SKU: A0.882928

Epitaphios
The 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)