NORAVANK Petros Shoujounian: String Quartets Nos. 3, 4, 5 & 6 Quatuor Molinari Olga Ranzenhofer PREMIER VIOLON | FIRST VIOLIN Frédéric Bednarz DEUXIÈME VIOLON | SECOND VIOLIN Frédéric Lambert ALTO | VIOLA Pierre-Alain Bouvrette VIOLONCELLE | CELLO ACD2 2737 • Petros Shoujounian was born in Gyumri, Armenia.   He moved to Canada in 1976, where he continued to study composition at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal.   His teacher, the world-renowned composer Gilles Tremblay, was fascinated by the creative inspiration his young student drew from the riches of Armenian music, and predicted for him a promising future as a composer. • Shoujounian's works have been played by Canadian orchestras, broadcast on CBC/Radio-Canada, and recorded and distributed on the SNE, Radio-Canada labels, among others.   Shoujounian draws a good deal of inspiration from Armenian folksongs, and from the spellbinding music of the Armenian liturgy. The 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, an internationally acknowledged tragedy in which more than one and a half million Armenians died, was commemorated in 2015.   To mark this anniversary and draw attention to this tragedy, Canadian composer Petros Shoujounian has written four string quartets, which are performed on this ATMA Classique recording by the Quatuor Molinari.   All of the music is based on Armenian liturgical chants. Each movement of these string quartets is named after a river in Armenia.   The symbolism is intentional: water is essential to life, and rivers are the veins of a country, just as faith nourishes and sustains the existence of creative and forward-looking people. Quatuor Molinari’s recent ATMA Classique CDs (Schnittke’s complete quartet cycle, the quartets 8-12 by R. Murray Schafer, and the Gubaidulina cycle) have received rave revues from, among others, The Strad, Gramophone (twice selected as Editor’s Choice) Diapason, and Fanfare. NORAVANK Petros Shoujounian (Né en 1957 / b. 1957) Quatuor à cordes n° 3     (2013)   1.   I. Debed     [ 9:32 ]   2.  II. Arpa     [ 3:03 ]   3. III. Dzoraget     [ 5:18 ] Quatuor à cordes n° 4     (2013)   4.   I. Hrazdan     [ 4:34 ]   5.  II. Voghdji     [ 9:34 ]   6. III. Azat     [ 4:42 ] Quatuor à cordes n° 5     (2013)   7.   I. Vorotan     [ 6:42 ]   8.  II. Psmbak     [ 4:01 ]   9. III. Kasagh     [ 3:17 ] Quatuor à cordes n° 6     (2013) 10.   I. Akhourian     [ 2:54 ] 11.  II. Aghstev     [ 4:55 ] 12. III. Vedi     [ 2:54 ] 13. IV. Getik     [ 3:04 ] 14.  V. Agishti     [ 5:26 ] ATMA Classique is distributed in Australia by Rockian Trading PO Box 44, Briar Hill, Vic, 3088, Australia Telephone +61 (0)3 9432 4149 ~ Facsimile +61 (0)3 9444 6879