Homage to Komitas

This work was written in 2017, supported by Gulbenkian Foundation in Portugal. It performed by Trio Aeternus and the CD published by Toccata Music. You can download and/or order the CD from here: https://toccataclassics.com/product/the-komitas-legacy-armenian-piano-trios/ 

From the CD booklet:

'His Homage to Komitas is the product of a meeting that Trio Aeternus had with him in Istanbul, and the resultant work was dedicated to them in 2017. Divided into the sections ‘Broken Bells’ 13 , ‘Broken Dance’ 14 , ‘Possession’ 15 , ‘Deus Internus’ 16 , ‘Broken Dance 2’ 17 and ‘Sitie’ (‘Thirst’) 18, the aural ambience of the Homage remains profoundly religious, even as the themes are twisted to portray Komitas’ progressive descent into insanity. The ‘broken’ subtitles are depicted with quotations from liturgical choirs and Komitas’ folk transcriptions. According to the composer-writer and producer of this recording, Virgílio Melo, ‘The imitation of broken bells, the lament, elements of an irregular dance, obsessive ostinati, string cadenzas, evocation of a Byzantine choir, impressionistic sonorities of the piano, quotation of melodies notated by Komitas; all these represent characteristics and show the fruits of a work imbued in anguish and disruption’.22 The final two accented quavers, marked pesante fortississimo, are inscribed with the Latin consummatum est, ‘it is finished’.