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Personalities – Nargiz Aliyarova Nargiz Aliyarova interprets Chopin in a sensitive manner on her debut commercial album on the Belgian Etcetera label
Nargiz Aliyarova – Chopin: reset The Bakuvian pianist Nargiz Aliyarova graduated from the Bul-Bul Music School with a gold medal in 1986 and entered the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire named after Uzeyir Hajibeyov (now Baku Music Academy). As a result of her success as a student, she was awarded a Lenin Scholarship. In 1991, she graduated with Distinction, and studied for her Doctorate from 1991–93, having also begun teaching at the Academy in 1991. She has been a member of the Azerbaijan State Piano Trio since 2002. Nargiz has performed numerous concerts in Azerbaijan and across Europe, as a soloist, as a member of various chamber ensembles, and with chamber and symphonic orchestras. In order to develop her talent, she has attended many courses and masterclasses in Europe. In 2008, Nargiz attained second place in the Pietro Argento 11th International Competition in Italy, where she was declared as a laureate of the competition. The same year, she was acknowledged as an Honoured Artist of the Azerbaijani Republic. In 2012, the Azerbaijan Commission of High Attestation awarded Nargiz the rank of Professor. Nargiz has just issued her first commerciallyreleased album, entitled Nargiz Aliyarova plays Frédéric Chopin, on the Belgian label Etcetera. Neil Watson interrupted rehearsals for her latest concert to find out more: You studied at the Bul-Bul Music School and Baku Music Academy during the Soviet period. Was there a particular emphasis on Soviet music at this time? During my initial studies, this was known as Azerbaijan State Conservatoire, but it was changed to Baku Music Academy after I came to study for my doctorate. At this time, the tuition was very much of the Soviet/Russian model. In the early 20 th century, Uzeyir Hajibeyov synthesised Azerbaijani national music with the western classical tradition, and is generally recognised as the
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father of Azerbaijani classical music. He brought concepts from the conservatoires in Moscow and St Petersburg to Baku, and attracted some excellent teachers and professors from those cities. Azerbaijani musical education therefore started from a very high level. Throughout my musical education, the Soviet system was applied. Teachers and professors were relatively strict, and praise was hard to attract. I noticed the difference when I visited Germany for a summer course, and discovered that my teacher was consistently enthusiastic about my ability. I soon realised that she just had a different approach and knew how to encourage people. In fact, this is the main divergence between western and Soviet schools – the difference is not only musical. I now undertake teaching at The International School of Azerbaijan (TISA), where the teachers are mostly European, and constantly notice this alternative approach. Did you study all composers, or solely Russian and Azerbaijani music? We passed through a very academic programme, where we had to perform Bach for every academic examination, and our education was certainly not limited to Russian composers. We studied such composers as Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn, and learned the entire classical repertoire, including works from the schools of romanticism and impressionism, but we had a particularly good sense of Russian and Azerbaijani composers. There were no teachers from France or England – our teachers were the former students of Russian professors, our approach was purely Russian, and the standard was fortunately very high. Where have your performed during your career? I would be very happy to perform more frequently in Europe, but the issue has been that we do not really have musical managers
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