Concerning this Collection
In the 1990s, while I was working on the Iranian polyphonic music for my second doctoral dissertation in the University of Strasbourg in France, in addition to various pieces for symphonic orchestra as well as chamber orchestra I found some pieces for the piano. The most significant collection of them was Avaz et Tasnif Persans (Persian Songs) arranged by Alfred Jean-Baptiste Lemaire. These songs had been composed before 1900 but I performed and recorded them for the first time in Switzerland in the 1990s, and the collection was published by Mahoor Institute of Culture and Art in 2003 in Tehran. Another collection consised of hymns composed before 1940s but most of them had been neglected without being performed. There are some of them in the present collection. It has been mentioned in some written documents that in 1873 Queen Victoria held a ceremony in honor of Nasereddin Shah Qajar at the Windsor Castle in which the national
anthem of Iran was played. This song was considered to be the national anthem of Iran till 1909. After making a thorough search I finally found a score for the piano which I guess is the very anthem though unfortunately I haven't found any orchestral score of this song
yet. Here in this interpretation (track 1) I have done my best to peform the original score written for the piano down to the last detail. I do believe that any sort of orchestration or setting any lyrics could severely damage the originality of the song. In 1909 a new national anthem (track 2) was composed by Qolam-Reza Minbashiyan during the reign of Ahmad Shah Qajar which is considered to be the second national anthem of Iran and the first one after the Iranian Constitutional Reform.
Ali-Mohammad Khadem-Misaq was one of the musicians whose contributions to Iranian music was remarkable. He wrote many compositions, eight of which have been selected for this compilation (tracks 01-3). Track 11 is entitled `Hymn of Fowziye' and track 12 is called `Hymn of Arboriculture Festivity'. Both are composed by Qolam-Hoseyn Minbashiyan. Both tracks 13 and 14 are entitled `Hymn for Airline'. It seems that they have been written in honor of a special occasion. Track 13 is composed by Fereydun Farzane. I remember my first years at Tehran Conservatory of Music in Iran where he taught sight-singing in the mid 1960s. Track 14 is written by Ziya Mokhtari. Mokhtari gave as a present a copy of Lemaire's Avaz et Tasnif Persans (persian songs) to Ruhollah Khaleqi in 1954 which is considered to be one of his major contributions to the Iranian music. This copy was registered in the library of the Iran's National School of Music (registry number: 314) by Khaleqi. You can still recognize the word `dedicated' written on the back cover of the copy by Mokhtari as well as the registry number in the handwriting of Khaleqi. I performed and recorded those songs in strict accordance with the exact copy of its original version which was given to me by Farhad Fakhreddini. If it wasn't the generosity of Ziya Mokhtari, the probity of Ruhollah Khaleqi, and the friendship with Farhad Farkhreddini, I could never have access to such a significant musical document, otherwise it could possibly be lost like many other valuable works of music here in Iran. It should be noted that that document is one of the first musical notations in the history of Iranian music. Through the Publication of the present collection, I hope I have been able to be of some service to Persian polyphonic music.
Manoutchehr Sahbai