Armenian Souls

Armenia, the first Christian kingdom, is nowadays a country fighting for its survival. This disc, recorded both at the Château de Versailles and the Geghard Holy Spear Monastery in Armenia, rekindles the fraternal sentiment between our two peoples and invokes past souls and present ones, such as the virtuoso qanun player Narek Kazazyan, and the beating heart of this programme, in duet with the great cellist Astrig Siranossian and the flautist Helbert Asatryan. By alternating the sacred hymns of the Yerevan Holy Cross Choir with orchestral pieces from the traditional repertoire, it pays the most dazzling tribute to the whole of Armenia, in defence of something that no weapon can ever suppress: its ancestral soul.

• Komitas: Hognutyun mez jamanya; Aysor ton e; Govea Yerusaghem; Arore et Tatrake; Surb Surb; Amen. Hayr Surb; Cristos Pataragyal; Astvatz mer; Ltsaq i barutyan Qo; Gohanamq; Yeghitsi anun tyarn orhnyal
  +St. Mesrop Mashtots: Ankanim araji qo; Bazum en Qo gtoutyunqd
  +Tsovinar Hovhannisyan: Improvisation sur une chanson de Sayat-Nova; Impromptu
  +Petros Afrikyan: Sur les rives de Mer4e Araqse
  +Sayat-Nova: Eshkemede; Lalane et Broyi Broyi
  +Makar Ekmalyan: Amen. Hayr Surb
  +Anahit Valesyan: Solitude; Impromptu
  +Anonymus: Thamzara
  +Nshan Hopyan: Fantaisie