Tigran Mansurian

Tigran Mansurian

Tigran Yeghiayi Mansurian (Armenian: Տիգրան Մանսուրյան; born 27 January 1939) is a leading Armenian composer of classical music and film scores.^[1][2]

Biography

He was born in Beirut and educated in Yerevan, Armenia, where his family had moved in 1947 and settled in Yerevan in 1956.^[3] He studied first at the Romanos Melikian Music School under the Armenian composer Edvard Baghdasaryan and later at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory.^[4][5] His "Monodia" album was nominated for the 2005 Grammy Award for "Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra)" and "Best Classical Contemporary Composition."^[6]

Tigran Mansurian in San Francisco, 2015

Recordings

• Tigran Mansurian: String Quartets - Rosamunde Quartett (ECM 1905)
• Tigran Mansurian: "…and then I was in time again", Lachrymae, Confessing with Faith – Kim Kashkashian, viola; Jan Garbarek, soprano saxophone; The Hilliard Ensemble; Christoph Poppen, conductor; Münchener Kammerorchester. (CD ECM 1850/51)
• Tigran Mansurian: Havik, Duet for viola and percussion – Kim Kashkashian, viola; Robyn Schulkowsky, percussion; Tigran Mansurian, piano, voice. (CD ECM 1754)
• Tigran Mansurian: Quasi parlando - Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin; Anja Lechner, violonchello; Amsterdam sinfonietta; Candida Thompson. (ECM new series 2323)

Works

Mansurian's compositions range from large scale orchestral works to individual art songs. He also composed several film scores between 1968 and 1980.^[7]

Stage

• The Snow Queen (ballet in two acts with a scenario by Vilen Galstyan, after the story by Hans Christian Andersen), 1989

Orchestral

• Concerto, for organ and small orchestra, 1964
• Partita, for large orchestra, 1965
• Music for Twelve Strings, 1966
• Preludes, for large orchestra, 1975
• To the Memory of Dmitry Shostakovich, for cello and large orchestra, 1976
• Canonical Ode, for harp, organ and 2 string orchestras, 1977
• Concerto No. 2, for cello and string orchestra, 1978
• Double Concerto, for violin, cello and string orchestra, 1978
• Tovem, for small orchestra, 1979
• Nachtmusik, for large orchestra, 1980
• Because I Do Not Hope (in memory of Igor Stravinsky), for small orchestra, 1981
• Concerto, for violin and string orchestra, 1981
• Concerto No. 3, for cello and small orchestra, 1983
• Postludio Concerto, for clarinet, cello, string orchestra, 1993
• Concerto, for viola, and string orchestra, 1995
• Fantasy, for piano, string orchestra, 2003
• Ubi est Abel frater tuus? Concerto No.4, for cello and small orchestra, 2010

Chamber music

• Sonata, for viola and piano, 1962
• Sonata, for flute and piano, 1963
• Sonata No. 1, for violin, piano, 1964
• Allegro barbaro, for solo cello, 1964
• Sonata No. 2, for violin and piano, 1965
• Piano Trio, for violin, cello, and piano, 1965
• Psalm, for two flutes and violin, 1966
• Interior, for string quartet, 1972
• Silhouette of a Bird, for harpsichord and percussion, 1971–73
• Sonata No. 1, for cello and piano, 1973
• Sonata No. 2, for cello and piano, 1974
• Wind Quintet, for flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, and bassoon, 1974
• The Rhetorician, for flute, violin, double bass, and harpsichord, 1978
• Capriccio, for solo cello, 1981
• String Quartet No. 1, 1983–84
• String Quartet No. 2, 1984
• Five Bagatelles, for violin, cello, and piano, 1985
• Tombeau, for cello and percussion, 1988
• Postludio, for clarinet and cello, 1991-92 (also has a concerto version)
• String Quartet No. 3, 1993
• Concerto, for English horn, clarinets, bassoons, trumpets, and trombones, 1995
• Hommage à Anna Akhmatova, for bass clarinet, qanun (zither), viola, and marimba, 1997
• Duo, for viola and percussion, 1998
• Dance, for viola and percussion, 1998
• Lacrimae, for soprano saxophone and viola, 1999;
• Lamento, for violin, 2002 (also has version for viola)
• Three Medieval Taghs, for viola and percussion, 1998–2004
• Testament, for string quartet, 2004
• Ode an den Lotus (Ode to the Lotus) for viola solo, 2012

