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I have devoted this most recent recording to dance. The pieces that I perform here are all linked to the art of dance from different eras and different cultures.Throughout history and in most people's perception, dance has always been a source of entertainment and joy, but it can also represent more sombre occasions, with pomp and grandeur.The Chaconne, for example, has become both tragic and sublime over time and today it's rhythm has mellowed!Chopin's Mazurkas can be rustic and folkloric, haunting or lyrical, even dramatic. In short, dance can express diametric opposites and unite those opposites at the same time.That's why I also want to pay homage to Shiva's dance, for this god, the symbol of destruction, illusion and ignorance, destroys in order to awaken human beings and lead them to create a new world.Shiva's divine dance, Tandava Nritya, is regarded by Hinduism as the origin of the cycle of creation, preservation and devastation.Vagharshapat Dance is based upon a melody from 'Yerangi' found in InchSix Dances for PianoInch (1906) by the legendary Armenian composer Komitas (1869?935). Vagharshapat is the location of Etchmiadzin Cathedral and the fourth largest city in Armenia located 11 miles west of Yerevan.My recording ends with Khachaturian's InchSabre DanceInch, in an arrangement of my own. The duality of this piece's character is obvious, as while the sabers suggest the idea of death, the dance becomes a 'living dance? one that enchants us or, a dance that comes alive. I hope that the current times of wars, destruction and social upheaval will soon be replaced by peace and the joy that comes with it, and I hope that this recording brings a form of respite and quietude and with it lightness, joy and happiness.Vardan MamikonianInchVardan Mamikonian demonstrates a technique that combines power and poetry... and flashes of interpretive genius.Inch New York Time
