Interview with Farhad Poupel (II)

HT: Please tell us more about this piece and your background with this orchestra.
FP
: My acquaintance with the eminent American pianist, Jeffrey Biegel, was made through my piano work, Fantasia on One Note.
Fantasia on One Note was my first professional work for piano, which had its world premiere by the great pianist Peter Jablonski in Sweden, and it has been performed by various pianists in the UK, Germany, France, and the Czech Republic. The recording of this work has also been broadcast on the Dutch public radio, NPR Radio 4.
Since 1999, the prominent American pianist and professor at the Brooklyn Conservatory, Jeffrey Biegel, after working with Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, the first Pulitzer Prize-winning female composer, began to collaborate with the most prominent American composers on new commissions for solo and orchestra performances. This includes Kenneth Fuch, Richard Danielpour and… I was the first non-American composer that worked with him. After some talk, we came to the story of Bijan and Manijeh, and after my explanation about the Shahnameh, he suggested the use of the Persian choir. I myself did not expect to be able to use Ferdowsi’s poems in Farsi, so I eagerly accepted.
The Windows Symphony Orchestra in Canada was the first professional orchestra to perform my work, Zayandeh Rud for string orchestra in April 2019 (This work could have had its world premiere by Deutsche Radio Philharmonie; however, the concert was cancelled unfortunately). The orchestra performed Zayndeh Rud in seven concerts conducted by Daniel Wiley (Daniel Wiley is now the assistant conductor of the Cincinnati Orchestra and will soon be performing my Childhood Memories under his direction with the Cincinnati Youth Orchestra), and since then, I’m having a close relationship with this orchestra.
HT: Will this piece be performed by other orchestras as well?
FP
: Yes, it will be performed with Key Chorale in February 2024 in Florida. This work could have been performed with the Cincinnati Youth Orchestra, which unfortunately was cancelled due to planning for the choir, and the Childhood Memories will be performed instead. Probably, other orchestras will perform The Legend Bijan and Manijeh in the future, which will be announced.
HT: The complete audio file or the video of this concert has not been released yet; is there any reasons behind this
?
FP: Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to release the recording of the premiere footage due to specific laws in Canada and Ontario regarding the release of the recording. But the Florida performance of this work will be released.
HT: Have you been happy with this commission and will you continue working with them?
FP: Windows Symphony Orchestra is a professional and flexible orchestra (the premiere was done well with only two rehearsals), especially due to its conductor and music director, Robert Franz, who has previously worked with the Iranian composer, Behzad Ranjbaran.
HT: You are one of Dr. Mohammad Saeed Sharifian’s most successful pupils; do you still find his influence in your work
?
FP: You are very kind. He influenced me enormously, from composing to understanding music and even how to look at life.
A very significant point was his freedom in education so that each of his students has a different philosophy and style from each other. I had the honour of being his student for five and a half years and if I were born again, I would definitely repeat the same choice.

Post a Comment

Required fields are marked *
*
*
Your email is never shared.

Farhad Poupel: The Voice of the Shahnameh in the Orchestras Around the World

In an era when almost no trace of contemporary Iranian music can be heard in international concert halls, except (so-called!) avant-garde works that owe their existence solely to the fashionable slogans of the “pseudo-intellectual” crowd who have seized the already meager resources for performing classical music from the true artists of the field, the numerous performances of Farhad Poupel’s works shine as a ray of hope for lovers of sincere musical art. Without resorting to trendy slogans, he has kept the flame of Iranian classical music alive purely through the power of his artistry.

Five Major Myths About Mozart’s Life

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the renowned Austrian composer, is undoubtedly one of the greatest geniuses in the history of classical music. However, his life is surrounded by numerous myths and legends, some of which are not based on facts. This article explores five of the most common misconceptions about Mozart’s life.

