MEMORABLE ARMENIAN FOLK SONGS CARRY THE DAY
By Joel Brown

Boston Globe
Music Review
United States

Isabel Bayrakdarian performed songs by Gomidas Vartabed. (Dario acosta)

Maybe Armenian folk music idioms aren’t your cup of tea. But make
sure you get a ticket to hear soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian the next
time she comes to town, no matter what’s on the program.

Manitoba Chamber Orchestra

Isabel Bayrakdarian, soprano; Serouj Kradjian, piano; Hampic
Djabourian, duduk; with Anne Manson conducting.

Part of the Celebrity Series of Boston.

At: Jordan Hall, Sunday The Canadian Armenian singer is spreading
the name of Armenian priest, composer, and ethnomusicologist Gomidas
Vartabed, whose work has preserved and uplifted the music of his
native land. Gomidas, as he is known, was arrested and deported by
the Turkish government during the genocide in 1915, when he was in
his 40s, and though he survived, he was left a broken man and did no
further composing.

Bayrakdarian has a new album, "Gomidas Songs," with the composer’s
works orchestrated by her husband, pianist Serouj Kradjian, and
performed with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra conducted by Anne
Manson. They all came to Jordan Hall on Sunday afternoon for a
Celebrity Series of Boston performance that featured groups of
Gomidas’s songs alongside similarly rooted pieces by Bartok, Ravel,
Nikos Skalkottas and Gideon Klein.

Many in the audience were noticeably moved to hear familiar
melodies. But even those unfamiliar with Gomidas’s work found plenty
to savor in Bayrakdarian’s ravishing performance. The program of many
short songs allowed – or required – her to reach heights of pathos
one moment and sing almost playfully the next.

After one jaunty, upbeat number, Bayrakdarian gave a little combination
shrug and hop, as if to say, "How ’bout that!" Charming. But her
most emotional moments – on "Without a Home," "The Crane," and a
heartbreaking lullaby that was one of four encores – achieved a
riveting purity.

Given the format, it was a surprisingly coherent program, with
ethnic roots clearly showing through the orchestral arrangements,
and an underlying solemnity appropriate for a tour sponsored by the
International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies. The
orchestra gave an enthusiastic performance of Bartok’s Romanian
Folkdances and Skalkottas’s Greek Dances, and was joined occasionally
on the Gomidas songs by Hampic Djabourian on the traditional instrument
called a duduk. Kradjian also delivered a short solo set of Gomidas
pieces on piano.