Piano

• Sonatina No. 1, 1963
• Petite Suite, 1963
• Sonata No. 1, 1967
• Miniatures, 1969
• Three Pieces, 1970–71
• Nostalgia, 1976
• Three Pieces for the Low Keys, 1979
• Sonatina No. 2, 1987

Choral

• Three Poems, for mixed chorus, 1969 (text by Kostan Zaryan)
• Spring Songs, for mixed chorus, 1996 (text by Hovhannes Tumanyan),
• Confessing with Faith, for four male voices and viola, 1998 (text by Nerses Shnorhali)
• Ars Poetica concerto for mixed chorus, 1996–2000 (text by Yeghishe Charents)
• Motet, two mixed choruses, 2000 (text by Grigor Narekatsi),
• On the Shores of Eternity, for mixed chorus, 2003 (text by Avetik Isahakyan)

Vocal

• Three Romances, for mezzo-soprano and piano, 1966 (text by Federico García Lorca, translated into Armenian by Hamo Sahyan)
• Four Hayrens for mezzo-soprano (or viola) and piano, 1967 (text by Nahapet Kuchak)
• Intermezzo, for soprano and ensemble, 1972-73 (text by Vladimir Holan), score lost)
• I am Giving You a Rose, for soprano, flute, cello, and piano, 1974 (text by Matevos Sarifyan)
• Three Nairian Songs, for baritone and large orchestra, 1975–76 (text by Vahan Teryan)
• Three Madrigals, for soprano, flute, cello, piano, 1974–81 (text by Razmik Davoyan),
• Sunset Songs, for soprano and piano, 1984–85 (a song-cycle to text by Hamo Sahyan)
• The Land of Nairi for soprano and piano, 1986 (a song-cycle to text by Vahan Teryan),
• Miserere, for soprano and string orchestra, 1989 (texts by Saint Mesrob based on the Bible in Armenian translation)
• Madrigal IV, for soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and tubular bells, 1991 (text by Alicia Kirakosyan)
• Requiem, for soprano, baritone, mixed chorus and string orchestra, 2011

Film scores

• The Color of Pomegranates, 1968 (directed by Sergei Parajanov)
• The Color of Armenian Land, 1968 (directed by Mikhail Vartanov)
• Autumn Pastoral, 1971 (directed by Mikhail Vartanov)
• And So Every Day, 1972 (directed by Mikhail Vartanov)
• We and Our Mountains, 1969 (directed by Henrik Malyan)
• Osenneye solntse (Autumn Sun), 1979 (directed by Bagrat Oganesyan)
• Legend of the Clown, 1979 (directed by Levon Asatryan)
• Ktor me Yerkinq, 1980 (directed by Henrik Malyan)
• The Tango of Our Childhood, 1984 (directed by Albert Mkrtchyan)

References

1. "Tigran Mansurian". ECM Records. Retrieved 17 March 2014. In only a few years he became one of Armenia’s leading composers.
2. Swed, Mark (19 January 2009). "Review: The Dilijan series premieres a new Tigran Mansurian work". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
3. "Los Angeles Times published article dedicated toTigran Mansurian". Armenpress. 10 January 2014. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
4. Schott Music, Tigran Mansurian
5. Pasles, Chris, What stirs deep inside , Los Angeles Times, 20 April 2007
6. Tigran Mansurian
7. Works list compiled from The Living Composers Project, Mansurian, Tigran

External links

• Tigran Mansurian's official web page
• Tigran Mansurian on Other Minds Festival website
• Tigran Mansurian-Confessing With Music Documentary Film