From Past Days…

Layla Ramezan, Iranian Pianist

Iranian pianist Layla Ramezan has always sought to create a connection between her Persian origin and the contemporary music which she encounters daily. Sound, phrasing, a particular sense of rhythm and a refined understanding of the “time of musical development” are the foremost qualities of her interpretations. Her musical and pianistic education began in Tehran at the age of 8 with Mostafa-Kamal Poortorab. Having moved to Paris and received a scholarship from Albert Roussel Foundation, she integrated the classes of Jean Micault and Devi Erlih at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot, where she received a Diplôme de Virtuosité in piano performance and chamber music.

Persian Music: “Mahour the Great” in Austria

In 1990  an Austria-based Persian musician Khosro Soltani, in cooperation with Hossein Alizadeh, put out an album entitled, Ancient Call A New (Nobang-e Kohan). After many years, a few ancient Persian instruments such as Sorna, Karna, Naghareh,etc. have been used, instruments which have been left out of the circle of Persian classical musical instruments for centuries.

The Legacy of Khosrow Jafarzadeh

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the passing of Khosrow Jafarzadeh (Khosrow Djafar-Zadeh), a distinguished architect and pioneering researcher of Iranian music, whose contributions to the magazine “Harmony Talk” have left an indelible mark on the field. The absence of this remarkable individual has significantly impacted the expansion and advancement of his theories, which are heralded as some of the most progressive in the history of Iranian music

Iranian Fallacies – School of Vaziri

Iranian Fallacies – School of Vaziri

The term “School of Vaziri” is often used in writings on Iranian music, but the exact meaning of the term is not clear; some of the authors have used the term to only refer to the group of Vaziri’s students, including a large group of his conservatory students and his Tar students such as Abolhassan Saba, Rouhollah Khaleghi, Ahmad Foroutan Rad, Hossein Sanjari, Heshmat Sanjari and others. But can we consider all Vaziri’s students as followers of his school of thought? This is definitely a mistake, because we know that some of Vaziri’s students have chosen a completely different path than that of Vaziri.

The Structure of Kurdistan Daf (I)

Today, percussion instruments have such a high place in music that are an essential element of orchestras. This has attracted many people to this type of instrument with roots as old as the first humans. A historical study of music, shows that humans used the sound of these instruments to defend themselves against wild animals and, over time, for alerting each other, signaling their readiness and encouraging people for war, ritual ceremonies, dances, etc. in a manner that is still clearly visible in music and some ritual ceremonies.

A few steps on the “Road to Bach”

The world of music has unparalleled respect for Bach. Bach is considered the spiritual father of classical music; Bach’s great position is due not only to his great achievements in the fields of harmony, counterpoint, and compositional sciences but also to his respect for and adherence to the artistic principles of classical music. In the history of classical music, it is recorded that Bach walked about fifty kilometers to listen to the music played by the great German organist Dieterich Buxtehude, and this is the path that every idealistic classical music student should walk.

Principles of Violin Playing (IX)

4.3.1. To practice playing of doubles of notes involving two different fingers, each note is played at separate bows with slow tempo, each note is played perfectly regarding its bass and tenor sounds and then the considered double is played at another bow while considering the resulted sound of the double.

Interview with the Makers of the New Qeychak (II)

Regarding the classification of a new instrument in an instrument family, one can point to a number of fundamental issues, one of the most obvious of which is the instrument’s visual features. If we look at how the new instrument has changed compared to its historical versions, the set of visual elements that link the instrument to the Qeychak family becomes apparent. But other characteristics such as the geometric dimensions of the instrument, characteristics of the instrument’s various parts and how they relate to each other, its systematic performance, its sound range (compared to modern versions), the material and color of the sound, the way it is played and the like, can be considered in order to classify the instrument in the Qeychak family.

Ennio Morricone’s music for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight

After watching Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie, The Hateful Eight, everyone was excited by its novel music besides the beautiful scenes of blood and guts.
The Hateful Eight is the first collaboration between the world-famous film music composer, Ennio Morricone, and Quentin Tarantino as a famous director.

“Pledge of Love”

The “Pledge of Love” is the first album in a series composed based on the tasnifs by the renowned Iranian tasnif-maker Mohammad Ali Amir Jahed and recorded by Sahba Kohan Ensemble with Ramin Bahiraie as signer.