Levon Eskenian, The Gurdjieff Ensemble - Komitas (2015) [Official Digital Download 24-bit/96kHz]

Levon Eskenian formed his ensemble in 2008 to explore the inspirational sources of Gurdjieff’s music. The group’s debut album, Music of Georges I. Gurdjieff, issued by ECM in 2011, was a history-making project, drawing new attention to Gurdjieff’s compositions in his native Armenia and around the world, and winning prizes for its imaginative recasting of the music for traditional folk instruments. Now Eskenian and his musicians turn their attention to the music of Komitas Vardapet (1869-1935). Composer, ethnomusicologist, arranger, singer and priest, Komitas is popularly held to be the founder of contemporary music in Armenia, and in his work as a collector he explored the connections that uniquely bind together Armenian sacred and secular music. With their special focus on folk instrumentation and inspired arrangements the Ensemble illuminates the deep roots of Komitas’s compositions in this programme recorded in Lugano in February 2015.

Komitas is revered by Armenians as his nation’s most brilliant songwriter. He was also more than this, a composer, singer, priest, philosopher, poet, ethnomusicologist, collector of folk songs, writer of sacred and secular music bridging the old and the new. The fine line that connects the melodic character of the most ancient Armenian music with the works of contemporary Armenian composers runs through his work and for this reason he is often referred to as the father of modern Armenian music. His music was an important reference for Thomas de Hartmann when preparing Gurdjieff’s music for solo piano and Komitas also influenced Levon Eskenian when preparing his own Gurdjieff arrangements. For these and other reasons reinvestigating the music of Komitas seemed a logical next step for Eskenian and the Gurdjieff Ensemble.

Tracklist:

01 - Zulo
02 - Mani Asem, Tsaghik Asem (Praises to the flower)
03 - Msho Shoror ('Shoror' dance of Mush)
04 - Havun (The fowl of the air)
05 - Mankakan Nvag XII (Piece for children XII)
06 - Lorva Gutanerg (Plough song from the Lori region)
07 - Yot Par (Seven dances): Manushaki of Vagharshapat
08 - Yot Par (Seven dances): Shushiki of Vagharshapat
09 - Yot Par (Seven dances): Unabi of Shushi
10 - Yot Par (Seven dances): Marali of Shushi
11 - Yot Par (Seven dances): Yerangui of Yerevan
12 - Yot Par (Seven dances): Het u Araj of Karin
13 - Yot Par (Seven dances): Karno Shoror
14 - Hov Arek (Dear mountains, send me a breeze)
15 - Gutane Hats Em Berum (I bring bread to the ploughmen)
16 - Hoy Nazan (Hey, Nazan)
17 - Havik (A radiant bird)
18 - Akna Oror (Lullaby of Akn)

Produced by Manfred Eicher. Engineered by Markus Heiland.
Recorded: February, 2015 Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano.

The Gurdjieff Folk Instrument Ensemble:
Emmanuel Hovhannisyan: duduk, zurna, pku
Avag Margaryan: pogh, zurna
Armen Ayvazyan: kamancha
Aram Nikoghosyan: oud
Meri Vardanyan: kanon
Vladimir Papikyan: santur, voice
Davit Avagyan: tar
Mesrop Khalatyan: dap, dhol
Norayr Gapoyan: duduk, bass duduk
Eduard Harutyunyan: tmbuk, cymbal, bell, kshots, burvar
Levon Eskenian: director


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