Extraordinary sounds of classical music

The Big Hall of the Philharmonic has recently hosted an unusual concert. The peculiarity of the concert was that the popular classical music was brilliantly performed by saxophone player Gor Ghasabyan, a young talented musician, and the laureate of various international contests.

CONCERT MIGHT BE REFERRED TO AS A Surprise since none, who came to the brilliant concert, knew nothing about the program beforehand. This was done on purpose to please the audience since let’s accept the classical pieces of music by Bach, Debussy, Albeniz, Rossini, Grieg are rarely played with saxophone.
The interesting sounds of the famous "Czardas" by Monty, "Folk dance" and "Sabre Dance" by Aram Khachaturian, "Tango" by Piazzolla", "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Rimsky-Korsakov (the latter accompanied by Armen Avetisyan, master of percussion instruments) and other usual pieces of music was a surprise for the audience. And every time listening to such music the audience cried out "bravo!" and broke into applause.

But Gor was not the only one to act on the stage. He was accompanied on the piano by his George Ghasabyan father, the professor of Yerevan Conservatory. It is not the first time this interesting musical duet has performed on the stage, always captivating the audience. It was also pleasant to listen to the performance of the choir and the soloist of Musical Comedy Theatre after Paronyan who performed Arno Babajanyan’s "Vocalise" and Rossini’s "Neapolitan tarantella", accompanied by the saxophone and the piano.

We met Gor after the concert and asked him for an interview.
- Instrumental, jazz music is more often performed using saxophone rather than works of Grieg, Bach or Khachaturian. Why did you choose the combination of saxophone and classical music?

- We are used to listening to jazz played by saxophone. Why? Because the saxophone came to us from America, where this instrument was used for playing jazz, but not from Europe, whereas it should be mentioned that at that same time there was a school of classical saxophone. Though you are right to some extent. Nowadays classical saxophone remains unknown to the general public. Many times I had to deal with people's reaction: "How? Classical saxophone?" Yes, and it's very interesting. It should be noted that modern European school of classical saxophone consists mainly of works by contemporary composers. I'm a little bit away from that and have turned my attention to the classics of the past centuries. Moreover, I play those works which, in principle, have no relation to the saxophone. For example, at the last concert I played Chopin, Rachmaninoff. I have a great classical repertoire, and this music is very appealing to me. By the way, saxophone has very wide range. And the more I delve into discovering the peculiarities of saxophone, the more convinced I get in my statement. You can play jazz, classical, rock and even folk music by this instrument. Pieces of Armenian music are also included in my repertoire.

- Do you play jazz?

- I play for myself, I love jazz. But I have never performed jazz in a club. The saxophone can play a lot of different things. It is just opening its features.

- Why have you chosen the saxophone, and not, let’s say, the piano, as your father is a great pianist?

- My parents have played a certain role. Another question is whether you'll love this instrument or not? So I fell in love with it and. At first, I attended preparatory department of piano at musical school after Tchaikovsky. Those were years when there was no electricity, no vehicles and it was cold in Armenia. And very often I had to overcome the long distance walking 16 stops from home to school. After 8 months, I had to give up such a "fun." And then someone was leaving for Poland and decided to sell the saxophone. Thus the saxophone appeared in our house. By the way, when I first brought it home, I did not even know what it was. But after the first few performances and the first successes, I knew for sure which way to go next.

- How did you choose the program of this concert?

- By a very simple principle. I always choose those works that take me by the heart. I play what I love. Music must be touchy, move you.

- What other instrument do you prefer to play?

- If I have spare time I prefer playing the piano.

- And have you ever tried to write music?

- Yes, I did. Some composers have told me that I can, if I wish. That's my brother who writes well.

- There is a saying that silence is the best friend of music. Do you agree?

- Silence is the origin of everything. So it definitely contains some kind of philosophy. The Chinese say that the silence and music are two sides of the same coin, that is, one transfers into another. Perhaps, I would agree with that expression.

- Father and son - creative people, two personalities. Is it easy to find a common language while working together?

- It’s both easy and difficult. It’s easy because we feel each other on stage. Therefore, he is not my accompanist. We are a single entity, a duet on the stage. And difficult, because I'm dealing with a high-class musician. In any case, it is difficult to perform with such a specialist, regardless of whether he is your father or not.

- Do you have any hobbies?
- Historical literature, philosophy, psychology, I prefer books about great people. In addition to books I am fond of documentaries, historical movies,good melodrama.

Elena Galoyan