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TR581
Jeff Manookian
Concertos
Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra
Susan Duehlmeier and Bonnie Gritton, piano duo
Laurel Ann Maurer, piccolo and alto flute
John Pickford Richards, viola
Jeff Manookian, conductor
Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra
This work engages the soloist and a large orchestra in a quasi chamber ensemble-like fashion. Despite this balancing act, there are many moments when the full forces of the symphonic constituency are brought voluminously to fore during the composition's traversal. Its three movements are played without pause — giving the assimilation of a single-movement presentation.
Amid each movement's respective melodic content, a recurring four-note motive (an enigmatic aphorism) appears throughout the composition — that of D, A, G-sharp and E. Of course, this motive is amply transposed and developed. The opening notes of the tune of the hauntingly nocturnal second movement are a derivation of this motto. Here, the notes are rearranged as A, G, E, D. The outer movements are replete with charismatic energy, virtuosic rhythms amid continual time-signature changes. Technical challenges to the soloist are extreme and dazzling.
Written in mid-year of 2002, Manookian's Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra premiered on November 29, 2002 in Yerevan, Armenia with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of the composer. Laurel Ann Maurer occupied the soloist role.
Improvisations on Armenian Folk Songs for Viola and Orchestra
Six authentic fragments from Armenia's rich folk musical heritage (with two original motifs by the composer as counter-subjects) are cast for viola and orchestra, in the tradition of Khachaturian and Bartók, to become a bona fide concerto. Virtuosic solo cadenzas of varying length intertwine the concerted fabric.
The national instrument of Armenia is the “duduk” — a double-reed instrument possessing the viola's characteristic timbres. For this reason, the viola was chosen to prevail in this work.
The Improvisations was first performed on April 30, 2000 in Salt Lake City, Utah at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. James Michael Caswell conducted the Madeleine Festival Orchestra with soloist Joel Rosenberg.
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
Manookian's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, composed in the summer of 2002, received its world premiere in Yerevan, Armenia on November 29, 2002. Pianists Areg Simonian and Anna Ghazarian gave this opus its debut with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the composer.
An unabashed programmatic tone-poem, the concerto's inaugural, and most lengthy, movement casts the pianists into the guise of two lovers in intimate dialogue — with all the associated exhilarations of unfeigned and insinuated romantic venerations. The orchestral fabric waxes as a poetic regard of the beloveds' contemplations and innermost sentiments. Albeit the “slow” movement of the concerto, this segment, despite its apparent rhapsodic nature, assimilates sonata-allegro form. The extended duo-cadenza at the movement's midpoint, is integral to the overall architecture of the music's traversal rather than being a gratuitous moment of affected exhibition.
Exhilaration of love's joy is reflected in the perpetual motion of the succinct middle movement. The two pianists' roles are perfectly synchronized with the orchestra providing a backdrop of decisive effervescence.
Raw energy earmarks the concerto's finale. Its driving rhythms and virtuosic demands veritably roll over each other. Briefly interrupted by a recapitulation of the opening motive of the first movement, the pianos reclaim the stage with a fast fugato. The orchestra joins in the frivolity and things seem to wind down — only to surrender to a final, foritssimo, exclamation point.
Khachkar for Alto Flute, Harp and Strings
A khachkar is an ornately carved stone cross. These icons are found in abundance throughout the countryside and mountainous terrains of Armenia. Armenia is the oldest of Christian nations on earth, accepting Christianity as its national religion in the year 301 AD. Khachkar, an instrumental prayer, is based on two borrowed religious tunes. The first is, Havoun, havoun (“About the Bird” — an ancient allegory in which Jesus is portrayed as a bird speaking to the people of the world) and the second, Chinar es (“You Are a Chinar Tree” — a stalwart tree that grows throughout the Caucasus region).
Khachkar was first performed June 1, 2002 with Laurel Ann Maurer as soloist and Crawford Gates conducting the Nachtmusik Chamber Orchestra at Maurice Abavanel Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Laurel Ann Maurer has been lauded by The New York Times as “a secure technician and an assured communicative interpreter.” Fanfare Magazine states that “she is technically superb in every way. Her tone is consistently attractive even in the most treacherous passages, and she plays with great rhythmic drive and impeccable phrasing.” American Record Guide said that “Maurer has a strong, colorful sound and a sure technique.” And The Salt Lake Tribune deemed her as “Utah's flutist par excellence.”
Maurer began her musical studies in Seattle, Washington, where she was a member of the Seattle Youth Symphony and a recipient of awards from the Seattle Young Artists Festival. She continued her musical education in New York City, studying with Julius Baker (who stated that Maurer is “one of our outstanding and gifted students”), Jeanne Baxtresser and Samuel Baron.
Winning awards from the National Association of Composers, National Flute Association, National Orchestra of New York, Chautauqua Institute and Utah Arts Council; Maurer has appeared as a recitalist throughout the USA and Europe — including performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center (which was broadcast live on the Internet). The Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Armenian National Opera Orchestra, Serenade Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, National Flute Association's American Flutist Concerto Orchestra, Long Island Chamber Orchestra, and the Salt Lake Symphony have all included Maurer as a soloist on their rosters.
Maurer performs exclusively on Miyazawa flutes. For this recording, she plays a Weissman/McKenna piccolo and an Altus alto flute. Laurel Ann Maurer has recorded on the Albany, CRI, Soundspells and 4-Tay labels.
John Pickford Richards holds degrees from the Interlochen Arts Academy and Eastman School of Music, where his viola teachers have included David Holland and John Graham. Richards has participated in master-classes with Garth Knox, Kim Kashkashian, Heidi Castleman, as well as jazz workshops of Diane Monroe and Peter Casino. He has appeared as concerto soloist with the Pasadena Symphony, Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra and Ossia New Music. Richards has also performed as part of the Syracuse Symphony, Erie Philharmonic and Westminster Chamber Orchestra.
Richards has been a founding member of the Picasso String Quartet and the Susie Kelly String Quartet with performances throughout the East Coast. He has also performed in chamber music master-classes for members of the Tokyo, Guarneri, Ying, and St. Petersburg String quartet. And, Richards has performed in the chamber music programs of LyricaFest, Quartet Program, and Park City International Music Festival's Young Artists Institute.
An ardent advocate of new music, Richards has closely collaborated with composing luminaries as Steve Reich, John Adams, George Crumb, David Lang, La Monte Young, Tom Johnson, Augusta Read Thomas and Bernard Rands. He is a founding member of the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound — which recently recorded the world premiere of the revised version of Reich's The Desert Music (released on Cantaloupe Records). In addition, Richards performs regularly for Ossia New Music, for which he has served on its administrative board since 2000.
Susan Duehlmeier and Bonnie Gritton are acclaimed for the color, nuance, excitement and drama of their duo piano presentations. This keyboard team has concertized throughout the USA, China, Israel and Europe, and have been featured at Poland's Autumn Warsaw Festival, Boston's Symphony Hall as part of the Boston/Prague Music Festival, Washington D.C. for a concert in honor of the Ambassador of Mongolia, Connecticut's Friends of Music Chamber Series, Lake Konstanz International Music Festival in Germany, the International Piano Festival in Scotland, and at Israel's Jerusalem Center. They have also performed on the Dame Myra Hess series in Chicago and Los Angeles, which recitals were broadcast on National Public Radio.
As orchestral soloists, the Duehlmeier-Gritton duo have appeared with the Utah Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Westminster Chamber Orchestra and the Utah Philharmonia. This duo recently recorded Gershwin's Concerto in F (in an arrangement for two pianos and orchestra by Manookian) with the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra in Prague on the MMC label.
Receiving doctorate degrees at opposite ends of America (Duehlmeier with Leonard Shure at Boston University and Gritton with Aube Tzerko at the University of California Los Angeles), it was as faculty members at the University of Utah where Duehlmeier and Gritton discovered they had shared and complimentary musical ideas — perhaps due to their training in the Schnabel tradition. The initial performances of this piano duo in 1982 elicited such critical and public adulations, that the Duehlmeier-Gritton team elected to continue its successful collaboration, performing repertoire ranging from Bach to Gershwin.
The compositions of Jeff Manookian have been performed internationally, published by Warner Brothers Publications and Windsor Editions, and recorded on the Albany Records and 4-Tay labels. The Frederick Delius Composition Competition awarded Manookian its Grand Prize as well as First-Place awards in its Chamber Music and Piano categories. Other top prizes have been bestowed upon Manookian's compositions, including three Grand Prizes in the Composers Guild International Composition Competition.
Commissions for Manookian's works have come from the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, Utah Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, Utah Arts Festival, Contemporary Music Consortium, Utah Music Teachers Association, Utah Centennial Commission, Episcopal Diocese of Utah, Cathedral of the Madeleine, Westminster College, Sandy City, and the Abramyan String Quartet.
Manookian's music has been performed by the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra, National Opera Orchestra and Choir of Armenia, Serenade Chamber Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, Musical Society of Las Vegas, Utah Symphony, Nachtmusik Chamber Orchestra, Salt Lake Symphony, Intermountain Classical Orchestra, Westminster Chamber Orchestra, American West Symphony, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Oratorio Society of Utah, Salt Lake Symphonic Choir, Park City International Music Festival, Santiago Chile Contemporary Music Festival, Intermezzo Music Festival, Monticello Medici Chamber Ensemble, and other ensembles and soloists.
As a pianist, Manookian has performed at New York's Merkin Hall as winner of the Aram Khachaturian International Piano Competition. He has concertized internationally throughout Europe, North and South America and Southeast Asia. Manookian has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Philippines Philharmonic, Mexico State Symphony, Bolivian National Symphony, Utah Symphony, South Coast Symphony (California), Butte Symphony (Montana), Salt Lake Symphony, Northridge Academy Orchestra (California), Oakland Youth Symphony (California), and other orchestras.
Manookian has conducted the Pasadena Symphony, University Musical Society of Las Vegas, Salt Lake Symphony, Armenian Philharmonic, Armenian National Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Serenade Chamber Orchestra, American West Symphony, Nachtmusik Chamber Orchestra, Utah Youth Symphony, Westminster Chamber Orchestra, Intermountain Classical Orchestra, and various choirs and instrumental ensembles.
Recently, Manookian was inducted into the Union of Composers and Musicologists of Armenia.
This recording project was made possible through the generous financial assistance of: an anonymous donor, University of Utah, Sherrie Kilman, Mitchell Miller, Robin Korones and Naomi Feigal.
In addition, much appreciation goes to: David Gregory Adams, Nika Babaian, Gary Barnett, Todd Bennion, Anna Ghazarian, Harry Goldhagen, Joseph Siegel and Areg Simonian.
Recorded on November 26-29, 2002 at Cinema House Hall in Yerevan, Armenia.
Recording Engineer: Tigran Ishkhanoff
Recording Assistant: Manuk Haykazian
Producer: Jeff Manookian
Editor: Joseph Seigel
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