Program 763: Three Generations of Armenian American Composers
KALW Broadcast Date: December 3, 2023 | Host: Ed Herrmann
This week on Music from Other Minds, three generations of Armenian American composers. The Water Has Found its Crack, a new album by Joseph Bohigian, includes three pieces composed while living in Armenia. Rerooted is for string quartet and voices speaking of tragedy and survival: people whose ancestors fled the 1915 genocide and settled in Syria, now fleeing the civil war there and returning to Armenia.
Charles Amirkhanian visited Armenia in 1994 (then newly-independent from the former Soviet Union) with his father. He recorded music, interviews, and soundscapes and used those recordings to make Miatsoom (Reunion), an audio journal and homage to his Armenian heritage.
Alan Hovhaness is the best known and most prolific of Armenian American composers, having written over 500 pieces of music, including 67 symphonies. His music combines Asian and Armenian influences with a mystical reverence of nature. We’ll hear samples of his symphonic and piano music.
Program Audio
30-Second Spot
Track Info & Links
Title: O’h intsh anush (Chant d’exil)
Composer: Tigran Tchukhadjian
Performers: Jordy Savall & Hesperion XXI
Recording Title: Armenian Spirit
Record Label: Alia Vox
Catalog Number: AVSA 9892
Title: Rerooted
Composer: Joseph Bohigian
Performer: Argus Quartet
Recording Title: The Water Has Found its Crack
Record Label: Other Minds Records
Catalog Number: OM 1046-2
Title: Miatsoom
Composer: Charles Amirkhanian
Recording Title: Miatsoom
Record Label: Other Minds Records
Catalog Number: OM 1029-2
Title: Three Armenians
Composer: Charles Amirkhanian
Recording Title: Miatsoom
Record Label: Other Minds Records
Catalog Number: OM 1029-2
Title: The Water Has Found its Crack
Composer: Joseph Bohigian
Performers: Catherine Sandstedt, Heidi Schneider, Alina Tamborini, Rob Cosgrove, Kate Dreyfuss, Sophia Sun, and Tsung-Yu Tsai
Recording Title: The Water Has Found Its Crack
Record Label: Other Minds Records
Catalog Number: OM 1046-2
Title: Invocation to Vahakn
Composer: Alan Hovhaness
Performers: Julie Steinberg and William Winant
Recording Title: Set of Five
Record Label: New Albion Records
Catalog Number: NA 036 CD
Title: Mountains and Rivers Without End (excerpt)
Composer: Alan Hovhaness
Performer: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Recording Title: Alan Hovhaness
Record Label: Unicorn
Catalog Number: RHS 322
Title: Visionary Landscapes (excerpt)
Composer: Alan Hovhaness
Performer: Şahan Arzruni
Recording Title: Visionary Landscapes
Record Label: Hearts of Space
Catalog Number: HS 11024-4
Title: Loosin yelav
Composer: Luciano Berio
Performer: Christine Schadeberg
Recording Title: Berio: The Great Works for Voice
Record Label: mode
Catalog Number: mode 48
