Amherst Bassoonist Rémy Taghavi Explores French and Iranian Roots on MIZANSEN
Rémy Taghavi, UMass Amherst Professor of Bassoon. Photo: Albany Records
Source: PARMA Recordings
Rémy Taghavi, UMass Amherst Professor of Bassoon, recently released MIZANSEN, an album of French and Iranian works for bassoon.
“MIZANSEN is the culmination of an effort to create a musical self-portrait … I have always taken pride in my unique combination of French and Iranian heritage, and examining the place in the musical landscape that each of those countries occupies served as a fertile starting point for the project,” Taghavi says.
Taghavi premieres Iranian-American composer Niloufar Nourbakhsh’s “What Survives” on the album. The piece began as a study in musical textures, Nourbakhsh says. When war broke out between Iran and Israel, though, it transformed into a meditation on restoration after conflict.
“The work ends with a rhythmic surge: a forward-looking gesture, not quite a resolution, but a pulse of hope that perhaps one day we can overcome and emerge from what survives,” she says.
With pianist Steven Beck, who has performed with the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, and more, Taghavi performs Carnegie Mellon Professor Emeritus of Composition Reza Vali’s “Persian Folk Songs,” a set of miniatures based on both historic and newly written folk songs.
The duo also delivers French lyricism in longtime wind-repertoire staples by composers Francis Poulenc, Lili Boulanger, and Roger Boutry.
Taghavi, who trained at the University of Southern California, The Juilliard School, and Stony Brook University and serves as principal bassoon with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra New England, says the album’s title reflects his hope that the project will lay the groundwork for future endeavors.
“The title of the album, MIZANSEN, is a Persian cognate of the French “mise-en-scène,” both referring to the way in which a stage is set to create a scene. Through this collection, I hope to set the scene for a narrative journey through my musical identity,” he says.
MIZANSEN is available on all major streaming platforms.