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The Garden and the Fountains of Fin, Kashan, Iran |
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Fountains of Fin
Instrumentation: Flute, Violin, and Cello
Duration: 14 minutes
Commission: Bargemusic in Brooklyn, New York, for its 30th season anniversary.
Premiere: Julie Scolnik, flute, Mark Peskanov, violin, Adrian Daurov, cello, March 5, 2007
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About Fountains of Fin:
Fountains of Fin, (pronounced "feen") celebrates one of the most enchanting gardens, the historical Garden of Fin in Kashan, Iran. The garden in its present form was built in 16th century but historical references go back to the medieval period. The music is also a tribute to the great 19th century Vezir and reformer, Amir Kabir, who was slain in the bath of the Garden of Fin. In writing Fountains of Fin, I was inspired by the utmost beauty of this captivating garden with its tall cypresses,fragrant flowers and hundreds of spring-fed fountains, as well as its dark and violent history.
The opening flute solo, heard in the dark breathy low register with ornamental melodic figures, emulates the sound of Persian Ney, a type of bamboo flute. The opening theme is the melodic and harmonic basis of the piece with decorative figures and emphasis on the interval of the perfect fourth, so widely found in Persian music. The timbre of Ney permeates throughout the piece, particularly in the extended solo sections. Many elements of Persian modes and folk rhythms are also intertwined in the fabric of the piece. The somber and elegiac concluding section brings back many of the opening materials ending on the lowest note of the flute.
- Behzad Ranjbaran
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Reviews:
"The score has a multicultural underpinning…the flute line…is meant to suggest the Persian version of the ney, a wooden flute used throughout the Middle East. And the music’s decidedly modal accent gives the piece a hint of exoticism without wresting it from the conventions of Western musical’s discourse.
Mr. Ranjbaran uses this hybrid language to paint a complicated picture…[of]…both the entrancing beauty and the brooding, fearsome mysteries of this Iranian garden. It proved a gripping piece."
-Allan Kozinn, The New York Times
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