Impromptu, 'Exprompt'
• Capriccio
• Poem

Hayk Melikyan, piano

Date: 2014

Label: Grand Piano

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Review

The name of Armenian composer, Babajanian is seen in various variant spellings including Babazhanian and Babadjanian. This is useful to know if you are searching for other references within this site. I first encountered his music through two pieces on an ASV CD which lead with the Tjeknavorian piano concerto. The Heroic Ballad with its genuinely joyful 'strut' and OTT cinematic romance definitely falls into the ‘guilty pleasures’ category. The Nocturne was far too civilised for its own good - more Yerevan Hilton than nights in an Armenian mountain garden.

 

The present collection is a valuable reminder of the breadth of invention borne of Soviet satellite state composers and of Babajanian in particular. The early Polyphonic Sonata encases a central movement that revels in the sort of Armenian sway we know from Khachaturian and a surreal drifting dissonance. The outer movements are tartly dissonant, pianola wild and with a dash of motoric jazz redolent of Kapustin. The Six Pictures from 1965 comprise: Improvisation; Folk Song; Toccatina; Intermezzo; Chorale and Sassoun Dance. The music is full of unruly life: cut-glass, vinegary jazz, shrapnel flying, uneasy peace and uncomfortable dreams, gawky, rushing and unwaveringly purposeful. The Melody and Humoresque: the first is sentimental and very moving with a typically Armenian oriental twist while the Humoresque again draws on that sinuous romantic way, coupled with an unblinking ruthless determination. The 1978 Elegy is “cocktail bar” sentimental with invention familiar from the middle movement of any of the Khachaturian concertos. Vagharshapat is a dancing piece: very sharply angular yet with Rachmaninovian grandeur. The Capriccio radiates affection amid those by now familiar middle-eastern accents. The Poem of 1966 is harshly dissonant - with notes crunching and colliding. Its starrily glimmering desolation tickles the ear before, in the final pages, it sprints off like a pianola gone berserk with freedom.

 

Babajanian studied at the Yerevan Conservatory before attending Moscow’s Gnessin Music School for composition lessons with Vissarion Shebalin. On his return to Yerevan he joined the teaching staff of the Conservatory. There are concertos, one each, for piano, violin and cello. Some of these have been recorded on Melodiya. I wonder if any of you have copies of these?

 

Here is more extremely good and fulfilling work done by Grand Piano with a well documented and recorded recital played to the manner born by Hayk Melikyan. Can we hope that they will embark on a piano series for the “English Rachmaninov” Reginald Sacheverell Coke or that other great yet promising English unknown Walter Stanley Gaze Cooper?

— Rob Barnett

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Arno Babajanian (January 22, 1921 – November 11, 1983) was a Soviet and Armenian composer and pianist. He studied at the Yerevan Conservatory and the Moscow Conservatory. From 1950 to 1956 he taught at the Yerevan Conservatory. In 1952, he wrote his Piano Trio, which received immediate acclaim and was regarded as a masterpiece from the time of its premiere. Subsequently, he undertook concert tours throughout the Soviet Union and Europe. Babajanian wrote in various musical genres, including many popular songs in collaboration with leading poets. Much of his music is rooted in Armenian folk music and folklore.

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Hayk Melikyan (born 29 November 1980) is an Armenian pianist and composer. Trained at the Yerevan Komitas Conservatory, he has performed on major stages worldwide and is a laureate of many international competitions. Melikyan has received prestigious honors, including the Komitas Medal, the title of Honorary Artist of Armenia, and the Movses Khorenatsi Medal. A dedicated advocate of new music, he founded the concert series 1900+ and 2000+, premiered many new works. He records extensively for renowned labels such as Naxos Grand Piano, Azure Sky and others. He is also an active composer and pedagogue.

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