Echoes of Armenia

This is a fine album, in many ways typical of ECM new series. Another one that comes as two cd's, although the music is barely over 80 minutes in total. The album is titled Monodia and features music by the contemporary Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian. The first cd contains a viola concerto entitled "..and then I was in time again" performed by Kim Kashkashian and the Municher Kammerorchester conducted by Christoph Poppen and a Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with the same orchestral forces and soloist Leonidas Kavakos. This cd highlights one of the aspects of Mansurian's music, taking techniques long established in western Europe such as serialism but which were unknown to Soviet composers until the fall of the USSR. The second cd shows more the other aspect of his music, the rediscovery of Armenian folk traditions and orthodox Christian faith and chant. The two pieces featured on this disk are Lachrymae for soprano saxophone and viola with Jan Garbarek and Kim Kashkashian ( who both make their instruments resemble the Armenian duduk ) and Confessing with Faith for viola and four voices with Kim Kaskashian and the Hilliard Ensemble.