Stéphan Elmas - Complete Piano Sonatas (Heghine Rapyan)

Information

Composer: Stéphan Elmas

• Piano Sonata No. 1 in B Minor
• Piano Sonata No. 2 in D Major
• Piano Sonata No. 3 in D Minor
• Piano Sonata No. 4 in C Minor

Heghine Rapyan, piano

Date: 2023

Label: Solo Musica

-----------------------------------------------------------

Description

Elmas wrote four piano sonatas in his early years. They were first published in 1922 in Leipzig by the music publisher Steingräber. His style as a composer looks back to the Romantic epoch, although at the time classical music was facing radical changes. Elmas kept the beautiful traditions of Chopin, while at the same time creating his own style. Elmas is a great melodist. His melodic lines and phrases can deeply touch the feelings of the listener.

After getting to know his music, I can definitely say that he is a great poet and optimist. His music has a specific ideology, which always leads to victory and optimism through drama and struggle.

His four piano sonatas show a clear and pronounced dependency upon the theoretical paradigms of the sonata form of the Romantic period.

Elmas did not revolutionise the form of the sonata. His sonata-form compositions generally preserve the three-movement cycle, with the consistent layout of movements; obviously, he also adheres to the framework of the sonata-allegro form, with its classic division into a repeated exposition, development, and recapitulation.

All the sonatas observe a similar stylistic evolution. Three are written in minor keys, while Sonata No. 2 is written in a major key. In respect to sonata forms, Elmas definitely remains in the sphere of classical influences. As a Romantic creator, however, he searched for new solutions and new sounds. That is why each work has an individual dramatic narrative. Elmas composed many funeral marches. The reason most probably was his sadness over the historical tragedies of the Armenian nation.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Stéphan Elmas (1862 – August 11, 1937) was an Armenian composer, pianist and teacher. A prodigy, he studied piano and composition in Vienna following encouragement from Franz Liszt, to whom he later dedicated several works. Elmas enjoyed a successful international concert career across Europe, performing both his own compositions and works by major Romantic composers. He settled permanently in Geneva in 1912, where he taught and composed despite declining health and increasing isolation. His music, particularly refined salon pieces, reflects a Romantic style rooted in earlier traditions.

***

Heghine Rapyan (born 24 April 1985) is an Armenian-born pianist. She began piano studies at age three in Armenia and trained with leading pedagogues, including Armen Babakhanian, before studying at the Yerevan State Conservatory. After graduating in 2007, she continued advanced concert piano studies at the University Mozarteum Salzburg, where she earned a Master of Arts degree cum laude in 2017. Influenced notably by her close encounter with Ingrid Haebler, Rapyan has won prizes at international competitions and has performed as a soloist with major orchestras. She also teaches at Musikum Salzburg.

-----------------------------------------------------------