HARO STEPANIAN (1897–1966)

26 PRELUDES FOR PIANO

MIKAEL AYRAPETYAN

“Armenian classical music is unique. My job as the head of the international musical project "Secrets of Armenia" is to introduce masterpieces of Armenian classical music to a worldwide audience, and I’m very happy to be able to do that with these recordings. Art should not remain in oblivion.” – Mikael Ayrapetyan

Listen to an excerpt from
Prelude in G minor, Op. 47, No. 1
GP760

HARO STEPANIAN (1897–1966)

About this Recording

Described by Aram Khachaturian as “the greatest Soviet Armenian composer”, Haro Stepanian followed the pioneering efforts of composers such as Komitas in establishing a strong national voice for Armenian music. He composed three symphonies, operatic works, numerous songs, chamber pieces, and works for piano. Building on the models of Chopin, Rachmaninov and fellow Armenians such as Komitas and Tigranian, the 26 varied and sharply contrasting Preludes are exquisite folk-influenced miniatures suffused with sadness, poetic contemplation, the natural world and scenes of Armenian life.

26 PRELUDES (1947-1965)
EIGHT PRELUDES, OP. 47 (1947) (18:00)
1
No. 1 in G minor (02:52)
2
No. 2 in A major (01:37)
3
No. 3 in F minor (02:33)
4
No. 4 in F sharp minor (01:41)
5
No. 5 in G major (01:59)
6
No. 6 in F minor (02:29)
7
No. 7 in C minor (03:06)
8
No. 8 in F sharp minor (01:43)
EIGHT PRELUDES, OP. 48 (1948) (17:03)
9
No. 1 in E minor (01:41)
10
No. 2 in C minor (02:30)
11
No. 3 in A major (02:15)
12
No. 4 in A minor (01:42)
13
No. 5 in F minor (01:59)
14
No. 6 in F sharp minor (02:37)
15
No. 7 in G minor (02:20)
16
No. 8 in F major (01:59)
EIGHT PRELUDES, OP. 63 (1956) (14:32)
17
No. 1 in E minor (02:01)
18
No. 2 in G minor (01:29)
19
No. 3 in F sharp major (01:52)
20
No. 4 in A minor (01:23)
21
No. 5 in B minor (02:31)
22
No. 6 in B minor (01:18)
23
No. 7 in B major (02:01)
24
No. 8 in G minor (01:57)
25
PRELUDE IN A MAJOR (1964) (02:41)
26
PRELUDE IN F MINOR (1965) (02:30)

TOTAL TIME: 54:47

WORLD PREMIÈRE RECORDING
MIKAEL AYRAPETYAN

MIKAEL AYRAPETYAN

Mikael Ayrapetyan was born in 1984 in Yerevan, Armenia, where he had his early schooling. His repertoire ranges from the baroque to the contemporary and includes rarely performed works of Armenian composers whose music had not until then been performed. He is actively engaged in the popularisation of Armenian classical music, organising concerts in major concert-halls of the world, and acting as producer, artistic director and pianist for these performances. Mikael has also recorded works by Eduard Abramian, Eduard Bagdasarian and Komitas, including many world première recordings, for Grand Piano.

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