Tigran

The first recording by the Delta Piano Trio on Challenge Classics. The Trio have chosen works by Frank Martin, Tigran Mansurian and Antonin Dvorak which span almost a century, are from very different cultures, but which are all based on folk tunes.

The young, Armenian-born pianist Tigran Hamasyan possesses an almost intimidating virtuosity, a style that owes as much to Art Tatum's two-handed volubility and the sweeping refinement of Impressionist composers as it does to the spiraling, East-meets-West melodies of his homeland. Winner of the 2006 Thelonious Monk Institute's piano competition, New Era (2008, Nocturne) found Hamasyan settling into a familiar, if impressive trio aesthetic, mining the angular vernacular of modern jazz piano on now-standard vehicles like "Well, You Needn't" or "Solar," as well as on some of his own lovely compositions. So it is a welcome surprise to hear the dreamlike, tinkling sustain of the minute-long "Rain Shadow" that opens this new disc almost like a lullaby, an otherworldly state that A Fable, by and large, maintains across its length.

In ECM's Ars Poetica, Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian pays tribute to poet Yeghishe Charents, a major Armenian versifier of the early twentieth century whose life was extinguished early in the "Great Terror" under Stalin. The ECM disc of Ars Poetica makes an even better case for Charents as poet than one is likely to find in an English-language bookstore; the notes contain texts in English for the 10 poems included in Mansurian's vocal concerto in addition to a concise, but appreciative biographical sketch for the poet – none is provided for the composer…
Recorded On-Location at 12-th -century Armenian Monastery Saghmosavank.
Sung in Armenian a cappella

This set of 3 cds, comprises the complete works of Armenian composer Parsegh Ganatchian, one of the most illustrious pupils of Komitas, the father of Armenian music. This collection is the product of a long and painstaking effort to collect and showcase all of his choral compositions, solo songs and childrens's songs. The recordings took place in Yerevan with the participation of the Armenian State Radio and Television Chamber Choir, the children's choir "Little Singers of Armenia" and various well known professional soloists, under the artistic direction of acclaimed conductor Tigran Hekekian..

Luys i Luso – “Light from Light” – is Tigran Hamasyan’s first ECM album, a spellbinding exploration of Armenian sacred music, featuring the prodigiously gifted pianist with the Yerevan State Chamber Choir. Repertoire includes Armenian hymns, sharakans and cantos from the 5th to the 20th century, all newly arranged for voices and improvising pianist by Hamasyan himself. The album was recorded in Yerevan last October, and produced by Manfred Eicher.