The orchestral works on this album were originally commissioned and premiered by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Reza Vali's adopted hometown orchestra.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Reza Vali explains that Western and Middle Eastern musical traditions were closely related until around the 16th century, and their separate evolution led to unique sonic paths that make his music sound both traditional and new.
Compositional Technique
Reza Vali devised his own 'mixed tuning' system in 2000, which can use the Western 12-tone equal tempered cycle of perfect fifths but also includes more precisely rendered smaller intervals, allowing for up to 35 distinct pitches per octave.
Compositional Technique
Reza Vali's compositional approach since 2000 eschews conventional Western counterpoint and forms, instead exploring forms inherited from the Iranian Dastgâh-Maqâm modal system, such as call and response polyphony and elaborations of musical phrases.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Reza Vali's music moved away from atonality towards a new modal tonality derived from the Iranian Dastgâh-Maqâm system, which he rediscovered through studying Iranian folk music.
Composer Biography
Reza Vali, an Iranian-American composer, was initially disconnected from his homeland's musical traditions due to Eurocentric studies at the Tehran Conservatory of Music.
Performer Biography
Mezzo-soprano Janna Baty specializes in recently written works and has collaborated with many composers, including Reza Vali, whose works she has recorded on multiple albums.
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