Navaye Mahzoon (Solo Piano No. 3)

Composer & Pianist: Soheil Shirangi
Year of Creation: 2013 • Rewrite: 2022
Recorded at: Saba Studio, March 1, 2023
Performed by the Composer: April 27, 2025 — NACUSA Event, Center for New Music, San Francisco
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Navaye Mahzoon (“The Sorrowful Tune”) is a contemporary solo piano work that contemplates the feeling of loss through a Persian lens. Inspired by the Nava mode—one of Iran’s most expressive tonalities—the piece unfolds as a series of brief, emotionally charged moments rather than a continuous narrative. Silence and resonance shape its structure: a low solitary note opens an empty space, fragmented melodies recall fading memories, and irregular pulses echo the heartbeat of grief. Between dissonance and stillness, fleeting calm emerges—a fragile balance between pain and beauty. Drawing on the spirit of Sheikh Kharghani’s words, the piece suggests that every wound, sorrow, and breath of humanity belongs to us all, making compassion itself the true music of remembrance.