Reza Vali

Synopsis

In the 19th century, European composers began celebrating their own national diversity, tapping into their native folk music for inspiration and musical themes. This trend continues in our own time with composers from the Pacific Rim and Middle East.

Take this music, written for the modern flute and cello, two traditional European instruments, but influenced by the folk music and native instruments of Persia. The performers are asked at times to play and sing simultaneously. For the flute, this results in overtones and a timbre similar to the Persian bamboo flute. The cellist, by sharply plucking some strings or striking them with the wooden part of his bow, also imitates Persian percussion instruments. 

The composer of this Folk Song Suite, based on real and imagined Persian themes, is Reza Vali. He was born in Ghazvin, Iran, on today’s date in 1952, and began his musical studies at the Conservatory of Music in Tehran. In 1972, Reza Vali traveled to Austria to study at the Vienna Academy of Music, then came to the United States, earning his doctorate in music theory and composition from the University of Pittsburgh in 1985, and subsequently joined the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University.

Music Played in Today's Program

Reza Vali (b. 1952): Folk Songs Set No. 9; Alberto Almarza, flute; Alvaro Bitran, cello; New Albion 077

On This Day

Births

• 1653 - Baptismal date of German composer and organist Johann Pachelbel, in Nuremberg

• 1854 - German composer Engelbert Humperdinck in Siegburg (near Bonn)

• 1886 - Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck, in Brunnen

• 1952 - Iranian-born American composer Reza Vali, in Ghazvin, Iran

Deaths

• 1912 - English composer of African descent, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, 37, in Croydon

Premieres

• 1816 - Spohr: opera Faust (first version in German with spoken dialogue), in Prague at the Ständetheater;

• 1934 - Janácek: opera Osud (Fate), over Brno radio. The first staged performance of this work took place 24 years later at the Brno National Theater on Oct. 25, 1958.

• 1963 - Britten: Cantata Misericordium, a Latin dramatization of the parable of the Good Samaritan, by the Suisse Romande Orchestra conducted by Ernest Ansermet, in Geneva, Switzerland, at a concert in celebration of the Red Cross

• 2000 - Gubaidulina: St. John’s Passion, in Stuttgart (Germany), by the chorus and orchestra of the Kirov Opera Theater and the St. Petersburg Chamber Choir, conducted by Valery Gergiev; This work was one of four passion settings commissioned by the International Bach Academy to honor the 250th anniversary of Bach's death in the year 2000 (see also: Aug. 28, Sept 5, 8)

Others

• 1785 - Mozart dedicates the publication of six new String Quartets to Haydn