"A young cellist on his way to the top, but one who is finding his own way rather than following well-trodden paths" (Neue Zürcher Zeltung), Kian Soltani's debut album for DG, Home, is a homage to his Austrian and Persian roots. He presents works by his favorite composers, Schubert and Schumann, as well as the world premiere recording of Iranian composer Reza Vali's Persian Folk Songs, newly arranged for and dedicated to this young cellist.
Kian Soltani / Aaron Pilsan: Home
Composer Reza Vali will mark retirement with a pair of Persian music concerts at Carnegie Mellon
by JEREMY REYNOLDS
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Nov 2, 2022
The rhythms of Persian traditional music defy Western music notation. They’re intricate and complex and give the music a fluid sense of motion.
Persian music is also mostly improvised, or made up on the spot, according to stylistic rules.
“In a way it comes closest to jazz,” said Reza Vali, an Iranian-American composer who writes traditional and cross-cultural music for chamber ensembles and orchestras like the Pittsburgh Symphony. He has also been recorded widely, most recently at the Smithsonian Museum, and has also published books on Persian traditional music.
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette