Études Mélodiques – Marie Awadis

Marie Awadis:

Étude No. 1: Playing Games

Étude No. 2: Breathless

Étude No. 3: Ballade

Étude No. 4: Empty Rooms

Étude No. 5: Traces

Étude No. 6: La Forêt Oubliée

Étude No. 7: Exodus

Étude No. 8: Through the Window

Étude No. 9: Unspoken Words

Étude No. 10: Void

Étude No. 11: L’horloge des Rêves

Étude No. 12: Unveiled

Chopin, minimalism and Armenian flair come together on Études Mélodiques, the DG debut of composer and pianist Marie Awadis. Twelve pieces for solo piano present a uniquely individual voice, thoughtful and sensitive at the same time. Music that enchants through subtle changes of mood. It also tells the story of an artist who is determined to remain true to herself. “My music is neither typically classical nor neoclassical nor avant-garde; it lies somewhere in between,” says Awadis. “When I compose, I have feelings, images, stories and places in my head, but not a sequence of themes that run through a structure that is fixed before I have even put the first note on paper. For me, everything is as it should be when my own intuitive approach to composing is combined with the rhythmic precision of American minimalism, the spirituality of its European counterpart and the feelings of Armenian music. Because that’s me – I’m an Armenian-Lebanese-German plant.” Marie Awadis is of Armenian origin and grew up in war-torn Lebanon before moving to Germany to continue her music studies. Since then, she has unwaveringly followed her own path. On Études Mélodiques, it finds an honest, deeply felt expression.