Sung from Ruins (2023)

for Soprano and Violin

Duration: 7 min

Program Note

I composed Sung from Ruins in response to a video performance of Arno Babajanian's Elegy by by pianist Soroush Zali. Zali performs the Elegy in the ruins of the House of Culture building in Irpin, Ukraine, soon after its destruction by Russian bombardment.

Babajanian's Elegy is a harmonization of an 18th-century traditional love song by Sayat-Nova (Kani vor jan im/As Long As I’m Alive). Babajanian composed the Elegy spontaneously after hearing of the death of his former teacher, Aram Katchaturian. I was inspired by the history of the Elegy, with its accumulation of meaning - in writing the Elegy, Babajanian transformed a song of love into a song of lament. In response, I wrote a piece that holds space for tragedy and grief, while retaining love at its core.

Yelena Dyacheck, the premiere vocalist, is Ukrainian-American, and offered to perform part of the piece in Ukrainian. I decided to include two lines from the Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrainka, who passionately wrote about Ukrainian independence at the turn of the 20th century.

The three movements depict my experience watching Soroush Zali’s video performance of the Elegy:

(I) I was initially struck by the visual of the haunting ruins, scored with the hypnotic beauty of the Elegy’s spiraling melody. I imagined standing in the dust that was once walls, sensing simultaneously the present calm and the calamity of past events.

(II) At some point my focus turned inward, to contemplating the resonances between this Elegy and the history of Ukraine. Both the Elegy and the people of Ukraine have experienced recurring cycles: the Elegy appears routinely at tragic events; Ukraine has experienced struggles for independence for centuries. Could there be a time when we no longer need the comfort of the elegies?

(III) Suddenly, my focus returned to the video; the pianist was now playing in piercing sunlight. The music had found its own brightness, erupting with a shimmering cascade. An Elegy is essentially an expression of sadness and love. Until this point, I had experienced the sadness, but the unexpected shift to daylight allowed the implicit love song to emerge. And a more hopeful sight: now outside, the pianist performed in front of the only untouched portion of the House of Culture Building, its sky blue facade, a symbol of optimism amidst destruction.

Recordings

Premiere Recording: 6/2021, Students at Rice University.