Credo Ch/Nso Ukraine/Sirenko - Behzad Abdi: Hafez - Opera in two acts

The music of Iranian composer Behzad Abdi fuses dastg?h (the Iranian modal system) with Western classical forms. He wrote Iran�s first national opera, Rumi (Naxos 8.660424-25), and Hafez also exemplifies his approach to the medium. The opera�s subject is the great Persian poet and mystic Hafez, whose sonnets and poetry are still widely read across the Persian-speaking world today. Behrouz Gharibpour�s libretto traces the poet�s tribulations, memories of keeping his poems from being destroyed by a despotic government, and subsequent exile. Abdi�s polytonal technique serves to reflect the unique concepts of Hafez�s 14th-century poetry with passion, lyricism and power.