Interview of Ambassador Tigran Mkrtchyan to the German magazine operalounge.de

01 October, 2020

Ambassador Tigran Mkrtchyan's interview to Operalounge.de - the leading online magazine for vocal and opera repertoire in Germany on the wonderful “concert version” of the revered Komitas Divine Liturgy!

Question: Mr. Mkrchtyan, the music of Komitas has become more and more known and popular over the past years and has found great international acclaim. Why do you think this music is being rediscovered right now? Does it "only" have to do with the 150th birthday of the composer, whose anniversary was celebrated in 2019, or is it just the music itself?

Ambassador Mkrtchyan: The music of Komitas has been known internationally for a very long time. I would like to say that anyone who ever visited Armenia could not have not noticed Komitas. He is deservedly everywhere, the State Conservatory is named after him, just like many concert halls, schools, streets, one of the best quartets, the Komitas State Quartet․ His busts and statues are everywhere, from Yerevan to Paris, from St Petersburg to Montreal. One of the most important museums in Yerevan- the super-modern and extremely impressive Museum-Institute of Komitas, which is presenting his life and work, is a must-visit site for lovers of Armenian music and culture.

Nevertheless, we need to be a bit more cautious here. It is one thing to remember the unforgettable face of Komitas, and quite another - to immerse in his music. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is. Once his music grips, you realize it is eternal, it is divine, and at the same time, it is about us. Komitas’ music should definitely be known better. One of the obstacles for its wider recognition and circulation is the fact that the lyrics of his songs, with some exceptions, are in Armenian. It is a challenge for international performers, although eminent Armenian choirs, such as the State Academic Choir, Hover Chamber Choir, and others have widely popularized Komitas’ music in the world. Instrumentalists do not have this problem with the language. Recently some of the best violinists, e. g. Sergey Khachatryan and Maxim Vengerov, or piano players, such as Grigory Sokolov and Yevgeny Kissin, have performed Komitas.

Wider recognition Komitas is gaining also thanks to the international labels that release his recordings. For example, the DELOS recording of Komitas’ Divine Liturgy with the Latvian Radio Choir, initiated and organized by the Embassy of Armenia in Latvia, had the world once again speak about Komitas and his music. I should also emphasize the German ECM label that had recorded and published Komitas music, especially with Lusine Grigoryan, the Gurdjieff Ensemble, and another, rather a non-standard one, with Kim Kashkashian and Tigran Mansurian interpretation. I should mention also Armenian opera diva Hasmik Papian’s efforts in popularizing Komitas and particularly his German songs, recorded by German label Audite, as well as Isabel Bayrakdarian’s Grammy-nominated “Gomidas Songs”, recorded by Nonesuch label, should be mentioned as well (“Gomidas” is a Western Armenian pronunciation for “Komitas”).

Question: Komitas seems to me to have almost been a kind of early "musical relative" of composers such as Arvo Pärt, for example, i.e. composers who on the one hand respected the strict rules of sacred music, the liturgy, but within these boundaries found a new, quasi inward-looking spirituality. Can one say so?

Ambassador Mkrtchyan: Yes, of course. We should keep in mind that Komitas had a very thorough theological-spiritual education. He was an archimandrite (Vardapet) and his knowledge of spiritual music was fundamental. One could say that spiritual music is part of his musical word-cognition.

Question: Apart from his role as a composer of sacred works, Komitas is also an important composer of his epoch, e.g. in his piano music, which is very independent. What role does Komitas play in Armenian music? Was he the "big bang" of art music for your country, as you can often read?

Ambassador Mkrtchyan: Komitas is the founder of the Armenian national school of music. If we attempt to speak of what he accomplished in this respect we will have a very long talk. I will try to be laconic. Komitas not only saved the Armenian music (in a period of repeated annihilations and genocide of Armenians and their culture in the Ottoman Turkey), he enhanced it and gave it a new quality. He had understood the need to find a new approach for presenting national music. Komitas played a vital role in decoding the khaz - Armenian medieval music signs. He was an amazing scholar. There are ancient nations that have national music, but without someone like Komitas who found the right method of presenting these musical riches can be virtually unknown to the wider world. Armenians were lucky because today and forever the music of Komitas can be performed alongside the great compositions of classical music. And yet his music is always attractive because it does not copy someone else, it is quite unique.

Question: Did Komitas actually have students or inspired composers who followed his style?

I think there is no Armenian composer after Komitas who would just go around him or ignore him. But to claim that his style is followed might be an exaggeration. I would, nonetheless, like to mention the names very well known in Armenia - Robert Atayan, Nikoghayos Tavrizyan, Artur Shahnazaryan, etc. Of course, the list of names, who had an essential input in the development of Komitas studies, can continue.

Ambassador Mkrtchyan: I would like to mention also the great American-Armenian composer Alan Hovhannes, who even once recorded Komitas’ piano pieces. I believe some of his music, including certain symphonies, is highly inspired by Komitas. The same can be said about the contemporary Armenian composer, my dear friend Tigran Mansurian. I think they both have consistently looked back at Komitas as a guide and key to the future.

Question: Is Komitas’ music still regularly used liturgically in Armenia today, or is it more like Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" or Mozart's "Requiem" that this music, above all as independent compositions, leads a life of its own outside its former liturgical sphere of use?

Ambassador Mkrtchyan: Definitely. It is performed both in churches and on stages. Certain pieces of his Liturgy, as well as the entire Liturgy, are performed on various stages in the world. Even though Komitas himself made more than 10 versions of his Liturgy, there are two widely accepted versions. One is, the longer the church-version with full rituals and texts of the participants which lasts almost two hours. That version is performed in churches from time to time. The other one, is a concert version, lasting 70-80 minutes (depending on how much one abridges the Priest’s and Deacon’s parts). This concert version of the Liturgy is performed in concert halls as well as churches with good acoustics.

Question: Is there still much music by Komitas to be discovered that has not yet been performed or recorded? Or to put it another way: will there be follow-up projects?

Ambassador Mkrtchyan: Only part of Komitas’ music is being performed now. I would not like to specify any numbers of his songs or works, but there are various opinions of scholars on his inheritance. Some argue that most of his works perished and did not reach us. But it is for sure that we have still much work to do. Several of his compositions have not even been performed and I hope they will have new stage lives. What I can say is that our initiative was special, its mixed choir arrangement (as well as a non-Armenian choir performing and then recording a full concert version for the first time ever) was audacious, and I hope that we did not diverge from the spirit of Komitas. Let us not forget that he himself had arranged some parts of the Liturgy for mixed choir. And no one can argue that had he continued to compose after 1915 he would not have transcribed the entire Liturgy for mixed choir performance.

As an Embassy we have one more Komitas project. We have invited Sona Hovhannisyan, one of the best interpreters of Komitas, the Rector of Armenia’s State Conservatory, conductor and founder of Hover Chamber Choir, together with that choir’s soloists to Estonia, and along with one of the best male choirs in the world, the Estonian National Male Choir, to perform the complete concert version of Komitas’ Divine Liturgy. That event is scheduled for 2021 April in Tallinn. I hope COVID won’t stop us from completing another landmark Komitas project in Europe.

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