About this Piece

Repeatedly invaded and occupied by foreign powers (Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan), the tiny country of Armenia, nestled in the Caucasus, has developed a remarkably vibrant musical culture over the centuries despite prolonged episodes of genocide and artistic oppression. Drawing upon a rich salmagundi of religious, folk, and European traditions, Armenian composers and musicians have won an outsized role on the world stage. Perhaps the best-known example today is Aram Khachaturian (1903–1978), a product of the Soviet system, whose symphonic works and ballets such as Gayane and Spartacus introduced a broad international public to Armenian sounds and rhythms. 

Like Khachaturian, Alexander Arutiunian took full advantage of the many opportunities for education and advancement offered to composers of the non-Russian republics of the USSR. (Armenia was a Soviet republic from 1922 until the collapse of the USSR in 1991.) After studying composition and piano at the Armenian Conservatory in Yerevan, he spent several years in Moscow working with the mentor he describes as his most important influence, Heinrich Litinsky. Soon after returning to Armenia, where he lived for the rest of his life, he won a coveted Stalin Prize for his patriotic cantata Motherland. The following year he completed what became his most famous work, the Trumpet Concerto (1950). Its flashy improvisational style, technical bravura, and surprising irregular rhythms, flavored with original tunes imitating Armenian models, have made it what one critic calls “arguably the best-known trumpet concerto after Haydn and Hummel.” 

Commissioned by the Verdehr Trio, based at Michigan State University, the Suite for Violin, Clarinet and Piano (1992) also features elements inspired by Armenian folk music. One is the appearance throughout of the interval of the augmented second, a gesture typical of Caucasian music. Racing vernacular rhythms drive the dance-like pulse of the second-movement Scherzo and finale, alternating with soulful lyrical episodes for violin and clarinet. In an interview, Arutunian expressed his particular affection for the clarinet's “nimble, capricious, and lyrical” personality, given full expression here. By turns mournful and flamboyant, with two high singing voices soaring above the baritone piano, the suite distills the essence of Armenia’s unique musical identity. —Harlow Robinson