Maro Ajemian
Pianist Maro Ajemian was a key advocate of contemporary music in the mid-twentieth century, not only as a soloist, but also in a violin/piano duo with her sister Anahid. Both were of Armenian ancestry and studied at Juilliard; Maro Ajemian gave the American premiere of the Khachaturian Piano Concerto at a Juilliard School concert in 1942. At about this time Ajemian started a grassroots organization called the Friends of Armenian Music, which gave an annual concert at Town Hall in New York City. The composer who most benefited from these concerts was Alan Hovhaness, of Armenian extraction, but Ajemian also performed works by Henry Cowell, Lou Harrison, Ernst Krenek, and others on these programs. Although only relatively few of her recordings have appeared on compact disc, Ajemian was a prolific recording artist, recording for CRI, Folkways, and most frequently for MGM Records' short-lived classical label. In addition to the composers named above, Ajemian recorded music of Ernest Bloch, Carlos Surinach, Carlos Chávez, Revueltas, Webern, Weill, Toch, and Gunther Schuller, and many of these were first recordings.
Her most famous endeavor, though, was a recording of the Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano of John Cage, a work dedicated to her and issued on three Dial LPs in 1951. These albums helped make Cage's reputation in serious musical circles and, as they were successful, established the marketability of contemporary music in the then-new LP format. This recording was re-released on CRI in 1965 as a single LP and was still in print when Ajemian died at age 54.
© TiVo
Discography
10 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
-
John Cage: Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano
Classical - Released by NWCRI on 1 Jan 1950
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
John Cage: Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano
Pop - Released by EL records on 1 Jan 1950
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Alan Hovhaness: Lousadzak, Shatakh, Achtaman and Tzaikerk (Evening Song)
Maro Ajemian, Anahid Ajemian, Saul Goodman
Classical - Released by Soundmark on 1 Jan 1950
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The 25-Year Retrospective Concert of the Music of John Cage, Disc Two
Classical - Released by Soundmark on 1 Jan 1960
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (Mono Version)
William Masselos, Maro Ajemian, Saul Goodman
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1949
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Toch: The Chinese Flute - Richter: The Hermit - Fishing Picture - Transmutation
Dorothy Renzi, MGM Chamber Orchestra, Maro Ajemian, Carlos Surinach
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Naxos Classical Archives on 1 Jan 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stokowski Conducts Henry Cowell Persian Set and Lou Harrison Suite for Violin, Piano and Small Orchestra
Classical - Released by Soundmark on 1 Jan 1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hovhaness, A.: Lousadzak / Shatakh / Achtamar / Tzaikerk (Hovhaness) (1950)
Classical - Released by Naxos Classical Archives on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Harrison, L.: Suite for Violin, Piano and Small Orchestra / Weber, B.: Symphony On Poems of William Blake (Stokowski) (1952)
Maro Ajemian, Warren Galjour, Anahid Ajemian, Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra, Léopold Stokowski
Classical - Released by Naxos Classical Archives on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hovhaness: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 48
Classical - Released by SINETONE AMR on 7 Mar 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo