String Quartet Cello,String Quartet,Viola,Violin - Level 5 - Digital Download SKU: A0.882928 Composed by Vahram Sarkissian (Sargsyan). 20th Century,Contemporary. Score and parts. 55 pages. Vahram Sargsyan #2803825. Published by Vahram Sargsyan (A0.882928). EpitaphiosThe idea to write a piece which would embed various eastern instrumental playing techniques into western aesthetic milieu was the main musical trigger for Epitaphios. There are some pre-existing musical materials involved in the creative process. First and the main reference comes from so-called Seikilos Epitaph - a Hellenistic ancient Greek song which is the oldest surviving example of a complete musical composition. It is notated on a tombstone, a stele dating back to around 1st century AD which was found in present western Turkey. Other 2 main references are nearly tonal neo-romantic sacred music and perhaps most interestingly microtonal Middle Eastern music ornaments peculiar to traditional bowed string instruments such as Kamancha. By correlation and superimposition of these 3 different styles the composer created a complex, multilayered somewhat eclectic atmosphere which may allusively reflect the composite approach to the problem of life and death from rational, emotional and spiritual perspectives.The recording is a live performance by Movses Pogossian and Armen Derkevorkian, violins, Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, viola, Vardan Gasparyan, cello at Zipper Hall, Los Angeles (2015).Vahram Sarkissian (Sargsyan)One of the most distinguished Armenian composers of his generation Vahram Sarkissian is best known for his choral and chamber works that have been widely performed throughout Europe, Asia and North America. His style represents a palette of multicultural creative initiatives influenced by numerous traditions and practices spanning from V century Armenian medieval chant to previously unreported endogenous vocal extended techniques.
