Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra

FARHAT, TJEKNAVORIAN TO RECORD "IRAN SYMPHONY" IN ARMENIA

Mehr News Agency, Iran Nov 21 2005

TEHRAN, Nov. 21 (MNA) -- Iranian musicians Shahin Farhat and Loris Tjeknavorian left Tehran for Armenia today to record the "Iran Symphony" with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra.

"One of the reasons the symphony is being recorded abroad is that I would like to record it once with all members of the orchestra playing simultaneously. In Iran, unfortunately, an orchestral work is recorded by several groups of players at different times. Thus, mixing the instruments takes much time," Farhat said.

Farhat began composing the work last March and finished it in October.

"It abstractly demonstrates bittersweet events our country has experienced over history," he said previously.

With a genuine Iranian theme, the symphony has been written in four movements and takes about 40 minutes. The first and second movements have an exciting and fast rhythm, the third movement is mellow, and the ending reminds one of triumph and victory.

According to Farhat, the Iranian Academy of Arts is funding the recording of the symphony, which will be conducted by Tjeknavorian.

Farhat had earlier asked Ali Rahbari to conduct the symphony, but Rahbari quit his post as the Tehran Symphony Orchestra permanent conductor and left Tehran for Vienna on November 19 due to the chaotic situation of music in Iran and the low salaries paid to musicians in the orchestra.

Farhat also composed the "Iranian Lady Symphony", the "Damavand Symphony", and the "Persian Gulf Symphony", all of which have patriotic themes.

Farhat's Persian Gulf and Damavand symphonies were originally scheduled to be recorded in Iran by the Tehran Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tjeknavorian, but in the end they were also recorded in Armenia by the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Tjeknavorian.

Farhat had expressed satisfaction with the Armenian orchestra's performance of the symphony.

This article contains text from a source with a copyright. Please help us by extracting the factual information and eliminating the rest in order to keep the site in accordance to fair use standards, or by obtaining permission for reuse on this site..