Intermezzos in memory of Zaven Hakopian
Vedad Famourzadeh

During the 1950s and 1960s, Western music such as Bach and Beethoven, and Iranian traditional classical music - known as Dastgahi - were the only forms of music considered prestigious. Zaven Hakopian lamented over ‘snobbish admirers of the West’ and their negligence to consider about 15 centuries of documented music. Hakopian wrote articles in defence of Iran’s folk music and articles introducing contemporary music of his time, such as Musique Concrète.

Intermezzo is a short musical piece that comes in between two dramatic episodes and has a dramatic contrast to the other two. In these intermezzos, I focus more on texture and timbre by referencing Shirinkari techniques in Ruhowzi music - loose glissandos and vibratos - and through harmonic expansion of Dastgah-e Homayoun, I attempt to create a léger affectueux meditative space. I dedicate these intermezzos to the memory of Zaven Hakopian.