Istanbul hosts world premiere of new sonata by Mansurian

Kim Kashkashian, the American violist who made her debut in the 2013 edition of the İstanbul Music Festival, returned to the festival and the same venue - the ancient Surp Vortvots Vorodman Church in Kumkapı -- on June 10, with pianist Péter Nagy, to premiere a new work by Tigran Mansurianm Today’s Zaman reported.

It was a musical match made in heaven. Its enthusiastic reception, coupled with such an ideal setting for a program dedicated largely to Armenian music, was a moment in history for the festival and Mansurian. The composer's richly emotional “Sonata da Chiesa for Viola and Piano: In Memoriam Komitas Vardapet” deserves worldwide attention and is destined to become a prominent piece in the viola literature.

Known for her adventurous repertoire that often includes contemporary and newly commissioned works, Kashkashian is a 2013 Grammy Award winner for her recording “Kurtag/Ligeti Music for Viola.” Mansurian has previously written three works for her and he himself participated as pianist and vocalist the recording of one of them.

The June 10 world premiere was a commission from the festival organizers the İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV). The 76-year old Mansurian, who is one of Armenia's most revered living composers, was in attendance. Prior to the concert, he participated in a pre-concert interview with choir master and music teacher Hagop Mamigonyan. The composer revealed that the title's “Sonata da Chiesa” (Church Sonata) referred to the Surp Vortvots Vorodman Church and it was dedicated to the Armenian ethno-musicologist, composer, and singer Komitas Vardapet (1869-1935), who spent the last days of his creative life in İstanbul.

Mansurian designed the piece to be an “intermediate between Baroque sonatas and those of recent times, between alert texture and inspired speech,” as well as an “intermediate between speech and silence,” according to the program notes. What is notable is the emotional richness of those particular “intermediate” expression. By leaning into the rich timbre of the viola -- and not writing for it as if it were just a large violin -- he exploited the velvet-voiced cousin's ability to profoundly project expansive and personal musical messages, surrounded by plenty of breathing space.

The pianist's role was similarly and supportively expansive, and the second movement's magical stream of a crystalline series of notes in the upper register created an otherworldly effect that permeated its overall texture. Nagy was a sterling partner to Kashkashian's deeply committed performance. It was obvious that the piece suited her and Nagy, but most it suited her viola most of all. By invoking the spirit of Komitas, Mansurian has written one of the most flattering and richly stated compositions for this instrument.

After a capable rendition of Bartok's colorful “Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Piano” reworked for the viola - although less effective than the violin version -- and beginning the program with a somewhat perfunctory “Sonata for Gamba and Cembalo” by J.S. Bach, Komitas' spirit returned to us as the last element on the program. Seven of his pieces, transcribed for viola and piano, displayed largely dolorous and wistful moods that occasionally diverged into a snappy folk dance or a grand proclamation. The spaciousness and simplicity of these wordless songs rang with a lovely and haunting reverence in the Byzantine church of Surp Vortvots.