Alfred Reed (1921-2005) was born in New York City. He studied composition at the Juilliard School with Vittorio Giannini after a tour in the US Air Force during World War II. He was later a staff arranger for NBC in the 1950s and a professor of music at the University of Miami from 1966 to 1993. He is remembered today as a distinguished educator, conductor, and composer. His impact was the greatest in the wind band world, where he left behind more than 100 frequently performed works. He was particularly popular in Japan, where he developed a close relationship with the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra, and where many of his works are required literature for all bands.
Alfred Reed biography at C. L. Barnhouse music publishing.
Armenian Dances (Part I) was written in 1972 and dedicated to Dr. Harry Begian. Reed provides the following program note in the work’s score:
Armenian Dances, Parts I and II, constitute a four-movement suite for concert band or wind ensemble based on authentic Armenian folk songs from the collected works of Gomidas Vartabed (1869-1935) [commonly known as Komitas], the founder of Armenian classical music.
Part I, containing the first movement of this suite (the remaining three movements constituting Part II), is an extended symphonic rhapsody built upon five different songs, freely treated and developed in terms of the modern integrated concert band or wind ensemble. While the composer has kept his treatment of the melodies within the general limits imposed on the music by its very nature, he has not hesitated to expand the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic possibilities in keeping with the demands of a symphonic-instrumental, as opposed to an individual vocal or choral approach to its performance. Nevertheless, it is hoped that the overall effect of the music will be found to remain true in spirit to the work of this brilliant composer-musicologist, who almost single-handedly preserved and gave to the world a treasure trove of beautiful folk music that to this day has not yet become as widely known in the Western world as it so richly deserves. It is hoped that this new instrumental setting will prove to be at least a small step in this direction.
Part I of Armenian Dances was completed in the summer of 1972 and first performed by Dr. Harry Begian (to whom the work is dedicated) and the University of Illinois Symphonic Band on January 10, 1973, at the CBDNA Convention in Urbana, Illinois.
Here is the full part I, with the score:
The score also contains a historical note provided by Dr. Violet Vagramian. (Links and videos added by me):
Gomidas Vartabed (1869-1935), the founder of Armenian classical music, is credited with collecting well over four thousand Armenian folk songs. Born Soghomon Soghomonian in Keotahya, a small town in Anatolia, Turkey, he would later be given the name Gomidas. His exceptional lyric voice led the Prelate of the region to select the orphan Soghomon at the age of eleven to study at the Kevorkian Seminary in Etchmiadzin, Armenia. He was ordained an Apegha (monk) in 1895, at which time he assumed the name Gomidas, after the Armenian architect-musician Catholicos Gomidas. His desire for further musical training led him first to studies with Magar Yekmalian in Tiflis [Tbilisi], Georgia, and from 1896 to 1899 to Berlin, where he studied at the Richard Schmidt Conservatory, as well as Frederic Wilhelm University, under eminent musicians of the time. In 1899 he graduated from both the conservatory and the university, receiving his Ph.D. in musicology; his dissertation topic was Kurdish music.
Gomidas was a founding member of the International Music Society (1899-1914), for which he read important papers on Armenian neumatic notation and the structure of Armenian sacred melodies and folk melodies. At the age of forty-six, at the apex of his career, Gomidas was exiled, together with other Armenian intellectuals, by the Turks in April 1915, at which time the genocide of one and a half million Armenians took place. He was released within a short time, but the suffering and atrocities he had witnessed resulted in a complete mental and physical breakdown from which he never recovered. He died in Paris in 1935. His legacy to the Armenian people and to the world’s ethnic music is invaluable, and his major contribution lies in his preserving so many centuries-old melodies from obscurity or oblivion.
Part I of Armenian Dances is built upon five Armenian folk songs, which were first notated, purified, researched, and later arranged by Gomidas for solo voice with piano accompaniment or unaccompanied chorus. In order of their appearance in the score, they are: “Tzirani Tzar” (“The Apricot Tree”); “Gakavi Yerk” (“Partridge’s Song”); “Hoy, Nazam Eem” (“Hoy, My Nazan”); “Alagyaz”; and “Gna, Gna” (“Go, Go”).
“The Apricot Tree” consists of three organically connected songs that were transcribed in 1904. Its declamatory beginning, rhythmic vitality, and ornamentation make this song highly expressive.
“The Partridge’s Song” is an original song by Gomidas; it was published in 1908 in Tiflis [Tbilisi], Georgia. He originally arranged it for solo voice and children’s choir and later for solo voice with piano accompaniment. It has a simple, delicate melody that might perhaps be thought of as depicting the tiny steps of the partridge.
“Hoy, Nazan Eem” was published in 1908 in a choral version arranged by Gomidas. This lively, lyric love song depicts a young man singing the praises of his beloved Nazan (a girl’s name). The song has dance rhythms and ornamentation that make it an impressive, catchy tune.
“Alagyaz” (the name of a mountain in Armenia) was first written by Gomidas for solo voice with piano accompaniment and is also in a choral arrangement. It is a beloved Armenian folk song, and its long-breathed melody is as majestic as the mountain itself.
“Go, Go” is a humorous, light-textured tune. In performance, Gomidas coupled it with a contrasting slower song, “The Jug.” Its repeated note pattern musically depicts the expression of laughter. This song also is in a recitative style.
Read more about Armenian Dances (Part I) at Wikipedia, J. W. Pepper, Alfred Music, and Tonal Diversions.
There is also an excerpted version of Armenian Dances (Part I) arranged by Douglas Wagner for grade 3 band, available from Alfred Music and J. W. Pepper – both feature a link to a professional recording.