Credits:

Tarasova, Marina

Description:

Stepan Elmas is an Armenian pianist and composer. He was a child prodigy, and by the time he was 13 years old, he was giving recitals of works by Franz Liszt. After his acclaimed debut in Vienna in 1885, Elmas became an active composer as well. Many of his works were lost in the "Great Smyrna Fire" of 1922, but fortunately the manuscript of this mazurka collection has survived and is now kept in the Armenian Museum of Literature and Art. Mikaela Airapetian, who has contributed to the discovery, development, and popularization of Armenian music, edited and performed the mazurkas from this manuscript score. The mazurkas in this collection are all elegant works in the style of the early Romantic period, but like Chopin in his mazurkas, Hermas also combines the characteristics of folk music and dance, and in No. 9 and No. 10 in particular, we can hear innovative approaches in rhythmic treatment and harmony. Naxos Japan