Fikret Amirov - Six Pieces for Flute and Piano

Fikret Amirov - Six Pieces for Flute and Piano Flute - Leslie Newman Piano - Amanda Hurton ————————————————————————— Fikret Mashadi Jamil oghlu Amirov (Azerbaijani: Fikrət Məşədi Cəmil oğlu Əmirov; November 22, 1922, Ganja – February 20, 1984, Baku) was a prominent Azerbaijani composer of the Soviet period. Fikret Amirov grew up in an atmosphere of Azerbaijani folk music. His father, Mashadi Jamil Amirov, was a famous mugam singer (“xanəndə“) from Shusha, who played tar and composed, including the 1915 opera Seyfal mulk. During his childhood and early adolescence, Fikret began composing pieces for the piano. Upon his graduation from the Ganja Music College, Amirov entered the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire, now known as the Baku Music Academy, where he was a student of Boris Zeidman and Uzeyir Hajibeyov. In 1941, when Nazi Germany attacked the USSR, Amirov, 19 at the time, was drafted to the Soviet army. He was wounded near Voronezh, hospitalized and demobilized from the military service, returning to Baku to continue his studies at the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire. Amirov’s music was strongly influenced by Azeri folk melodies. He created a new genre called symphonic mugam. Amirov’s symphonic mugams were based on classical folk pieces and were performed by many renowned symphony orchestras throughout the world, such as the Houston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski. Amirov was a prolific composer. His most famous pieces include symphonic works such as “Shur“ (1946), Kurd Ovshari (1949), “Azerbaijan Capriccio“ (1961), “Gulustan Bayati-Shiraz“ (1968), “The Legend of Nasimi“ (1977), “To the Memory of the Heroes of the Great National War“ (1944), “Double Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra“ (1948) etc. His pieces was built on folk traditions of Azerbaijan and Middle East. However, the folkloric elements can be identified in them whether they are Azerbaijani or Arabic, as in the case of his ballet “Arabian Nights,” his “Concerto on an Arabian Theme for the Piano and Orchestra” (together with Elmira Nazirova) and “The Song of the Blind Arab”. As the composer used to do a lot of research before starting his pieces, strong folkloric elements can be observed in his compositions. For example, prior to composing his ballet “Arabian Nights,“ he visited several Arabic countries-Iraq, Yemen and Egypt-and brought back tapes and records. His orchestral suites, based on the style of Azerbaijan Mugams often contain melodies that are reminiscent of Rimsky-Korsakov, Khachaturian and Turkish music. One of his early success outside the USSR was Kyurd Ovsharï suite conducted by Leopold Stokowski. ————————————————————————— I, in no way, mean to make any money via my videos. I make them to allow others to discover classical music, and help them by (sometimes) providing sheet music.