Kristina Arakelyan - A Christmas Offering
The compositions of Armenian-British composer, pianist and music educator Kristina Arakelyan are hallmarked by their striking beauty and compelling emotional directness. Discover a selection of Arakelyan’s new choral works, newly published by Boosey & Hawkes.
"A breathtakingly good selection in which we hear the influence of modal chants and Armenian church traditions fused with an English choral blend" - Gramophone Magazine
A Christmas Offering
Inspired by and offering a companion piece to Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, Kristina Arakelyan’s nine-movement A Christmas Offering is a festive celebration that ranges from the energetic ‘Alleluia!’, and the contemplative ‘Out of the East’, to more heartfelt moments such as in ‘There is no rose’. Scored for either mixed voices SATB or upper voices SSA chorus with harp (or piano), it was first performed in 2024 at Snape Maltings by Pembroke College Chapel Choir. Like Britten, Arakelyan draws her texts from medieval carols in Latin and early English, which not only tell the nativity story, but also look ahead to Christ’s suffering and crucifixion. The musical language itself often alludes to a medieval sound world, but with a contemporary twist whilst also drawing on her own Armenian heritage and other Eastern influences.
'Echo' from Seascapes
Echo is the third movement of Arakelyan’s Seascapes, commissioned by the BBC Singers as a companion to the Four Sea Interludes by Benjamin Britten, arranged for organ by Anna Lapwood. The four movements of Seascapes take the four Britten movements as inspiration, seen through the prism of Arakelyan's musical language. Ranging from the painful lyricism of the third movement, Echo, to the wild energy of the final movement, Storm Wind, the musical syntax, including the melodies, structure and tonal centres are presented as a homage. The poems by Christina Rossetti were chosen to reflect the narrative themes of Britten’s opera Peter Grimes, from which the Four Sea Interludes are taken. The compositions can be paired with the Britten, performed as a set or as standalone pieces.
Dreamland
Dreamland, scored for alto soloist, upper voice SSA choir and piano, sets a text by Christina Rossetti which reflects on the beautiful imagery on themes of fantasy and death. Written in the Autumn of 2020 at the height of the pandemic, the difficulties of those months are reflected in the sorrowful and transcendent nature of the melodic lines, which are supported by a flowing piano line. Although it was imagined as a song, initially Dreamland was called ‘Rhapsody’, and was written as a ballet score for piano and wind quintet. Versions for piano solo and organ solo also exist.
All the works listed above are recorded on the album A Christmas Offering by The Choir of King’s College, London, conducted by Joseph Fort for Signum Classics.
Photo: Chris O'Donovan