Hommage à Khāleqī (گر آتش بارد به پیکرم) (2023) – orchestra (12′)
*Commissioned by the Duisburger Philharmoniker (Konstantia Gourzi, cond.)
*Triple and double wind versions available.
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This work for orchestra blossoms from the unofficial people’s anthem of Iran “Eī Iran” by Ruhollah Khaleqi–a 20th century Persian composer, musicologist, and performer–observing it in different ways, like light shining through a jewel. At times, the character and bombastic air of the original anthem is embraced, while at others, the material is contorted, slowed, slurred, and stripped of its triumphant tenor, reduced to a delicate mobile, floating among a bed of slowly shifting noise. The work moves in-and-out of equal temperament and shades of Persian dastgāhs (modes). The title comes from the final stanza of the song, “Gar ātash bārad beh peīkaram,” which roughly translates to “If I was covered in flames.”

An hommage to Khāleqī, this work explores the tune as one would a tongue of fire: carefully examining all of its peculiarities, its spectrum of intensity, its volatile proclivities, and its encompassing nature, unifying all in ash and flame.

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