The World of the Duduk

The Armenian duduk is one of the most beautiful instruments on earth. The soft, plangent sound exudes a sweet sadness and longing. It’s hardly surprising that Djivan Gasparyan, the duduk’s most famous player, has been invited to play on film soundtracks from Russia House and The Crow to Gladiator. If you’ve never heard the duduk, listen to the opening track on this album (the clumsily–titled A Breath of Coolness Could Be Felt’) and you’ll discover the magic. It’s just a short tube of apricot wood with nine holes and a reed, but the way the melody yearns and slides its Oriental–sounding augmented seconds over a soft drone is heart–melting. It is simple, but divine.

This double album is released by Melodiya, the former state label of the USSR. There’s no information about when the 22 tracks were recorded but it seems, from a Russian source, that they come from an extensive collection of recordings for Musical Works of the Peoples of the USSR, made in the late 1970s and early 80s. There’s nothing wrong with them and there’s some absolutely gorgeous music here, although it lacks variety. Occasionally the slow, melancholy atmosphere is broken by quicker tracks, like ‘The Kazakhs, a fast folk dance with drum accompaniment on disc two, but not often enough. Although there are interesting distractions, like whether the melody of ‘The Mountain Girl’ was used by Khachaturian in his Armenian ballet Gayeneh, or whether Gasparyan borrowed it from him. But the fact is, if you want to explore the world of the duduk and the great art of Djivan Gasparyan, then go for Network’s The Soul of Armenia, also a double CD and a Top of the World in #49.