Worcester Telegram, MA
Feb 10 2018
Armenian-born concert pianist to perform Rachmaninoff with orchestra at Mechanics Hall
By Richard Duckett
Telegram & Gazette Staff
WORCESTER — In her still young but prodigious career, the Armenian-born concert pianist Nareh Arghamanyan has a repertoire of more than 30 concertos by different composers and has made her own transcriptions of pieces by Bach, Tchaikovsky and others.
But one composer stands out for the pianist who has won praises for her “dazzling technique” and been described as a “major, major, major talent … potential superstar” (Musical America magazine).
“Rachmaninoff has been my most beloved composer from an early age,” Arghamanyan said. When performing concerts where a work by the Russian composer is not on the program, she will often play a piece by Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) as an encore, she said.
Rachmaninoff, however, will be an emphatic part of Wednesday’s concert at Mechanics Hall with the Swedish Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and Arghamanyan performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (“Rach 2”) in a program presented by Music Worcester Inc. The concert will also feature Sibelius’ Valse Triste No. 1 and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2.
“Each performance (of the concerto) I discover something different,” Arghamanyan said during a recent telephone interview. “This concerto, the whole scale of human emotion, happiness, sadness, everything, is there.”
In the concerto, a tense, agitated first movement is followed by the slower, beautiful second movement with a theme that was taken by pop singer Eric Carmen for his “All By Myself” hit single, making the music all the more familiar to many. The third movement ends the work on a note of triumph.
It was a psychological and emotional triumph to have finished the piece for Rachmaninoff, who dedicated the work to his psychiatric therapist after suffering from several years of depression triggered in part by experiencing a derisive response to his Symphony No. 1.
“He was trying to confirm that he can really overcome his own fears and come up with something magical, not only for himself but for his own dedicated listeners,” Arghamanyan said. The concerto, which premiered in 1901, would prove to be “a huge success.” In 1909 Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (“Rach 3”) also achieved great acclaim, while being considered to be technically challenging or daunting for the pianist, depending on how one looks at it.
Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, with pianist Nareh Arghamanyan
When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 (preconcert talk 6:30 p.m.)
Where: Mechanics Hall, 321 Main St., Worcester
How much: $49-$55, $17.50 students, $7.50 youth. www.musicworcester.org
Among Arghamanyan’s recordings is a CD of solo works by Rachmaninoff. She said she first started playing Rach 2 at the age of 11.
“To be honest, my favorite was the third (Rach 3) because the second was played so much. I started to put it away. I wanted to have a different approach to the piece,” Arghamanyan said.
Coming back to the concerto led to some revelations.
“Now when I perform it I understand there is a sudden discovery on the stage. The piece just blossoms. When you’re on the stage something magical happens and you understand things that you didn’t discover before. You discover hidden gems,” she said.
Arghamanyan was born in Armenia in 1989 one month after the devastating Dec. 7, 1988, earthquake there that killed 25,000 people.
“There was no electricity for several years,” she said. That meant one time when she was 3½ her mother would not let young Nareh go outside and play with friends because it was already getting dark.
“My mother showed me the piano (in the home). She said ” ‘This is also a toy. You don’t have to go out and play.’ ”
The toy would be quite a discovery.
“The first time I was obsessed with the sound. ‘OK, I will play with this toy.’ ” Her mother set up a candle by the piano in the darkening house. “I discovered harmonies. When my mother came back to put another candle back on I was already playing with 10 fingers.”
She started composing, and although this would be put on hold, she said that she does now write transcriptions.
Arghamanyan formally began her piano studies at 5 and later studied with Alexander Gurgenoy at the Tchaikovsky Music School in Yerevan, Armenia. In 2004 she was the youngest student to be admitted to the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where she studied with Heinz Medjimorec. She still lives in Vienna.
A major early breakthrough came in 2008 when she won the first prize and all special prizes at the Montreal International Musical Competition, making history as the youngest winner ever.
Arghamanyan has gone on to perform with many of the world’s prestigious orchestras and frequently gives recitals in cities throughout Asia, Europe and North America, including Boston.
The Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1912 and has become one of the region’s international leaders.
Arghamanyan said she performed with HSO for the first time in 2016 when she filled in at 24 hours’ notice for a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in Helsingborg for the orchestra’s season opener.
“It was not even a full rehearsal.” However, “it was so fantastic,” she said.
The orchestra clearly felt the same way, bringing Arghamanyan on its current U.S. tour as guest soloist.
“The orchestra is so flexible and so supportive of the soloist,” she said.
As for coming to Worcester for the first time with its significant history of being a home to many Armenian immigrants and having the first Armenian church in America, Arghamanyan said, “I’m happy I have so many of my compatriots.”
The music of Rachmaninoff has some Armenian connections and similarities to Armenian songs, she said. “So this concert (Feb. 14) I’m bringing Armenia and Rachmaninoff.”
Not yet 30, Arghamanyan’s success is already remarkable. “Foremost, unconditional love of what you are doing,” she said about the qualities a concert performer/recitalist must have. “This profession requires a lot of sacrifices. If you don’t have the unconditional love you will never achieve that.”
However, you don’t want to be all by yourself these days, she intimated.
“It’s not only hard work, it’s believing in yourself. Setting new goals. Never stop learning, being communicative. Not sitting in a corner but being more social. The competition is really, really high. It’s so many things. Hard work is from the 20th century. Nowadays technology is so advanced you have to have the communicative side. Open yourself as much as possible.”