Search - Komitas Vardapet :: The Voice of Komitas Vardapet

Deeply Profound Singing by Komitas Himself

Kevin J. Roberts | 07/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The reviewer who said these are not recordings of Komitas himself is WRONG. Tracks 1-6 (20 minutes) are the extremely rare cylinder recordings made by the master himself, acapella, in 1912. There may be only one or a few copies of these cylinders in existence. The singing is very passionate and intense, deeply spiritual and soulful. The CD is filled out with recordings by a Komitas student, Armenak Shahmuradian (1878-1939), perhaps also in the 1910's. They are also very worthwhile. Singing with this passion and intensity is very rare, and this is a very special document for those who want to explore something beyond the ordinary. This is not casual background music or "entertainment". These recordings of Komitas are so rare that most on-line biographies (look him up in Wikipedia as Komitas Vardapet) don't even mention them. He witnessed the horrors of the Armenian genocide only 2-3 years later, and never recovered."

Preserved in Amber

felicitaz | NY, USA | 09/23/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In spite of the primitive quality of the recordings, it is a priceless experience to hear the voice of Komitas singing these rare Armenian peasant tunes as he heard them in the early 20th century, captured just 3 years before the Armenian Genocide would wipe out the populations from whom he collected them, and lead to Komitas' own decline into insanity. Recorded in Paris in 1912, the priest-scholar-musicologist sings about half of the songs on the CD, while his student sings the rest. Particularly beautiful and moving is the "Kristos Pataragyal", the heart of the Armenian Mass. A precious artifact of the soon-to-be shattered culture, here preserved like a fly in amber."