Eagerness to Learn is a compilation of works by composer and musician, Arash Azadi. The compilation includes works from 2014 to 2017 when he was still a student at Yerevan State Conservatory named after Komitas. His mentors during these years were Ashot Zohrabyan and then Vartan Adjemian.

1. The album begins with Hartmann for Piano and Orchestra (2017), which was Azadi’s graduation work. It’s written with the aleatoric technique which leaves a lot of space for orchestra and pianist to improvise but still get similar results every time. There is a major use of extended techniques to achieve the desired sonic palette. The piece is performed and realized through the computer by the usage of different sampling techniques. It begins with very minimalistic sounds and motifs and gradually reaches to complex maximalist sonic qualities.

2. Question Sexuelle (2016) is a piece for prepared Piano, 3 Violins, 2 Contrabasses, 2 Flutes, Clarinet in Bb and recorded narration. This piece is written in the Musique concrète tradition combined with different recordings and samples of instrumental techniques. The piece was born when the artist and a friend Loussiné Luys Ghukasyan visited the composer’s studio to record a selection of poems by Jina Kim. During the recording Arash got inspired to write a piece that reflects his emotions about the poem using her voice (without knowing the language). Throughout the piece there are constant conflicts between chaotic atonal harmonies and nostalgic tonal textures.

3. Y Generation is a piece for alto saxophone, 5 channel tape, live electronics, video projector and motion capture sensor (for 3 performers). Y Generation is based on Aram Avetis (poet, writer) poem “Twin Brothers”. The poem was recorded by the author himself, then Azadi extracted the voice intonations and pitches through spectral techniques. Those notes were later used in the piano part, played by computer, and to write the Saxophone parts, accompanied by tape layers and live electronic (signal processing). Dancer and performance artist Anahit Ter-Sargsyan choreographed a dance based on Kafka's Metamorphosis, that is referenced to in the poem. Through motion capture sensor Kinect that was projecting her body on the screen she created a dance with her own shadow as a duo on stage. The piece premiered at Komitas Chamber Music Hall in 2015 with David Alex Sisti on Saxophone.

4. Kairos is a piece for solo violin, tape and live electronics written in 2015 at Azadi’s uncle’s basement in Cologne, Germany. The piece is an outcome of a research that Arash did on singing larks of 10 different types and different continents and using spectral techniques to write down the pitches of their songs in microtones as precisely as possible. The idea of singing larks came from a Japanese Haiku by Basho “The skylark. Its voice alone fell, Leaving nothing behind.”. Beside his sound research, at the same time Azadi was introduced through Slavoj Zizek to Lacan’s ideas. Here he found inspiration to write the first part as a theatrical act performed by the violinist using her voice to recite a short poem written by Azadi:

Symbols are meaningless
And Images are just illusions
Reality lies far beyond all these
Somewhere near your existence
Let’s go to the unknown

Tape and live electronics create different layers and counterpoints with the violin creating space for the performer and the computer to interact. Usage of extended techniques and microtones that are rooted in Persian music, electronics and words create a lucid outworldly dreamscape of sounds. The piece is dedicated to Dejana Sekulic who performed and recorded this piece in 2018, Brussels, Belgium.

5. Passacaglia is a piece for solo piano. It was created in 2015 when Arash was experimenting with serialisms and mathematics in music. The piece is written using Serial technique and mathematical series like Fibonacci sequence, square and pentagon and triangle numbers. It was performed and premiered by Akiko Kawakubo at Collège Franco-Britannique in Paris at ACIMC festival, 25 January 2015.

6. Echoes of Solitude is a piece for solo violin written in 2014. It’s a lyrical piece that creates its own atmosphere and narration. The piece is dedicated to Lilit Antonyan who performed and recorded the piece at Komitas Chamber Music Hall, Yerevan.

All the tracks are remastered and finalized in June 2020.

Artwork is designed by Mikayel Siravian aka KUNSTFUCKED.
You can find out more about his works here:
www.instagram.com/kunstfucked/