Composer: Behzad Abdi
Performer: Babak Sabouri, Ali Momenian, Sahar Mohammadi, Mojgan Chahian, Mohammad Motamedi, Razieh Abdi, Zakaria Yusefi, Pouya Saraei, Behnaz Behnamnia, Danial Ajdari
Orchestra: National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
Conductor: Vladimir Sirenko
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Naxos
Catalogue: 8660426-27
Release: 2021
Size: 1.04 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
Hafez
01. Sultan Mobarezedin’s Attack
02. Disaster and Killing Sultan Abu Eshaq
03. Elegy
04. Pub and Obeid Zakani
05. Saqinameh
06. Prison of Sultan Mobarezedin
07. Hafez’s Aria I
08. Obeid and Sultan Mobarezedin
09. Hafez’s Aria II and Arrest Hafez
CD 02
Hafez
01. Revolt
02. Victory
03. Departure of Hafez
04. Dialogue
05. Shakh-e Nabat
06. Death
07. Final
The music of Iranian composer Behzad Abdi fuses dastgah (the Iranian modal system) with Western classical forms. He wrote Iran’s first national opera, Rumi, and Hafez also exemplifies his approach to the medium. The opera’s subject is the great Persian poet and mystic Hafez, whose sonnets and poetry are still widely read across the Persian-speaking world today. Behrouz Gharibpour’s libretto traces the poet’s tribulations, memories of keeping his poems from being destroyed by a despotic government, and subsequent exile. Abdi’s polytonal technique serves to reflect the unique concepts of Hafez’s 14th-century poetry with passion, lyricism and power.