Stephen Elmas (1862-1937)

[jerfilm]

I see this gentleman composed at least 3 piano concertos (all have been recorded) plus solo piano pieces and ??  Anyone done any research on him?

Jerry

[eschiss1]

I thought we had a thread on him before, but I don't see it anywhere now.

There is a Wikipedia article on him, and a Fondation Elmas...

[semloh]

I see that the three concertos have been available on CD, issued by the Armenian PO (NAB Productions Ltd.). I wonder if anyone on UC has heard any of them. The details from the link Eric gave are:

◦November 1999: Piano Concerto No. 3 and a Barcarolle and three mazurkas for piano solo. Babakhanian soloist Armen, Armenian PO, cond. Alexander Siranossian.

◦Mars 2002: Piano Concerto No. 2 and 4 mazurkas Babakhanian Soloist Armen, Armenian PO, cond. Alexander Siranossian

◦Avril 2005: Piano Concerto No. 1 along with some solo piano pieces. Soloist Armen Babakhanian, Opera Orchestra cond. Alexander Yerevan Siranossian.

[FBerwald]

I presume these pieces are tonal [romantic! ] Any idea about the key's of the concertos?

[Alan Howe]

Orders for the CDs can be placed here:
http://www.stephanelmas.org/boutique.html
I have done so myself, so will report back on progress...

The PCs date, respectively, from 1882, 1887 and 1900.

[Christopher]

I have all of the recordings.  They are pleasant, remind me mostly of Chopin (and I saw somewhere that he was called "the Armenian Chopin").

Proceeds from the sale of the CDs go to a charity for Armenian children I believe.

[jerfilm]

You can sample PC 1 here:  http://odeonmusic.blogspot.com/

Added:  Also now #2

Jerry

[JimL]

The 1st Piano Concerto is now on YT.  It's in G minor.

[Alan Howe]

Here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11nPmWkGTzQ

[Mark Thomas]

A very pleasant listen, and a very commendable effort for a 20 year old. I see that you can download for free what looks like almost all his scores (and certainly the three concertos) in modern typeset PDFs from the Fondation Elmas website (look under "Partitions" here).

[Gauk]

I am just giving the 1st piano concerto a second listen as I post. I wouldn't compare it to Chopin - it's more reminiscent of Liszt or even Grieg. Then Elmas did idolise Liszt. Highly romantic music! Both the 1st and 2nd concertos are on YT; I have not looked for the 3rd.

I was wondering - is it the first piano concerto written by an Armenian? Not that it sounds Armenian or even Russian in its musical language.

[jerfilm]

The third concerto can now be heard at http://odeonmusic.blogspot.com/ and my suspicion will be that it will shortly now show up on YouTube.

Jerry

[Mark Thomas]

The Second Concerto is indeed on YouTube - here, and it's as enjoyable, if no deeper, than the First.

[eschiss1]

erm. not sure I have a fair notion of what "sounds Armenian" really sounds like, authentically, anyway. ("Does your music sound American?" "Yes. An American composer wrote it." Paraphrasing, but I've always tended to approve that answer and its cognates...) Anyhow, can't find sign of an earlier concerto by an Armenian composer listed on en- or Armenian Wikipedia, e.g., and Classical-era and Romantic-era composers on those sites seem to be "ethnic" or religious in orientation; the composer who seems next after Elmas, Spendiarian/Spendiarov, who might have written a piano concerto at a young age (having been born in 1871 I think) though admittedly would have had to have been a rather young age to have gotten under Elmas' 1882 concerto - seems to have written some orchestral works starting in the 1890s or so but no concertos, I think. (Then we're into the 20th century and Aram Khachaturian b.1903, &c. The piano concertos site also describes Kabalevsky as an Armenian composer, though not sure why- born and died in Russia.)

[Mark Thomas]

I've listened a couple of times to the first two concertos, and they are both very approachable works in the high-romantic style, which appear to make prodigious demands on the soloist. Presumable Elmas wrote them as vehicles for himself, in which case he was clearly a fine pianist. They are pleasantly, if mostly unmemorably, melodic and competently, if unspectacularly, orchestrated. If it sounds as if I am damning with faint praise then I am to some degree, because what they lack is any individuality. In that respect I was strongly reminded (not in style, but in overall conception) of all those glittering, note-heavy, spectacular-but-empty products of the legion of virtuoso pianist/composers of the early romantic era - the Kalkbrenners, Dreyschocks and so on. The First Piano Concerto at 40-odd minutes is a bit of a beast and the first movement is way, way too long at 20 minutes, but overall the work struck me as a stronger, more vigorous piece than the shorter Second, in which Elmas tends to descend further into "easy listening" territory. It does boast though, for me at least, the strongest movement of the pair: its central slow movement has real, lasting melodic appeal coupled with genuine depth of feeling. The soloist in these performances, Armen Babakhanian, adopts a properly barnstorming approach to the outer movements and has a limpid touch in the slow ones. He is recorded too far forward for concert verisimilitude, but that's common practice these days.

Despite my sniping, I did enjoy listening to these pieces as an undemanding romantic wallow, and will return to them when I want some pleasant background listening, but they aren't by any stretch great music.

I see that the Piano Concerto No.3 can now be heard on YouTube here.