Music » Chamber » Twelve Concert Duos for Two Violins

Knar

These concert duos composed in a very short time, having a unique source of inspiration for each piece. They were named after being composed, according to the natural phenomenon that inspired it. At the core of the melodies lies Armenian Sacred Music from 10th to 15th century.
The year of composition: Spring 2015.







Publications

Knar
Twelve Concert Duos For Two Violins by Petros Shoujounian


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Audios & Videos
1. Dawn

The pitch dark starts to draw back from its domain when it sees the waves of bright light thrusting the East into a new life. It feels like this amazing and anticipated image awakens the sense of revival in you, and optimism takes hold of you with a smile.


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2. Mountain River

Among the rivers the ones that are closest to my heart are the Mountain Rivers. There is vibrancy in a mountain river—power, even laughter, pleasure, and life. It is the embodiment of inexhaustibility and is a figure of unyielding power. It subdues the giant mountain, it cleaves through it, and its winding descent turns into a life-giving, roaring, and free and unconstrained symphony. It comes to a halt occasionally, takes a short breath, and then continues its mad descent. And when it reaches the bottom, the symphony ends and it continues its journey in quietude.


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3. Dream

Dream is the only human state of consciousness where one can have solitude without any constraints. The dream emerges with desire, if you are disposed to it. Your mind takes flight and, whether with eyes shot or open, an array of fantastical scenes begins to unfold, and you are its sole witness. Ordinarily, these scenes remain hidden at a corner of your mind, and once in a while you recall the flowing scenes your mind has captured and watch it with joy. Then there is the other kind of dream you step into as you fall asleep and find yourself in a transformed reality, which transports you to another world, against your will. This kind of dream can bring up either happy or sad images. Very few people can share their dreams with others.


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4. Eagle Flight

The eagle is loved by many people, because it symbolizes grandeur, power, mastery, dominance and firm demands. The latter signifies fierceness and an unforgiving nature. The eagle’s symbol has a great significance for a country, especially in terms of how much of what it signifies is embodied in the people’s essence. It is sheer pleasure to watch the eagle spread its wings wide and flap them leisurely. It is profoundly impressive to watch this regal bird from above and see how it suddenly changes direction in mid-flight.


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5. Spring Promenade

The resurrection of spring spreads a life-affirming atmosphere all around it. The soil is waking up, the birds are returning, the trees are beginning to turn green. You witness all this in succession as you stroll, happy for not having missed it. You want to bring a little bit of spring into your life too and think of good things, create beautiful thoughts and plans. As you walk, you feel the same way about the strangers that come your way, and you feel good that spring has revived everyone.


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6. Shepherd’s Joy

How many shepherds remain today? Surely very little and only in small countries, where the villagers have not lost their traditional ways yet. The shepherd can gather his herd and go to the mountains, enjoy his freedom, breathe the clean air, run after the animals, and after getting exhausted he can lay on the grass, watch the sky, marvel at the vast blue and say, “Alas, there’s not even one tiny cloud on these mountains to let one cool down a bit.”


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7. Joyous Moments

Joy is people’s most coveted desire that they want to attain. They live, work, and suffer attempting to actualize their potential, and climb higher in their field. Finding out how people see their rise is the greatest joy. Obviously not everyone can accomplish what would have made them happy, but they never let their desire for it die, because that would make time stand still and life without that joy would be meaningless.


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8. Autumn

There’s weariness all around me. The landscape wants to fall into slumber and the winds disrobe the greenery that has already changed its hue. The trees and shrubs try to dazzle us with their colours, but they know very well that their glamour is temporary. What do we do in all this? We begin to shift our focus on other things and push nature away from our daily lives. We even try.


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9. Flowering garden

Flowering is one of nature’s unexplainable miracles, where you witness the transformation of buds into flowers, their connection and relationship with the soil, their preconditioned embrace of the light. You can neither purchase nor sell this beautifully working relationship; you can simply watch and admire. What would have happened if humans gave directions to this process? I believe that the probability of seeing sad images would have been much greater.


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10. Cheerful Dialogue

Our days are filled with conversations and reflections upon our conversations. I wonder how many of our conversations end favourably and how many adversely. We all know that the ones that have an unpleasant ending are far more than the ones that do not. We close our days trying to give happy endings to these. Our memory, on the other hand, records with great pleasure those conversations that have started cheerfully and have ended cheerfully. Those have invigorated us, given us hope and enlightenment. We have begun to see people as good people and started to believe again. Those cheerful conversations have made us intoxicated with optimism.


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11. Viewpoint

Contemplation often cuts me off from reality. At those times, I am consciously absent from my surroundings and can stay totally immersed in the issue that moves me for hours. Before returning to reality, I affirm my viewpoint on that issue and no one can change it. I don’t know why, but I feel lucky that I can build my relationships based on my introspectively developed viewpoints. It helps one to make less mistakes.


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12. Meditative Canon

In musical terms, the canon is explained as a musical dialogue between imitations of the main melody that are played successively. For me, the concept of meditation is the same as prayer. Hence, I try to pray and in my subconscious get into a dialogue with someone who becomes me and my prayer. This is a wonderful feeling, and maybe a wonderful way to live.


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