Track List:
1-14: 14 Persian Folksongs – Iradj Sahbai (b.1945)
Transcribed for two flutes from piano by Mehrdad Gholami
Performers: Mehrdad Gholami – Shauna Thompson
15 – From Afar – Nastaran Yazdani (b.1982)
Performers: Mehrdad Gholami – Shauna Thompson
16-18 – Three Pieces for two flutes – Sanam Gharachehdaghi (b.1978)
Performers: Mehrdad Gholami – Natasha Costello
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Cover : "Flute Player" by Bahman Mohassess - Used with permission from the Estate of Bahman Mohassess
Recorded on July 2023 – Van Ciburn Hall / Ed Landreth Hall – TCU School of Music - Fort Worth – Texas
Sound Engineer and Producer: Mehrdad Gholami – Copyright 2024
1-14: 14 Persian Folksongs – Iradj Sahbai (b.1945)
Transcribed for two flutes from piano by Mehrdad Gholami
Performers: Mehrdad Gholami – Shauna Thompson
15 – From Afar – Nastaran Yazdani (b.1982)
Performers: Mehrdad Gholami – Shauna Thompson
16-18 – Three Pieces for two flutes – Sanam Gharachehdaghi (b.1978)
Performers: Mehrdad Gholami – Natasha Costello
-----------
Cover : "Flute Player" by Bahman Mohassess - Used with permission from the Estate of Bahman Mohassess
Recorded on July 2023 – Van Ciburn Hall / Ed Landreth Hall – TCU School of Music - Fort Worth – Texas
Sound Engineer and Producer: Mehrdad Gholami – Copyright 2024
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There is a saying that playing Mozart is difficult because it is so well-known and deceptively simple. What about melodies that not only musicians but a whole country has lived on with? The idea of “interpreting” a folksong to me is as daunting as it can be. However, wrestling with a set of folksongs seems to be a rite of passage for composers and performers alike.
The first time I heard Iradj Sahbai’s folksongs for piano, performed by Peyman Yazdanian, I was immediately yearning to hear more of Sahbai’s clever use of dissonance and his masterful rhythmic displacement of the melodies. I started thinking what if we could really feel the crunch of these dissonants?
I started arranging the collection in form of duets for two flutes and realized, in addition to the dissonants, I can add a third dimension, which is flute’s ability to hold a note and create a difference tone. Eventually, each movement became an etude on flute’s extended techniques.
Living in Iran at the time, Nastaran Yazdani wrote From Afar for me during one of my visits to Tehran around 2016. At the time, deciding to divert more of her attention to her compositions, this is one of her earliest works of a career that has blossomed into international stages. I have followed and admired her 'from afar' for years, and I have treasured her presence as a friend whose taste in arts, literature, and languages I can trust. The piece develops around a main motive that represents itself in different forms, dancing, speaking or introspectively hiding behind long held augmented lines.
I joined the Tehran Contemporary Music Group directed by Alireza Mashayekhi around the year 2004. The 9 years I had with this ensemble shaped my musicianship forever. For a better part of these years, Sanam Gharachehdaghi was one of the main guest soloists of the ensemble, traveling back and forth between Iran and France. She gave me the score more than 17 years ago, and for all these years, I have hesitated to record these three short pieces so I can make sure I can deliver the same quality that she always put forward in her performances with the Tehran Contemporary Music Group. These three pieces represent one of the most cherished eras of my life in Tehran.
This album is a continuation of a dream to have a vast body of flute repertoire by Iranian composers, representing different levels of performance ability and combinations for the next generation of flutists walking the same steps I once took back in Iran.
I would like to acknowledge the gracious collaboration of Shauna Thompson and Natasha Costello. Most tracks of this album are straight takes with no editing and I owe this to their artistry.
To Kouchyar Shahroudi, for 20 years of presence, support and mentorship.
The first time I heard Iradj Sahbai’s folksongs for piano, performed by Peyman Yazdanian, I was immediately yearning to hear more of Sahbai’s clever use of dissonance and his masterful rhythmic displacement of the melodies. I started thinking what if we could really feel the crunch of these dissonants?
I started arranging the collection in form of duets for two flutes and realized, in addition to the dissonants, I can add a third dimension, which is flute’s ability to hold a note and create a difference tone. Eventually, each movement became an etude on flute’s extended techniques.
Living in Iran at the time, Nastaran Yazdani wrote From Afar for me during one of my visits to Tehran around 2016. At the time, deciding to divert more of her attention to her compositions, this is one of her earliest works of a career that has blossomed into international stages. I have followed and admired her 'from afar' for years, and I have treasured her presence as a friend whose taste in arts, literature, and languages I can trust. The piece develops around a main motive that represents itself in different forms, dancing, speaking or introspectively hiding behind long held augmented lines.
I joined the Tehran Contemporary Music Group directed by Alireza Mashayekhi around the year 2004. The 9 years I had with this ensemble shaped my musicianship forever. For a better part of these years, Sanam Gharachehdaghi was one of the main guest soloists of the ensemble, traveling back and forth between Iran and France. She gave me the score more than 17 years ago, and for all these years, I have hesitated to record these three short pieces so I can make sure I can deliver the same quality that she always put forward in her performances with the Tehran Contemporary Music Group. These three pieces represent one of the most cherished eras of my life in Tehran.
This album is a continuation of a dream to have a vast body of flute repertoire by Iranian composers, representing different levels of performance ability and combinations for the next generation of flutists walking the same steps I once took back in Iran.
I would like to acknowledge the gracious collaboration of Shauna Thompson and Natasha Costello. Most tracks of this album are straight takes with no editing and I owe this to their artistry.
To Kouchyar Shahroudi, for 20 years of presence, support and mentorship.