コミタス: 聖体礼儀

編曲によりさらに美しさの増したコミタスの傑作を堪能する一枚

偉大なコミタスの作品がアメリカの作曲家ヴァーチェ・シャラフィヤンにより混声合唱曲に編曲され、初めての録音となりました。シャラフィヤンの編曲では彩り豊かな女性の声でさらに作品の美しさが増しました。オリジナルよりも程よい長さで演奏しやすくなっています。注目の指揮者シグヴァルズ・クラーヴァがユニークなアンサンブル、ラトヴィア放送合唱団を指揮しています。ブックレットには興味深い解説、コミタス自身による自叙伝、アルメニア語の歌詞と音訳、英訳付きです。
ユニバーサル・ミュージック/IMS

The Divine Liturgy of composer Komitas, also known as Komitas Vardapet or Soghomon Soghomonian, is a work of great significance for the Armenian people, having been completed just before the Armenian genocide in Turkey began. It is often sung in commemoration of that event. The music is deeply rooted in traditional Armenian religious music, yet it is also part of the modern world, with a set of four notes lending tonal unity and harmonic shifts adding contrast. It is a cappella, and the uninitiated will find it a couple of settings closer to traditional music than, say, Rachmaninovs Vespers. This version by the Latvian Radio Choir under Sigvards Klava is the first non-Armenian recording of the work (the lead soloists are Armenian). It came about at the behest of Armenias ambassador to Latvia, who hoped to introduce the work to a wider audience. He commissioned composer Vache Sharafyan to make a new version, here termed an arrangement. Sharafyan shortened the work to concert length (presently it just fills one CD) and added female voice parts to the original all-male work. This has raised the hackles of traditionalists in the past, and the whole thing, in addition to being a solemn piece of choral music, is a fascinating example of the tensions inherent in the adaptation of a sacred object. Sharafyans female voice parts have a unique subtlety that is captured well by the Latvian Radio Choir. In general, Klava gets an intriguing airy but sober sound from this remarkable group, which here offers a really offbeat item.